Tag Archives: jigs

Truss and Rigging Progress

Keith has been completing the truss and it is now mounted onto the mast.

Laura has now started to fabricate and attach the truss and spreader guys.

Meanwhile, Laura and Herb have been studying photos of the Reliance bowsprit and are now completing all the little bowsprit details.

They have also completed the upper ends of the standing rigging and, as shown, have them tarred, varnished, and ready to go. We’re just a week or two away until the mast can be hoisted upright in our mast jig and the standing rigging can be completed at deck level.

We thought we could find tasks for Steve that would not involve power tools, but Sandy caught the ever creative Steve with a Dremel tool in his back pocket… we’re just trying to excite his inner crafts person, but the power tool guy always comes to the surface…

Deck Edge Update, Shipments, and Spreader Progress

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Work continues on the deck edge toe rails. One is complete and the second one is going into the jig for some final-finish work.

We received a large shipment of nickel plating from R.E. Sturdy, our third such shipment from them. Again, we give them our most sincere thanks and praise for donating to our team’s success.

Also received in that shipment were plated topmast shroud turnbuckles and mast hoops; thank you Tom and Dorothy!

Keith continues to make amazing progress on the spreader and now it is on to the truss!

Finally, we moved our benches to align the mast, topmast, and topsail yard so initial work on rigging can be done. This will also enable us to complete our topmast with sheaves and cone parts.

Continuing to See Progress

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We’ve been fretting about constructing our deck edge, having decided we needed the strength of a thin metal toe rail. First, we were going to shape it on our table saw in jigs and a metal cutting blade, then back to the old router routine. seen here:

This has routed surfaces on both sides, and–in fact–has three routed surfaces and a bulb to very tight and thin dimensions. You can see there are two of us taking care of everything while Bill carefully guides the router along. By the end of the day, we had one 12-foot section completely routed out, and three others almost so. We were so curious about the fit that we just had to dry fit this first piece in place, and WOW it really changes everything. We’ll show you profiles of both sides once we’ve filed and sanded the surfaces to perfection next week.

Back on Track

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We’ve missed a couple of blog posts because we’ve been deep into detail work, which doesn’t seem to lend itself to blog creativity!

We’ve made a miniature exhibit of our winter lecture series presentation: “Wonderfully Modern Herreshoff Manufacturing Company”, which you can see in our shop if you come by for a visit.

Steve has been finishing the metal angle iron cheeks on the mast; these hold four upper main shrouds, forestay, two preventer stays (main running back stays), and the throat halyard strap.

Meanwhile. Keith has been working on the spreader, and you can see the start of Bill’s jig to make the deck-edge toe rails in the background; Sandy has also been filing, grinding, and polishing more than 150 shackles. You see these in rough form (dark bronze), polished state (bright brass), and finished nickel-plated product in the bins. Hooks are next, and then the dreaded 140 ash blocks from scratch.

Steve is also starting to work on the final tap and die work for all the turnbuckles.

Laura has been making grommets which turn into balloon jib straps, jib tack straps, jib pennants, spinnaker straps, and a throat halyard strap.

Lastly, Herb has become Bosun Splicer. Here’s his stock hanging on the rack awaiting finishing.

Everything’s Coming Together

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Keith made a jig to hold the spreaders in perfect alignment while the spreader socket pins set in high-tech glues. The bowsprit is starting to look awesome. You can really get the feeling of how massive it was!

Here are some of Mike’s delivery of castings; ready for final filing, polishing, and nickel plating.

Finally, here are the ladder rungs which will go on the top section of the mast.

Mast Jig a la Keith

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Here is the mast jig that Keith built. When we’re ready with the mast and standing rigging, we’ll put the mast into it and then measure all the standing rigging at deck level to make sure we have the correct lengths.

This way, all the main shrouds will be at similar levels when attached to turnbuckles, and the forestay at measured length will ensure the correct 1.5 degree rake aft.

In the meantime, we’ve been practicing our attachment process and with our high-test strain meter calculating how much strain the fittings will hold. Not quite the destructive testing NGH did, but we hope it’ll do! Rigging hanging from the stump mast is ready to go: all seized in eyes to place at the top of the mast.

PS: The mat is for Lucy, our shy shop dog.

We’re Back and At Full Throttle!

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We’re back from the holidays and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dimly. Keith cut our mast to length: 17’8″ plus 14″ for the “bury” to our mast step. Keith put the newly cut mast upright to gauge whether we could also step the topmast in place. Alas, another 8′ 4″ is required and it won’t fit unless we move the whole rig under the cupola in the middle of the high bay, so there it’ll go! As a point of reference, the topmast and #1 topsail yard add another 13′ 8″ to the height of the mast, shown here; that’s almost another 75% of the length shown!

While Keith worries about the design of the new jig, Bill has been working on the spreader. You can see that the “I-beam” construction has been routed out and drain holes have been drilled in the “I’s.” He’s now fitting it to the mast before varnishing, adding all the fittings and cladding the section around the mast in metal.

Mike brought more wax mold master mast fittings to the shop. These were fitted to the mast and taken to our local metal casting company—Harrison Casting in Johnston, RI—to be made; we’ll be attaching these in place soon. All of this leaves us with actual wire splicing and wire rope standing rigging. The photos below show Herb and Larry plying their newly acquired specialty with help from Toss’s book, educational visits to thesquarerigger.com, and some instruction from Bob Dollar of R&W Rope.

We’ve also been noodling with how to do the actual rigging of our model and have concluded that unlike the original RELIANCE—which was rigged after launching—we’ll construct a special rigging jig so we can cut and splice all the standing rigging to actual length. This jig will be separate from our model, so work can continue on her without interruption, and the butt of the mast would rest on the floor. You’ll see construction of our jig over the next few months.

Lastly, we at the RELIANCE Project and Herreshoff Museum would like to formally recognize the loss of a great friend. New Year’s Day brought the passing on of Stanley Livingston, 96, an active supporter and family member in our cause. Fair winds and a following sea on the other side of the bar, Stanley; RIP

The Work Continues.

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Just returned from ten day trip to Santa Fe, Taos and the Canyons of NM, AZ, and UT. Must say that our RELIANCE is certainly the equal of the great art of Santa Fe and Taos (no bias all all!) but it is very hard to compete with the grandeur, scale, and beauty of nature. No contest, it is nature every time…. We flew home from Las Vegas: I am still struggling to wrap my head around the mirage of Las Vegas appearing out of the desert after visiting Grand, Glen, Bryce and Zion Canyons and Monument Valley…..

In my absence, work continued on RELIANCE with multiple efforts underway.

We are starting to splice wire. In the first photo Herb and Bill are developing splicing jigs. In the second photo, hands of our new “expert” are worming, parceling and serving – complete with miniature serving mallet – (see 1938 instruction manual in background)
Bill is also working on the spreaders (photo 3).
Keith is placing miniature rivets in pad eyes (photo 4). (These latest fittings bring RELIANCE into conformity with our “Configuration Date” (First AC race). From pictures we can see that fittings and components were added, moved and changed during the racing campaign.
Steve is working on the boom crotch (photo 5). Although our RELIANCE will ultimately be posed underway with sails, we anticipate that for a short interim period until the atrium is built, she’ll be displayed at a mooring with topmast housed, and gaff, boom and mainsail resting on the boom crotch.
Meanwhile Mike and Harrison Casting Co are making our gooseneck assembly, and Burr is completing the capstan assemblies.