296 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Apbil 10, 1897. 
YACHT DESIGNlNG.-XVli. 
BY W. P. STEPHENS. 
(Continued from page MB.) 
Being provided with a suitable drawing board and a sup- 
port for it, tbe next question for the draftpman is what to 
put on the board to receive his drawing? At the present 
tune drawing paper can be had of every grade, from tbe 
coarsest and poorest up tt the finest, and practically of any 
size desired; 6ft. wide by 30, 60. and even 90Ft. long are 
stock sizes, and still larger can be obtained. It is amusing 
now to read in the old books on drafting minute instructions 
for scarfing and joining the comparatively small sheets then 
obtainable, in order to make one large sheet. To-dav paper 
is made in continuous lengths, and of almost any width up 
to 10ft. or so; some of it being afterward cut into sheets of 
various sizes and sold in that form, while the rest is cut into 
convenient lengths of 10, 20 or 80yds , and sold in the roll or 
by the yai'd. 
The first and most important consideration in selecting 
drawing paper, and one too frequently overlooked, is econ- 
omy ; and to this end only the very best should be bhosen, 
regardless of the first cost. A sheet of Whatmann's "Se- 
lected Best" hand made papeJ-, of ' Double lilephant" size, 
a7x40in., costs 30 cents, and two thirds of this sheet, costing 
'iO cents (]8x40in.), will be of the ri^bt size and proportions 
for a set of lines. The drawino to be made on this piece of 
pajDcr will probably require three or four days' time at the 
least, and an outlay of $15 to $B0 for labor. Such paper as 
13 too commonly used — a coarse, rough brown, filled with 
clay or other adulterant— may cost from 2 to 5 cents for a 
piece of the same size. Against this saving of less than 20 
cents in first cost must be set the loss of time, amounting to 
many hours, which is due to the coarse and unsuitable sur- 
face, the diificulty of making erasures, and the probable 
spoiling of the whole drawing when it comes to the inking 
in, as apart from the difficulty of making a pen work at all 
on such a rough, furry surface, the ink will spread wher- 
ever an erasure has been made. On a good white paper the 
most minute measurements may be plotted; very fine nencil 
lines may be drawn; erasures, even of ink lines, are "easily 
made without damage to the surface; the inking in may be 
done in half of the lime and with far greater neatness; and 
the lines of the finished drawing, fine as they are, stand out 
in bold relief. Even the beginner and the amateur, though 
he counts his time as of no money value and is desirous of 
economizing in bis cash outlay for materials, will find it the 
worst kind of economy to purchase paper of a poorer grade 
than is suitable for the particular work lie may be engaged 
on. 
Really good drawing paper can only be made of good 
materials and by expert workmen, the presence or absence 
of both being soon detected when a piece of paper is in use. 
The paper should be strong, so as to stand continual hand- 
ling, and it should be durable, not becomiag brittle or dis- 
colored with age. It should be of uniform thickness and 
i ven surface; it should shrink or stretch as little as possible, 
and equally in all directions; tbe surface should not absorb 
inks, but it must receive them freely, and must be capable of 
standing the complete erasure of ink marks and redrawing 
in ink. For some kinds of drafting it is necessary that the 
paper should stand the application of water in washing in 
broad surfaces of color, but this is seldom the case in marine 
drafting. It is not possible to obtain all of these qualities in 
any one make of paper, but from the very extensive and 
varied stock carried by the dealers in draftsmen's supplies it 
is possible to select a paper exactly fitted for any particular 
purpos". 
The drawing; of a set of lines for a vessel requires very 
accurate work, with fine lines and presumably considerable 
erasure and alteration ; for this purpose a thick white paper 
with a smooth surface is the best. Each maker or large 
dealer has a series of names for all of his papers, and this 
class of white papers is listed under such names as "Para- 
gon," "Par Excellence." "Peerless," "Universal." "Anvil," 
"Linnien," "Hercules," etc. ; the first three being the belter 
grades The best of these papers cost by the single yard, 
42in. wide, 45 to 50 cents, or half this price for a piece 18x 
42in., enough for the average drawing; by the roll of lOyds. 
they are still cheaper. The sail plan may be made on the 
same paper, but as it requires less alteration and erasure a 
lighter grade will answer as well. For preliminary sketches 
of sheer plan, etc., for details on a large scale, and similar 
open and simple drawings, the better grades of brown detail 
paper?, costing from 8 to 13 cents per yard, are quite good 
enough, and of course much cheaper than the first mentioned. 
For laying off any parts full size, such as the body plan, the 
cheapest grade of manilla paper is suitable; some of these 
papers, made for commercial use rather than for drafting, 
being so cheap when purchased by the roll that they are used 
on the mold loft floor for laying down the lines full size. 
For sketching and for the amateur's practice in the study 
of drafting, and in fact for amateur drafting in general, the 
ordinary linen ledger and letter papers, which may be had in 
sheets of large size, and of course unruled, are excellent, 
and considerably cheaper than the heavier drawing papers. 
They will take ink and will stand a reasonable amount of 
erasure. They, as well as some of the thinner of the regular 
drawing papers, may be used for blue- printing direct, with- 
out the labor of a tracing, and thus are very convenient. 
The roll paner, which may b&had in 10yd. rolls ot 36, 42, 
58, 63 and even 72in. width, is more economical than the 
sheets, as it may be cut to any sizes desired wfthoui waste; 
it is also convenient to store; but it has one serious objtction, 
it will not lie flat on the board. Tnis may be overcome by 
damp-stretching, as describtd later, or by rolling the paper the 
reverse way when the roll ia first opened and leaving it for a 
time, afterward cutting it into large sheets and putting them 
where they will lie perfectly fiat and under pressure. This 
is advisable with all paper, as it improves with age. 
In addition to the heavier papers for original drawings 
there are the transparent papers and cloth used for tracing, 
very indispensable adjuncts. The papers are the cheaper, 
costing about one-third as much as the cloth, and they 
answer very well for certain work that is not much handled. 
The}' are very fragile and easily torn, however, and much, 
less "satisfactory to draw on than the cloth; the latter being 
in every way preferable for tracings that are to be frequently 
handled or are of permanent value. It is most annoying to 
spend hours of careful work over a tracing and tnen m a 
short time to find the paper tearing at the edges and corners 
and in a fair way to become worthless. We would impress 
upon the young draftsman the lesson that it took us many 
years of practice to learn, that the slight saving due to the 
use of a poor quality of paper, or of tracing paper instead of 
cloth, is dearly paid for in the end. 
The invention of the blue-printiiig and other similar but 
more complicated processes— a comparatively modern im- 
provement — ^has made the tracing in one sense even more val- 
uable than it was before, though it has decreased the necessi- 
ty foi" numerous tracings. In this process it is necessary to 
have a drawing on some transparent medium, which drawing 
is equivalent to a photographic negative. This drawing is 
placed over a sheet of sensitized paper, and a sheet of heavy 
plate glass is laid over the two; they are then exposed to the 
bright sunlight for five minutes or so, or for a longer time if 
the light be less intense. The sensitized sheet, which was 
originally of a light yellow tint, and after exposure under the 
tracing has turned to varying shades of blue-gray, is now 
quickly washed wilh cold water and hung up to dry. The 
final result is a dark blue ground with white lines. Other 
processes give black or very dark lines on a white ground, 
but they are more difficult and expensive, and for most pur- 
poses no better than the humble blue-print. The value of 
this simple process is almost incalculable; before its inven- 
tion it was necessary to make a separate tracing from the 
original for every copy of a drawing, a number being re- 
quired in large establishments. Now but one' tracing is 
needed; from this any desired number of reproductions can 
be made rapidly and at a nominal cost. 
A suitable selection of paper for ordinary work would in- 
clude a roll of white paper, what is termed" "thick" or "me- 
dium" "smooth," cut into as large sheets as can be stowed 
away; some plain linen ledger or writing paper of various 
sizes and thicknesses, a roll of detail paper of good quality, 
tracing paper and tracing cloth. 
The almost invariable custom of draftsmen is to fasten the 
paper permanently to the drawing board, leaving it there 
until the drawing is entirely completed, when it is removed 
to give place to a new piece of paper. To follow out this 
plan, it is of cour e necessary that there shall be a good sup- 
ply of drawing boards of various sizes, or else that but one 
drawing shall be in hand at a time. The paper is fastened 
to the board either by tacks or paste, the former method 
being much the easier. Special drawing pins or thumb tacks 
are made for this purpose, a large flat head of brass or Ger- 
man silver with a steel point screwed in, not riveted. The 
usual sizes have heads from | to ^in. diameter, and points 
about -,\-in. long. A cheaper variety, introduced within a 
few years, has the head and point stamped from one piece of 
sheet steel ; they are quite as good as the more expensive ones. 
The heads of these talks stand up high enough to obstruct 
and sometimes to damage the edges of the T squaies and tri- 
angles; and a veiy good substitute for them may be found in 
the common carpet tack of iron or copper, which will leave 
the surface of the paper practically unobstructed. In jjlacing 
the paper on the board it should be trimmed square, the 
lower side of the paper parallel to the lower edge of the 
board, and the left side of the paper quite near to the left 
edge of the board. This side may be fastened with a tack 
in each corner; then the opposite side may be fastened at the 
corners, being well stretched, after which other tacks may 
be placed along all four sides until the paper Is held firmly 
and smoothly. 
In some establisbmerts it is the custom to keep a number 
of drawing boards of tuch sizes as the work demands, and 
as soon as one is cleared of a drawing it is covered with mus- 
lin, put on the board with starch and tacked around tbe 
edges; then a sheet of paper, which may be thinner than 
that used without backing, is well soaked with water on the 
back, allowed to expand, covered with starch and placed on 
the muslin. It is adjusted in position, its edges parallel to 
those of the board, and then rubbed down with a soft rag, a 
piece of brown paper being used to protect the damp surface 
of the drawing, paper. Beginning at the center, all air bub- 
bles and wrinkles are worked out, the edges rubbed down 
hard, and the board is set away to allow the cloth and paper 
to dry and season thoroughly until wanted for use. This 
gives' an excellent surface, hard, solid and smooth, and the 
drawing is in shape for permanent preservation; it, however, 
involves some trouble and also some time, in order that the 
drying may be complete. When the drawing is finished the 
paper and cloth are cut around the edges and the cloth 
pulled off the board. 
For some classes of work the paper is best prepared by 
the process of damp-str etching, and the method may fittingly 
be described here, though it is seldom used in the class of 
work of which we are treating. The sheet of paper should 
be cut a little larger all around than necessary for the fin- 
ished drawing. It is then turned face upward on the draw- 
ing board, a straightedge is placed about Jin. in from one 
edge, and with a very sharp knife point a cut is made less 
than halfway through the paper, and the strip is torn off by 
a steady pull from end to end. The other three sides are 
now treated in the same manner, leaving the edges of the 
paper thinner than the rest of the sheet, and also with a 
rough surface that will hold the paste or glue better 
than the original smooth back. The edges of the paper, 
for a width of from i to f n,, are now turned back on to 
the upper surface and pressed smooth with a paptr- 
f older or hard piece of wood; the paper is then 
turned face downward and the back is thoroughly wetted 
with a sponge and cold water, the edge being left dry. After 
the paper has absorbed sufficient water to rnake it perfectly 
soft and pliable the surplus water is sponged off and the 
sheet again turned face upward. It is now adjusted in place 
on the board and carefully smoothed out, working always 
from the center, using a soft rag and a piece of common 
paper to avoid soiling the face. After the paper is smooth 
and free from wrinkles, four strips of any common paper are 
cut anei laid under the edges that are folded back to keep the 
paste from the face of the paper. For securing the edges, 
mouth glue, specially prepared for draftsmen's use and to be 
bad in the stores, is often used ; but deMrine is still better. 
This should be mixed with water to a stiff paste and applitei 
freely to the edges that have been turned back to receive it 
The middle portion of the near side is first coated and rubbed 
down with some hard tool, such as folder or knife handle, 
using a piece of paper to protect the sujface; then the mid- 
dle of the opposite side is treated in the same way, after 
which follows the middle of one end and then of the other, 
the corners and the remainder of the sides being afterward 
dealt with. One advantage of the dextrine is that it can be 
readily softened by water, either in finally cleaning the board 
or in "correcting any eriors in applying the paper. The glue 
or dextrine, if rubbed down hard, will dry in a short time, 
and the paper will be ready for use as soon as the water has 
thoroughly dried out of ir. One caution is necessary in re- 
moving the paper from the board, which is done by cutting 
around the edges just inside of the pasted margin. After the 
first side is cut, an adjoining and not the opposite side shouM 
be next cut, otherwise the contraction pf the paper may tear 
the drawing badly. 
In the previous chapter no mention was made of a style of 
drawing board called a panel hoard, which is used for the 
purpose of damp-stretcMng. This board is made with a rab- 
beted 'frame like a picture frame, with an interior panel fit- 
ting flush with the upper surface of the frame and fastened 
by buttons on the back. The sheet of paper is well damped 
and allowed time to expand ; then it is laid over the panel, 
projecting an inch or so over each edge, and the panel is 
pressed into the frame anel fastened by'the buttons. As the 
paper is forced into the rabbet, it is drawn tight over the face 
of the panel, and when dry it should be smooth and free 
from wrinkles. This class "^of board is only used for small 
work, water-color painting, etc. In place of the process of 
pasting muslin and paper together on the board, as previously 
described, all the better qualities of drawing papers may 
now be had already mounted or backed with muslin, and in 
any sizes. This paper and cloth combination has a good 
body and is excellent to draw on, while practically inde- 
structible; it is, however, more than twice as costly as the 
paper alone. It is used for important and complicated draw- 
ings which require a great deal of labor. 
The great bulk of mechanical drafting— architectural, en- 
gineering or machine— is executed with the aid of the T square, 
a ruler or straightedge with a fixed head at one enel, which 
slides on the edge of the drawing board and keeijs the 
straighteelge always at the same angle with the board. Thus 
all the lines drawn from one edge of the board will be paral- 
lel; and if, as is at least nominally the case, the adjoining 
edge is at right angles to the first, all the lines drawn with 
the head of the T square in contact with this latter edge will 
be perpendicular to those first drawn. If the board be per- 
fectly true on all four edges and angles, which is seldom the 
ca?e, the T square may be used from any edge. This use of 
the T square of course carries with it the assumption that the 
paperis fastened to the board by one of the methods described, 
which is usually the case. The ordinary architectural or 
machine drawing is composed of a large number of straight 
lines, parallel to one edge or the other of the board, and 
many of them quite short. The accuracy of the draw- 
ing depends but slightly upon these lines all being 
absolutely parallel or perpendicular to one another; any 
small errors are likely to be merely local. In a marine 
drawing, as we have aheady seen, there are comparatively 
few straight linea, but these few are quite long and must be 
absolutely straight and parallel. For the former class of 
drawings the Tsquare'\% not merely useful, but indispensable; 
by its aid the principal lines, vertical and horizontal, may be 
drawn with all necessary accuracy, and the many smaller 
lines may be drawn very rapidly and quite accuritely 
enough. The convenience and quickness of the T square in 
marine drawing cannot be questioned ; but of its accuracy, 
except in drawings only 24 to 80in. long, as much cannot be 
said. With the most perfect appliances, a steel blade with 
metal head working against a metal straightedge fastened to 
the end of the board, the foundation lines of the sheer and 
half-breadth plans, perhaps 4 or 5ft. long, may be drawn 
both straight and parallel, but such perfect apparatus is not 
always at hand. 
In the case of a design but 2 to 3ft. long, the fjapermay be 
fastened to the board, tke latter being enough wider than the 
paper to admit of sxilme imgMs being used on each side, and 
all the lines as well as the intersections may be drawn with 
the T square with a marked saving of time. When it comes, 
however, to drawings 4ft. or more Ion?, there are good rea- 
sons for laying aside entirely both the T square and the 
thumb tacks, and resorting to other and simpler if less rapid 
means. 
In the first place, all drawing paper, plain or mounted, will 
stretch or shrink to an uncertain but often annoying degree, 
perhaps seriously impaumg the accuracy of the drawing 
even before it is finished. Such shrinkage may confidently 
be counted on in the case of the elaborate process ot dump- 
stretching, already described, as soon as the drawing is cut 
from the board. There is no better preventative of this an- 
noying evil than to keep the paper, whether plain or mounted, 
for as long a time as possible, laid pprfe ctiy flat and with a 
board on it, in the atmosphere in which it will finally be 
used; and a supply of paper should always be on hand "sea- 
soning. A sheet of thi^ kind, already nearly of the size re- 
ejuired for the drawing, will change but little when taken 
from the pile a short time before it is needed anei laid in a 
drawer It should by this time be in such a condition that 
when placed on the drawing board it will lie perfectly flat 
and smooth without the aid of paste or pins. If left entirely 
to itself, it will change much less than if confined to the 
board in any way. 
The nature and proportions of such a drawing make it 
desirable that any part may be brought at will under the 
draftsman's hand, and while this is easily possible with a 
loose sheet of paper, it is not with one fastened to the board. 
In the latter case there must be left a margin of at least 6iQ. 
of board outside of the bottom and possilily the top of the 
paper, on which to place the spline weights; and if this is done 
the draftsman will frequently have to lean far over to reach 
the center or upper side of the drawing. With the drawing 
free, it may be pushed back when working on the near side, 
or drawn down when working at the top, on the sheer, rail, 
etc.; or for the same purpose it may with advantage be 
reversed, the upper side being temporarily turned toward the 
draftsman. This will almost inevitably be necessary in 
drawing the curves of the body plan. A revolving table such 
as previously described obviates the necessity for actually 
turning the paper around; but even with itth-e paper will re- 
quire to be moved toward one edge or the other. Siill another 
advantage of having the paper thus free is that, when work 
is finished for the time, the drawing may be laid away se- 
curely in a drawer; and if it becomes necessary to lay it aside 
for a time to take up other work, tbe drawing board is left 
clear for the latter. After being brought up to the conven- 
tional use of the T square in various classes of drawing, and 
following it as a matter of course for years in marine draft- 
ing, we have finally hung up all save the shorter ones in a 
nice quiet place on the wall, where they can rest at ease, 
only coming down at long intervals for some special piece of 
woik. Of course, the smaller ones are in constant use on 
sail plans, details, fittings and similar work more closely al- 
lied to machine drafting. Another consideration, though a 
slight one, is worth mentioning; if the drawing be free, it is 
possible to turn it over and sketch on the back, which has 
almost as good a surface as the face, many useful details, 
thus keeping them conveniently at hand on the one sheet of 
paper. 
The 31ft. knockaboub recently illustrated in the Forest 
AKD Stbeam is about completed at the yard of her designer 
and builder, W. P. Stearns, Marblehead. She will be named 
Verona, and will be owned by C. B. Tucker, of Boston. Mr. 
Stearns is now very busy with the new 16f b. fin-keels and 
other work. 
