Crafts / Craftsmen / craftswomen (craftspeople, I suppose)

This might be a bit lengthy/picture heavy, as I've not posted in here for ages, and have been doing a lot of joinery work on Annelis recently, and a few other odds and ends. I don't get on the internet very often, but maybe I'll try to make some more regular, smaller posts in the future. Sorry!

Firstly, here's a bit of an update on the interior fit-out on Annelis. I've mostly been working on the construction of the Galley:

I built the built the structure a while ago, from mostly softwood, with the visible joinery in mahogany, and grooved plywood panels (this is designed to be easily removed in the event of having to lift the diesel tank from beneath it)

We managed to salvage this maple from a house, which was having it's worktops replaced (I don't know why anyone would ever want to replace perfectly good, 45mm thick maple worktops?!). The first job was processing it back down into boards, and regluing it into slabs big enough to cut into the sections we required.

Then cutting out the 4 pieces, and joining them together with big mitred lapped joints:

I made a fibreglass/carbon fibre fridge box and lid, which is built in to the underside of the for'ard worktop, and there's a top-access food-storage locker under the aft worktop. I wanted the lids to be nice and flush to maximise the useable workspace, and I wanted them to be very snug-fitting, so no food-bits etc fall down the gaps:

I'm not sure on the handles yet, these are just prototypes. I think I want something a little more elegant...

In the first photo, you may have noticed the knife handles sticking out of the block in the worktop. Building this in to the galley was an important consideration, because I've sailed on dozens of boats, which never have adequate/safe storage for sharp knives (and I appreciate nice knives- like any other tool)

The aperture, in which the stove will swing on it's gimbals is lined with planished copper, which was a bit of an experiment, but I'm quite pleased with the results, now that it's dulled down a bit. I'm hoping it will turn a nice shade of green eventually:

Currently I'm working on making the cupboard doors. The bottom panel is going to be louvre vents, and the top will be a grooved 12mm plywood panel. These louvre vents are a far more complicated bit of joinery than you might imagine. It's taken me 2 days just to make the frames, which are currently gluing overnight.

Here's a little stop-frame animation, showing the proscess of making the mortices for the louvres. There are 144 chiseled-to-fit joint components in these 2 doors! (You might notice that I managed to break off one of the teeth, which are very delicate short-grain, until the louvre slats are glued in. I glued it back with 5 minute epoxy, just to hold it in position, before assembling the doors using cascamite).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7vR3H_SuEE&feature=youtu.be

We've just had 3 massive douglas-fir poles delivered, which will, in the coming few weeks be transformed into 7 new spars: 2 masts, 2 booms, 2 gaffs, and a bowsprit. This photos was taken at the yard, selecting the poles we wanted (marked with the yellow rings) from a shortlist of about 30 trees.

That's enough about that boat for now! These are my first two attempts at making some half models. The first was a gift, and the second a commission.

I've also been working on the Mary Amelia this past week. The last Bawley still to work commercially. Built in 1914 for cockling, and now used for mussels, by the simper family. There was a bit of recaulking, and unglamorous maintenance stuff, but they also asked me to engrave the the inside of the transom, which I rather enjoyed.

She was only out the water for a couple of days, but I'm going to build a wooden box for the cockpit, and finish off neatening up the carving, afloat, next week.

Right, that's definitely enough for now, I'll try to keep it to less of a barrage, and more of a trickle, in the future!