Santa Brought Me A Laser

[WP Rayner]

Go to a reputable timber merchant and start looking at all the different types of MYRTLE timbers.

Good tip on the Myrtle... a wood I've wanted to try. However, it's not available in Canada with the occasional exception for figured turning blanks, not suitable for my purpose. It is possible to find pieces for sale on eBay but they are horrendously expensive. For example a 21" L. x 2.75" W. x 2.75" T. piece is $155.50 including shipping from Australia. My preferred woods that have little to no visible grain are boxwood and swiss pear, but again, almost impossible to find in Canada and pricing is outrageous. Fortunately I have a limited stock of each purchased years ago in the U.K.

[Lawton Maner]

Skiffs and other work boats built on the Chesapeake Bay were traditionally planked in cypress.  Known for durability when exposed to weather. 

Another wood to think about is holly known for lack of grain and colour. 

A band saw with home made fixtures can be used as a miniature saw mill and cut your own timber as needed.  This weekend's blizzard knocked a large Crepe Myrtle down last night and I am going to try and mill it this spring.     

[TRAINS1941]

AYE! AYE! Skipper!!

Nice job your doing there!!

Jerry

[finescalerr]

I was considering all the ideas you guys have offered when I remembered our erstwhile world-class shipbuilder, Doris. I looked her up and found a link to this forum: https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1195.0. Her Sovereign of the Seas model and most others she has built predate my skiff by centuries and have white hulls. (She does a lot of historical research before starting a model.) Bill had suggested a 19th century boat maker night use white lead. Anyway, Doris' models would suggest I may spray my model with white paint and not worry too much about anachronism.

But look at the wealth of information forum members have turned up by answering the question!

Russ

[finescalerr]

Here is the final version of the skiff under construction. I painted the last version white and it's boring. So I built a third model to represent new unpainted wood. I did that by printing a sheet of Strathmore front and back with a photo of a sheet of basswood I'd scanned. I put that in the laser and cut the parts, then glued everything together yet again. Whatever might be wrong with the result, I'll make up some reason why it's okay because I can't face the prospect of building the darned thing a fourth time!

And, at least in person, it actually looks like I built it from wood.

Russ

[finescalerr]

Here's the underside.

[finescalerr]

And here is the stern.

Now it's time to please my current spouse and build that 1:48 model of our home.

Russ

[SandiaPaul]

Isn't paper wood? So you did build it from wood.

[TRAINS1941]

Your getting pretty good at this!!

Isn't there a ship magazine you could submit it to??  

Looking forward to the house project!

Jerry

[Lawton Maner]

If there isn't, then Russ could start one!

[Design-HSB]

Russ, looking like wood, I like the boat very much.

[Craig]

I'm late to the party. Not even fashionably.

Not even have you got a laser now, Russ, but look at the beautiful things you are doing with it!

Amazing work. We should catch up again soon (I'm moving back to the UK right now!)

[finescalerr]

Here's an idea for any of you who need clean laser cut parts:

In my never ending quest for perfection I found that some people taped cardstock to a plate of glass before putting it into the laser. I gave the local glass shop $14.00 and came home with a beautifully finished, shiny, pristine 1/4-inch thick 9x12 inch piece. I taped my printed Strathmore onto it and pushed the button. Well, golly gee snap-turtle if those folks weren't right! The underside of the parts for the "wooden" boat were free of ash smudges and the laser also cut everything more cleanly. The improvement was obvious.

The only casualty is the piece of glass. It now has laser etching marks on it.

I hope this tidbit may be of value to some of you someday even if you send out your work.

Russ

[Bernhard]

Nice work, Russ. Especially in the third picture, it's hard to tell that it's not really wood.

Bernhard

[Ray Dunakin]

Looks great to me!