What's on your Workbench - OCTOBER 2023

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

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I made a one-of-a-kind, custom grip, for a new fishing rod I am building. The raw cork had a too large hole already in it. I reduced the hole size, by cutting a section lengthwise from the center of the stock, gluing the two halves back together. Then rotating 90 degrees and repeating the removal of another center section. You can see how this effectively reduced the hole diameter.
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Next step was to produce some .125 slices of Walnut veneer. The stock started out as "waste cutoff" from a log that produced a bowl blank. Strips were cut a bit over thickness on the bandsaw, then thickness planned to finish size, while glued to a sled, which was run thru my thickness planner.
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The next operation was to miter cut the cork, glue in the first strip. Rotate 180 degrees, repeat the miter cut and glue in the 2nd strip.
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Then everything went to the lathe where the desired outside profile was shaped. The fore grip and the butt grip were also shaped on the lathe.
Finally, the I.D. was reamed on each individual piece to allow it to fit the tapered rod blank, in the location it needed to be fitted.
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This is one project I didn't want on my workbench. My Black Brant II suffered hull damage last season. It has a crack near the keel on one side and over 18" long. I didn't know it until last weekend while inspecting the hull and getting her ready for duck season. Since then I removed the motor and cleaned out the hull and flipped her onto saw horses. Spent most of Saturday sanding the bottom. Today I got a good look at the damage and made headway on the repair.

Terrible timing with duck season just around the corner and probably part of the reason last week I got so frustrated with site issues. I decided to just work on it as I can and not worry if it will be ready for this season. I have the Broadbill and Thomas has a couple boats I can jump in.

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Router used to cut around the delaminated area.

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Damage looks to be no deeper than the fiberglass sheathing and the top plywood laminate.

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Damage area sanded and feathered into adjacent undamaged area.

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Fiberglass cloth cut to fit the deepest affected area.

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Glass work done. Multiple layers applied and now curing.

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The project is giving the metered epoxy pumps I bought a few years back a nice workout. I wish I bought the pumps on my very first boat build. They are so much better than plastic "snow-cone" pumps.
 
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Bob

Building boats goes a long way teaching how to repair them. Would rather be working on the living space over the shop, but that will wait.

Thanks.

Eric
 
Good morning, Eric~


I'm wondering how many layers - and types - of cloth you needed to come flush. Looks like a biaxial - did it have mat stitched on as well?


And, no filler?



Seems all will be bullet-proof going forward.


All the best,


SJS

 
Steve

The lowest spot got 3 layers of 12 oz biax (no mat backing) and all of it was covered with 6 oz woven tape. I suspect it is high in the middle and will need sanding to level it. After I've sanded and see how smooth and true it is I'll use microballon filler to blend the area as needed.

Thanks.

Eric
 
Dave

I imagine turning cork adjacent to walnut would be challenging. One would easily yield to the gouge, while the other would resist. Was it hard to turn and keep true? Looks great.

Eric
 
Eric Patterson said:
Dave

I imagine turning cork adjacent to walnut would be challenging. One would easily yield to the gouge, while the other would resist. Was it hard to turn and keep true? Looks great.

Eric
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Eric,
You are correct but maybe not in the way one might think. The cork is actually less forgiving than the Walnut. The cork tends to tear out, unless one uses an angled slicing cut, with a very sharp tool. So much so, that I was concerned that I'd tear out a chunk of cork. I'm not that good with a skew.

I ended up using a hard-faced sanding block to do most of the sizing and shaping. The hard flat surface of the sanding block, reduced how the density differences affected the outcome. Next time I may combine White Poplar/ Birch/ or Light Maple and Walnut. Should be more consistent and easier to tool.
 
Dave

That makes sense. If you haven't yet, look up celtic knots in wood turning. A lot of info out there on ways to make them.

Eric
 
patrick mccarthy said:
Dave
You also may be able to use a fine grained rasp.
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Patrick,
I was surprised the cork did not respond well to the tools I was using. My experience with carving cork decoys has been quite the opposite. I suspect it was the quality of the cork. This piece seemed quite porous. It was new, but several years old.

The price of raw cork for rod building varies greatly. Top grade cork, supplied in 1/2 thick by 1-1/4 diameter rings, adds up to 12 dollars per inch for just the raw material. Lesser grades are of course cheaper to purchase.




corkringprice.jpg
 
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Bill Embacher said:
Thats cool Dave!

Here is a wood duck decoy I finished as a gift last month:
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Bill,
That's pretty nice too! Someone I know, would say, "I'd be proud to drop shot over that decoy."
 
Eric Patterson said:
Dave

If you haven't yet, look up celtic knots in wood turning. A lot of info out there on ways to make them.

Eric
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Eric, NOW you tell me! I was searching for "elliptical inlays" and not finding squat. I know what a "rope" Celtic knot is and would have never applied that term to the inlays, but yes, when enough are inlays are clustered together, I can see why the term would apply.
 
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I ran across that term somewhere in the past. Don't feel bad not searching for it. If I hadn't stumbled across it, I would have searched wood turning conic sections.

Eric
 
I would have searched wood turning conic sections.

Sounds like something a rocket scientist would type....
 
Carl said:
I would have searched wood turning conic sections.

Sounds like something a rocket scientist would type....
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I think you are correct about that one :) Actually I think Dave is working with cylindrical sections.
 
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