Necessity is a Mother
Posted By Russ Emerson on January 5, 2007 at 11:53 pm
With the second planking ready to commence, It occurred to me I would need to prepare the wales in advance.
When doing the first planking in 1mm basswood, bending planks was not a terribly difficult obstacle to overcome. A couple hours’ soak in water, and they were flexible enough for me to bend by hand or with a crimper… not that there was much bending needed on this particular hull form.
The second layer, of .5mm walnut, seems not to need much coaxing at all for the planks to bend properly.
The wales, which helped to stiffen ships longitudinally, are necessarily thicker and heavier than regular planks. Being 2mm walnut, they are also more prone to breaking. Because of this, I needed to take additional steps to get them bent — without breaking, of course. So, I gave them a 24-hour soak prior to bending.
But then I realized that for the bend to set, I would need a form of some sort to which to clamp the wales as they dried. My eyes lit on a shape that looked to be the right size. . . the corrugated cardboard insert for a kitty scratcher.
Perfect.
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