| Blog series by shipwright | updated 06-14-2013 02:02 AM | 3 parts | 13702 reads | 51 comments total |
Part 1: Cold Molding a Curved Panel
I just got Friendship back in the water for the summer last week and when I was getting her rigged at the dock someone ( OK me) sat on the acrylic top of the sliding hatch. This has been a weak point for seven years since I initially built her and it amazes me that it has taken this long to break it. Cutting to the chase, the replacement acrylic was going to cost $136 and wouldn’t be any stronger than it was before. I’ve never liked the plastic thing but it did give me a little mo...
Part 2: Cosmetic Veneering
You may have seen this video before. It was made for this blog but I added it to my “Hide Glue for Beginners” one as well. It sort of belongs in both. Anyway skip it if you’ve already seen it. When we left off, the hatch cover was structurally finished but didn’t look too good. So the next step was to veneer it with some nice mahogany strips These will make the cover look like it was actually made out of the narrow boards necessary to form the curve. I got to use my ne...
Part 3: Getting it Done and Installed
My spring shop project is supposed to be a set of marquetry panels of Friendship under sail for the upper doors of my desk. However I’ve had a couple of repair / renos on the real thing interrupt me, this hatch cover being one of them. Well I’m here today to tell you that it’s done and I’m getting back to the marquetry. Here’s the final bit of work on the hatch. First photo is the old broken hatch with the hundred mile an hour tape holding it together. I...
