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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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shipbuilding caulking irons
Hello all,
I'm thinking of forging up some caulking irons for some boatbuilding friends. Any idea what type of steel they're made of? C. Drew made the "talking irons," and they were/are the best. I would like to make them out of the same stuff that C. Drew did. Thanks, Eide |
#2
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Get some leaf springs from a wrecking yard. They will last forever with
a good hardening & tempering, I have rock chisels I made forty years ago still in excellent condition. Oil harden & draw to light blue spring temper. Any harder & the striking face could chip. Bugs |
#3
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Why bother? Ships haven't used riveted construction, needing upset
caulking, for many years. Old boilers, maybe. Bob Swinney "Bugs" wrote in message oups.com... Get some leaf springs from a wrecking yard. They will last forever with a good hardening & tempering, I have rock chisels I made forty years ago still in excellent condition. Oil harden & draw to light blue spring temper. Any harder & the striking face could chip. Bugs |
#4
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Robert Swinney wrote:
Why bother? Ships haven't used riveted construction, needing upset caulking, for many years. Old boilers, maybe. Bob Swinney "Bugs" wrote in message oups.com... Get some leaf springs from a wrecking yard. They will last forever with a good hardening & tempering, I have rock chisels I made forty years ago still in excellent condition. Oil harden & draw to light blue spring temper. Any harder & the striking face could chip. Bugs Up here in Puget Sound there are still many many wooden fishing boats which have to be brought into drydock periodically, scraped down, re-caulked and repainted. They still use caulking irons to drive the oakum between the boards as far as I know. Maybe we're talking about two different things - terminology can be difficult around marine issues. GWE |
#5
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Thanks Grant. I was re. to "caulking" chisels used to upset the edges of
lap-rivited joints used in ship and boiler construction. Also spelled, "calk". Def. #3, from Webster's New World College Ed.: "to make (a joint of overlapping plates) tight by hammering the edge of one plate into the side of the other." Bob Swinney "Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... Robert Swinney wrote: Why bother? Ships haven't used riveted construction, needing upset caulking, for many years. Old boilers, maybe. Bob Swinney "Bugs" wrote in message oups.com... Get some leaf springs from a wrecking yard. They will last forever with a good hardening & tempering, I have rock chisels I made forty years ago still in excellent condition. Oil harden & draw to light blue spring temper. Any harder & the striking face could chip. Bugs Up here in Puget Sound there are still many many wooden fishing boats which have to be brought into drydock periodically, scraped down, re-caulked and repainted. They still use caulking irons to drive the oakum between the boards as far as I know. Maybe we're talking about two different things - terminology can be difficult around marine issues. GWE |
#6
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On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 07:55:34 -0700, Grant Erwin
wrote: Robert Swinney wrote: Why bother? Ships haven't used riveted construction, needing upset caulking, for many years. Old boilers, maybe. Bob Swinney "Bugs" wrote in message oups.com... Get some leaf springs from a wrecking yard. They will last forever with a good hardening & tempering, I have rock chisels I made forty years ago still in excellent condition. Oil harden & draw to light blue spring temper. Any harder & the striking face could chip. Bugs Up here in Puget Sound there are still many many wooden fishing boats which have to be brought into drydock periodically, scraped down, re-caulked and repainted. They still use caulking irons to drive the oakum between the boards as far as I know. Yup, worked at Lake Union Drydock where we had four mine sweeps (that were originally built there) that went through that process... and then some. Quite th' art. They had all been sold to th' S. Koreans and it was really strange trying to get any work done with a pack of them looking over yer shoulder taking notes. Snarl |
#7
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wrote in message
... Quite th' ... th' ... Are you aware it is spelled with an E as well? Tim -- "California is the breakfast state: fruits, nuts and flakes." Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms |
#8
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"Robert Swinney" wrote
Why bother? Ships haven't used riveted construction, needing upset caulking, for many years. Old boilers, maybe. You are very wrong there. There are a fair number of masochist craftsmen out there building carvel planked clasic hulls. Just like there are a number of machinist who have not gone CNC. :-) There is just something about the look, feel and sound of a well made wooden boat that frozen snot just can't duplicate. -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com |
#9
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Eide wrote:
I'm thinking of forging up some caulking irons for some boatbuilding friends. Any idea what type of steel they're made of? I would make them from OCS (Old Chevy Spring). Actually, Chevy just sounds good. Any car/truck springs work well. Choose coil or leaf depending on the final shape you want. After my mechanic son-in-law broke three of Snap-On's biggest and best cold chisels, I forged, hardened and tempered him one from a piece of truck coil spring. This was about ten years ago. I checked with him recently and he thinks it will need sharpening "soon". A piece of leaf spring TIG'd into a slot cut in the end of a piece of pipe made a great chisel for knocking lumps (from knot-holes in the forms) of concrete. Ted |
#10
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Thanks all, but no one knows what they would have used? I plan on making a
few of them, setting up some spring swages and I'd like to get some round stock to start with. Eide "Eide" wrote in message news:7Jk4e.54472$Az.12391@lakeread02... Hello all, I'm thinking of forging up some caulking irons for some boatbuilding friends. Any idea what type of steel they're made of? C. Drew made the "talking irons," and they were/are the best. I would like to make them out of the same stuff that C. Drew did. Thanks, Eide |
#11
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The irons I have seen are not all that hard. They are intended for pounding
oakum into wood seams so hardness is not all that important and in some cases not desireable. Then you can touch up the end with a ******* file occasionaly. A caulking malet has a wood face so mushrooming of the iron's shank takes a lot of use. Above all it has to be light and easy to handle. Normally you would start with about a 3/4" rod of hot rolled, upset one end to about 1 1/2" by 3/8", leave about 3" of shank and spread another 3" down to various thicknesses and widths for the working end. As for me, I would start with 1 1/2" rod and turn down the shank before forming the working end. There are all sorts of shapes. Some even have an offset shank with the working edge on one side and a driving surface on the other. The really good ones with an edge wider than about 2" have a slightly conic or parabolic curve to fit better in fair seams. -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com "Eide" wrote in message news Thanks all, but no one knows what they would have used? I plan on making a few of them, setting up some spring swages and I'd like to get some round stock to start with. |
#12
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They need to be harder than mild steel. The mallets are made out of Live
Oak, Lignum Vitae, or Black Mesquite - all very hard woods. And, when caulking large boats the oakum needs to be set almost as hard as you can hit it. The C. Drew irons were made to last a lifetime of caulking and I would like to make the same. I have some C. Drew irons, but I don't really want to do a grinding test on them... Eide "Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message news:Ww05e.3814$NM.2282@lakeread04... The irons I have seen are not all that hard. They are intended for pounding oakum into wood seams so hardness is not all that important and in some cases not desireable. Then you can touch up the end with a ******* file occasionaly. A caulking malet has a wood face so mushrooming of the iron's shank takes a lot of use. Above all it has to be light and easy to handle. Normally you would start with about a 3/4" rod of hot rolled, upset one end to about 1 1/2" by 3/8", leave about 3" of shank and spread another 3" down to various thicknesses and widths for the working end. As for me, I would start with 1 1/2" rod and turn down the shank before forming the working end. There are all sorts of shapes. Some even have an offset shank with the working edge on one side and a driving surface on the other. The really good ones with an edge wider than about 2" have a slightly conic or parabolic curve to fit better in fair seams. -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com "Eide" wrote in message news Thanks all, but no one knows what they would have used? I plan on making a few of them, setting up some spring swages and I'd like to get some round stock to start with. |
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