Brass and wood

On Friday we had our second field trip and our first stop was at the Port Townsend Foundry which was started in 1983 by Peter and Cathy. The foundry makes castings in various alloys of marine hardware, industrial parts and architectural detail. The marine hardware which was our focus was simply incredible. The parts were made mostly of brass or bronze and include; cleats, nails, screws, rudder fittings, portholes, etc. Some of the larger items have been custom made for amazing restoration projects, such as:

The Columbia, a steel hull exact replica of the historic 141' Gloucester Fishing Schooner built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. in Panama City, Florida. The foundry's work was featured in Show Boat International on an article on the Columbia. See a video about the construction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76zglGNkoKk

The San Salvador. The Maritime Museum of San Diego is building a full-sized, fully functional, and historically accurate replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s flagship. See video:

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/21/san-salvador-60-perecent-complete-after-two-years-/

A video about the foundry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7XrCpIs9J4

Our next stop was Edensaw Woods. What is interesting about Edensaw is that it was founded by two boat school graduates. After graduation they realized the need for quality boat building materials in the area and are still in business 30 years later. Edensaw is also a supplier to and supporter of the boat school and this year sold a package of beginning tools to students. The first thing we did was to see a "live" demonstration of the SawStop using a hot dog (apparently the company must give dealers a ton of these demo cartridges to use). As expected the SawStop performed as it should and the hot dog was spared from being cut in half. Ted then took us on a tour of the showroom, mill and warehouse. Edensaw stocks over 100 species of domestic and exotic hardwoods. To list all of the available woods would take forever. Ted also gave some interesting perspectives on the job market in wooden boat building as he is Edensaw's sales rep to the marine industry.