Ready for Mast Glue-Up

Made final prep tonight for the glue up. Made the last plug which will go in the top of the mast and made some minor adjustments on the mast molds. I had used the chalk line (chalk long gone) earlier. It came to me in the night hours to put the line down the middle of the mast in 2 quadrants. Stretching the line along the top, it was fairly straight side to side because I had done that. When I put it down the side of the mast, it looked a little low in the middle, so I raised a couple molds. It will have to do. 

I also added some OSB to the strong back to make it more usable as a work table. I'll actually use it to coat the staves on 3 sides with epoxy and then to slather thickened epoxy on them just before assembly. Hopefully Monday night.

Mast Plugs

It's unbelievable how long everything takes. Doubting seriously that I can do this build in 500 hours. (I just passed the 50 hour mark.) 

I spent another 1 and 1/2 hours on the mast today; this time making the mast partner and end plugs. I had already glued up two pieces of 2x4 and made the first cut last night (which turned out to be difficult - maybe my saw blade is dull).

I made 2 or 3 cuts today with the table saw (which was actually double that because to cut through 3" I had to cut from top and bottom). Then I moved to the bandsaw to make the rest of the cuts. Since the mast is not completely symmetrical, the plugs will not be. (getting tired of hearing it ain't gonna be perfect?). After a long while I got it to where I think it will work. I'll be gooping it up bigtime when I glue up the mast. Of course, this may affect the size/shape of the mast step. Will cross that bridge when I get to it. 

Cutting the deep "V's" was the easiest part. This will allow the mast to have a "soft spot" as it bends with the wind. 

Didn't Happen

Well, didn't get the mast glued up. Got home late from church and went out to dinner. Then I came home and cut the backyard. 

I did get in 2 hours on the mast. I decided it was worth the effort to dry-fit the mast again with the molds and do my best to align everything. With the variation in my staves (don't ask me how they come out differently cause I don't know) my diameters are not going to be exact, so Clint's method of alignment is probably not going to work. I used a string and then just "eye-balled" it. I'll look at it again with fresh eyes before I take it down to glue-up. 

It ain't gonna be perfect. Keep saying that but it's true and I have to live with it. Question is can I be satisfied? You want a straight stick! We'll see. 

Hopefully get her done is a few days. 

 

Prepping for Mast Glue-up

Hopefully I'll get the mast glued up tonight. I cut out four more molds this morning and started work on the mast partner plug, which means I cut a 2x4 into 2 lengths 31" long, ripped the "dado", and glued the 2 pieces together. That glue will set up today and this evening I'll shape the plug.

This is big. A lot of work has gone into this mast. Keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out decent. 

Dry Fit Main Mast

Went to the shop this morning. Just had to try and get that mast dry-fitted. 

I needed a mold and a plug. Last night I glued 2 small pieces of 2x4 together with Elmer's Wood Glue so that I'd have something to cut a plug with. Just did a rough cut.

Then I changed the blade on the bandsaw to a 1/8" blade. Pretty simple. I cut a rough cut mold. Then I went to putting it together. I used zip ties to hold it together and then tried the hose clamps to see which sizes fit best. 

It's not perfect (did we know this? Perfect is not in my woodworking vocabulary), but I think it will be fine. Looks like it will be a little out of round but planing and sanding will take care of most of that. I just want to be careful not to take too much off. 

I may try to knock that little ridge off of the bottom stave that is keeping the next one from seating properly, though I think that I tinkered with it a bit after the photo and it settled in a bit better. With plenty of epoxy it will glue up well. 

I will make 3 or 4 more molds before glueing up. I need to take care that my mast is STRAIGHT!

One step closer to a main mast. 

Painfully Slow

I'm still working on the mast! I thought tonight I might get it glued up. Didn't happen. 

This morning I spent an hour and a half chiseling out two of the staves that were left with a ridge in the birdsmouth after cutting. Tonight Robin and I finished cutting the birdsmouths; we missed one cut the last session and I had to cut the one for the new stave. Then we cut the taper in them, so they are ready to go. 

Here is a shot of some of my scarfs. 

I started to make a temporary mold so that I could dry-fit the staves but my bandsaw 1/2" blade will not cut a tight enough radius. I'll either need a coping saw or will need to put a narrower blade on the bandsaw. Then I'll need to make plugs for the mast. I will probably make a couple temporary plugs so that I can get a good measurement on a permanent one. I know that the dimensions in the plans will need adjusting, not because they are not right, but because my milling "skills" leave a lot to be desired! 

It is tricky putting the staves together. That's why the need for molds and plugs.

Cutting the birdsmouths was a real trip. Mind you, they are 17' long. I needed 4 sets of hands. Robin and I provided 2 sets and I had to rig the others. Note stool, boxes, pails, etc!

Though things are moving slowly,  I have confidence that my mast will turn out satisfactorily. 

Birdsmouth Frustration

I spent 5 hours yesterday and 2 hours this morning (yes - 7 hours!) on the mast staves. Now mind you, they were already cut. My plan was to cut the birdsmouth notch in them and coat the inside face of each stave with epoxy. That would get them ready for glue-up. 

The first thing I did was mark the taper. After cutting the birdsmouths, I will be ready to run them through the band saw to get them tapered for glue-up. 

Time to haul them up to the front where my table saw is. 

Well, a 17' stave is flimsy and running them through a saw to do a cut that requires some precision is no easy task for one man. I asked my wife to help, but she was unable until the afternoon. Eager as I was, I didn't wait. I rigged boxes, stools, pails, etc to act as 2 extra sets of hands and set about cutting my first birdsmouth.

I totally mutilated the first stave! TOTALLY!!!! Ruined! 

Decided I needed to wait until she could help.

In the afternoon when she was available, we went at it again. All went pretty well. I got all seven of the remaining staves cut. One was "iffy" and looked more like a "modified" birdsmouth, but the other 6 looked pretty good. I'll make them work.

I don't know how I manage to do it, but being as precise as I can be, I still wind up with variations in my cuts. All in all, when I'm finished, I don't think the average person will know any difference.

But that still left the 8th stave. I had a nice piece of the DF left over that I bought from the bowling alley guy. This was the 12' piece. One third of the piece looked pretty close to clear. Certainly I can get 2 strips out of it and make another stave.

I went about ripping it. This time with my skill saw. I clamped a 12'x1"x4" board to the DF to act as a fence and went  about it. First strip was a disaster. That saw was working awfully hard. Binding etc! Why won't that saw cut straight?! The second was not much better but I cut it a little extra thick so that I could trim it on the band saw. The cut was still very tough. I decided to do another without the fence. I marked a line and cut it freehand. The cut went much better.

Took my two good strips down to the  workshop and ran them through the band saw to fine tune the widths. 

One was totally clear up to 11'. The other had one small knot in it. I measured and, of course, only needed 17'. I had 24' with the two strips. So I was able to cut one foot off the first strip and the second strip at about the 7' mark and avoid the knot altogether.

Then I made the cuts for the scarf. When I went to dry fit the two pieces, one was a full 16th of an inch wider than the other. How does that happen?????? 

Fortunately, that was enough for me to run it through the band saw again. Now the  dry fit is better though still not perfect. It will work though. Epoxy is a boat builder's best friend! 

Ran out of time. I will glue the scarf tonight and be ready to cut the birdsmouth in it probably tomorrow.

Whew! Hours and hours!! But it's still progress.