This is the process of building a wooden whisker pole for the ketch Julia using the bird's mouth construction method. This technique works well for masts, booms, and other spars.
Years ago, I lived in the small Montana town of Twin Bridges. For serious flyfisherman, it is the center of the universe. There was a small artesian company called Sweetgrass Rods, where they handcrafted bamboo flyrods. Each section of the rod were perfectly six-sided, and tapered to mate with the next. So precise were their planed sections, as to tune the rod into a flexible yet sufficiently rigid rod. I wanted one, knowing the painstaking care, and skill it required to make. I’ve watched your journey, North, now South. I love the content, and like the bamboo rod, I dream of sailing a traditional wooden sailboat into waters just over the horizon. Thanks for pursuing your dreams, and including those who long to do likewise.
Holz - ein herrlicher Werkstoff. Wo Natur und menschliche Kreativität sich treffen. (Wood - a wonderful material. Where nature and human creativity meet.) Tolle Zimmermannsarbeit / Awesome carpentry 👍
Wow Rory that’s a sad statement , wood boats are the best , and if you build one they are even more special because you built it , a fantastic boat that will last for many many decades if it’s looked after , wooden boats are the best , keep history alive build a boat yourself. I guess some people are just lazy or don’t have time in to build one and that’s ok to.
Awesome video my friend , loved the construction using bird mouth style fitting it together and the 45 deg cuts , the varnish really makes it pop , looked fantastic ,
When You can already see in the first outside shot of the shop's doors that it is time to relax, lay back and just indulge into watching people obviously knowing what they're doing ....
If you make you first 45 degree cut the same depth as the thickness of the parts you can avoid a bunch of trimming later. I'm stealing the "two halves" idea though!
Imagine how ship carpenters were capable of using hand tools on board a wooden sailing vessel and do this at sea or to make an emergency repair on a deserted island
Really nice job! I hope to make one following your technique for a 36 foot cutter. Not sure of the length I need but 20lbs for 16 feet seems pretty light!
These videos are a joy to watch! Can I ask what the black stuff is you put into the drill holes in the mast before installing the hardware? I only use the putty you use in the end to make it watertight but what is the black stuff you put in with the ear thingy? Thank you for making the videos
It is just a homemade brew of linseed oil and turpentine with chimney creosote mixed in to maybe give more rot resistance. The idea is to seal the torn wood grain in the hole and lubricate the screw.
The algorithm has you....also, I'm almost certain I've seen julia. I think I was doing a high school photography project on old mosquito fleet ferries. 15 years ago or so. Moored in sinclair or dyes inlet in kitsap. Or, because I live on the sound. I just think I recognise random wooden vessels. Lol
I seem to remember an Ingrid in Paulsbo at Liberty Bay Marina, she was a few slips up from my much lesser but still loved classic plastic would have been around 03-08 when I left. Sinclair's isn't a huge leap from there, maybe we're thinking of the same boat, their not common even in Port Townsend with the rather large collection. Of course living near Booth Bay ME like I do now, I haven't seemed to be able to free the grasp of wooden boats.... but why would I want to be?
This is Doug fir, Sitka spruce would also be first class. But, every area has a local wood that will work, usually something in the larch, pine, or spruce families.
1. Did you stagger the scarfs so they were not all at the same point in the length of the pole? 2. What did you paint into the hollow core of the pole?
I did stagger the scarfs as much as possible with the stock length I had. The interior is coated with epoxy, and the end plugs are glued in with thickened epoxy.
@@douglasdexheimer1081 It weighs just over 20 lbs and is 16 ft long. The length was constrained more by the available storage space than a specific point of sail, but will work for both wing and wing or broad reaching. I don't have experience with it in strong winds yet, so some learning curve still exists.
Thanx for asking. New to the channel and had the same question about staggering the scarf joints. Kind of hard to do when it is basically one scarf per length. The joints tend to end up all in the middle... More or Less.
@@MadisonBoatworks .... with "just over 20 lbs" being hypothetical 22 lbs we were still shy of 10 kilo grams. That is fantastic. A bit more than the same length'n strength of carbon, but so much nicer to look at and to handle. It cries for not only wing-on-wing but a nice midsize tri-radial spinnacker to make her ghosting through the field while her competition still stands like solidly rooted 😁 .... a spinnaker could help You through the occasional doldrums out in the blue also - would be supposed to be a cruizing one though, same triradial form but heavier. for cruising under spi its top point is supposed to sit where the running backstays land on the mast. Saw Your structural improvement vid: She's a capable beauty.
I noticed and mentioned it as well to them. Nearly lost a rig on san Francisco Bay with my capshroud, with part of turnbuckle suddenly being 6 or so ft further to leeward then were I knew It should be. Not easy to catch and reattach while having to stay heeled over with sails full. No autopilot. And an island in front of you.
@@MadisonBoatworks thanks...we had a 63' foot mast spliced many years ago. I was trying to remember what type of wood. It was Citcus Spruce I just learned. Thanks for the video, beautiful
I generally prefer Interlux schooner, but also use Epifanes on spars as it goes on a touch thicker. The schooner is easier to apply in my opinion. Any good quality marine varnish is more or less the same. I don't use two part systems, I prefer the universal compatibility for touch ups from a traditional varnish.
Much easier quicker and dead accurate to make a scarph box and cut them with a router. There are much better glues than epoxy for sparmaking. Turn a sanding belt inside out, make a bobbin of suitable diameter to go in your electric drill glue some rubber around it and sand the mast that way.
