I canvassed the Huron last Friday, and as I was cleaning up my filler brush, I realized just how much use this old brush has had to do.  I thought that i looked pretty cool, so here it is!

 

After cleaning up the old Stanley 5 1/2, I felt inspired to turn my attentions to an even older 5 1/2C (C for corrugated bottom).  The 5 1/2C is the one in the forground of each photo.

So, some sanding, some stripping of old paint splatters, welding up a serious crack in the bed, and unbending a bent iron, the old plane looks pretty good!


 

 

After the giant job of getting the old freighter canoe rejuvenated, it is refreshing to have canoes in the shop that are in reasonable condition.  Currently I have a 16' Huron that has just had two refresher coats of varnish applied to the interior and a 15' Chestnut "Bob's Special" about to be opened up for the same treatment.  Shortly they will both be re-canvassed, filled, painted, etc. The Huron is waiting a bit as the planking dried and shrank slightly while in the shop, I put it outside in the humid fall air to swell up a bit before I applied the linseed oil on the outside of the hull.

Also seen is the "S" shaped coffee table that I am working on for my recroom.  I've been building the paint finish, it is now ready for final hand sanding and edge veneer, then I'll varnish over everything.  I am still in negotiations with my wife about cutting down these fine period table legs to coffee table height.  They came from an old end table that she still has some sentimental attchment to.

 

 

I rough carved the front of the viola da gamba for my wife. The nice thing about bent stave construction is that the top's shape is pretty much already done and I just need to blend the curves. The light was nice Friday morning making a nice photo showing the little Ibex plane and shavings.

 

 

 

The carved viol top looks something like this. next step is to cut and inlay the purflings.

I found this Baily 5 1/2 hand plane at a local old stuff store, got it for $8. I would have paid the $10 asking price but I felt like making a low offer. It is sitting beside my trusty block plane to show scale. Yes, it is pretty rusty and needs some good TLC!

Here is the same plane after this mornings ministrations. I expect to get a lot of use out of this old workhorse! Cleaned up real nice.

Wondering if I should do more...repaint the bed, sand and re-varnish the tote and horn...won't make it work better, just look "nicer". As it is it really has a "been there, done that." kind of look which has a certain value. I think that I'll leave it alone. Life is too short to get hung up and precious about these sorts of things. This plane has work to do!  

 

 

Having finished the two kevlar canoe repairs requiring gunnel replacement, I am now working on yet another Huron?Bastien Brothers/Big Chief canoe.  This one is not too bad, actually.  Opened her up, 4 rib repairs, stem repair, sanding and two coats of fresh varnish, re-canvas, paint, etc.  Pretty straight forward for a change.

But that's not what I want to show here!

Tadaa! Two demi-globes successfully made!

Now to turn my attention to the screens. I had thought of laying in random strand but then thought about drilling them in another globe screen made for the front. So I drilled some test holes in the sample piece that I had made in order to test my mold and fabrication process. Three sizes of holes. I just aligned these by eye just to see how it looks and how strong the shell would remain. At this point my son is still trying to talk me into making authentic style aluminium shells. He has no idea how much work that would entail, especially as it isn't him that would be doing it!

 

So, how to drill all those myriad holes in a pattern? Some head scratching all weekend provided me with this idea. A drill in an old drill/drill press tool, that I had inherited from my father-in-law and couldn't throw out, is mounted on a pivot allowing the drill to arc around the globe, which in turn will be mounted on a disc which rotates on a centre pin. I'm still working on this, not quite done, but enough for you to get the idea.

The back bracing is all done on the bass viol and the top is all assembled, cut to shape, and ready for carving.  In the photo you see it just sitting on the ribs, not glued yet.  There is a lot of work to do before then!