May 31, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
433 
soft and pliable. A regular boat shop that has much 
bending to do connects a steam pipe direct from their 
boiler to the steam box, and so obtains a pressure of 
steam that penetrates quickly into the wood, but an 
amateur seldom has the good fortune to have these ap- 
pliances. I remember my first steam box. It was a 
wooden gate post. A box about 7ft. long and 6in. square 
inside. I naikd a piece of board over one end and put 
my wood in at the other, plugging up around it with an 
old coat so the steam would not all escape. The steam 
I generated in a big iron tea kettle set on a portable gas 
stove with tube connected to the gas fixture in the cellar. 
I cut a hole in the middle of the box and inserted the 
spout of the kettle. The difficulties met with were, the 
kettle kept boiling dry, and it was some time after refilling 
before steam was obtained again. Each kettleful, 
however, bent a batch of about six frames, and persever- 
ance won. I also learned that if the frames were laid in 
the bottom of the steam box it was a long time before 
the steam got into them, as that was just where the cold 
air lodged. But. by putting cleats across the bottom 
of the box to hold them up nearer the middle, the steam 
got a chance to get at all sides of the wood, as they kept 
the wood up where the steam was. 
One way to make a steam box is to get an old wash 
boiler and have a tinsmith solder a pipe on to the lid large 
enough to lead up into the box. This you can set up on 
a brick foundation and build a fire under, and it will 
hold water enough to generate steam for some time. 
There are, in air, sixt3<--eight frames in our launch. Of 
these about forty can be fitted to the ribbands from the 
bending they get over the one mould by straightening out 
a little here and there for the forward frames. I have 
purposely made this launch an easy one to build by putting 
but little reverse or S curve to the after frames. There 
are about seven pairs of frames, fourteen in all, that have a 
reverse curve in their lower end. In some it is so slight 
that it can easily be bent, but six or eight of them will 
require persuasion. 
Nine out of ten amateurs will be too impatient to do 
the work necessary, simply as preparation to bending; 
but experience will curb them. Change the shape of your 
bending mould to give the curve required in the top of 
the reverse frames by "padding" the mould, leaving the 
lower ends straight. Then saw out of some 2in. yellow 
pine or spruce the curve required in the lower end of 
the frame, making what are known in boat shops as "sole 
blocks." By resteaming the straight ends and clamping them 
over these, you can get just the reverse curve needed in the 
frames. Fig. 20. Always in steam bending make your mould 
different shap;, 
of SolcBlc 
Fig,-20 
or sole block, whichever it may be, a quicker curve than 
what you really want, because the frame will always 
straighten back a little. And while you can straighten it 
out easily enough, it is a very difficult task to try and get 
any more curve into it. 
Another way to bend the frames is to take a piece of 
wire and bend it inside of the ribbands, where the frame 
is to go, and so get the required shape. Then mark this 
shape on the floor and nail a row of cleats, around which 
you can bend the two frames required for each set. In 
this way you can bend an S frame in one operation, but 
you are more apt to break frames than by bending them 
over a mould, and it is not so good a way. Fig. 21. 
Beveling the Frames, 
When you have the frames all bent you still have an- 
other job ahead of you, if you let the frames' get cold on 
the mould, before you are ready to plank her in. You 
will find when you come to fit the forward and after 
frames in to the ribbands, that the angle the latter make 
as they curve in toward the stem and stern, cause the. 
frame to touch only at one edge. You want the planks 
to fit flat across the whole face of the frame, so it is neces- 
sary to cut away the forward edge of the forward frames 
End the after edge of the after frames, so when you set 
the frames in against the ribband they touch it perfectly 
flat the whole breadth of the frame. 
So bevel the outer face — Fig.. 22 — the edge that touches 
the ribbands — of all your frames so they all fit flat, and 
then, secure them permanently jn their places along the 
keel. Put the forward frames aft of the sawed floors 
we have already put in place and the after ones forward. 
Cut the ends of the frames so they fit flat on top of the 
keel, and meet at the center of it; then put an inch and a 
half galvanized wire nail through the frame into the keel. 
The lower end of the frame — the part that touches the 
Frame 
Sent 
bevelacl to 
fit nbbon<3 
FiQ-22 
keel — is called the heel of the frame; the upper part, the 
head. 
Nail each frame temporarily to the ribbands as you get 
them fitted true, and fasten them permanently to their 
floors, nailing through the floor into the frame two or 
three i^in. galvanized wire nails on each side of the 
keel. 
Keel Blocks. 
You may be wondering how you are going to fasten 
the garboards or plank that goes next to the keel when 
there is nothing for the nails to go into except at the 
frames. The way to overcome this problem is as fol- 
lows. Take an oak plank iin. thick, pin. wide and 12ft. 
long, saw this up into short blocks 4^in. long that will 
just jam in tight lengthwise between the frames and 
floors on top of the keel. Fit them all in their places and 
then mark along the frame at each end how much to bevel 
the bottom of them off. Fig. 22J/2. It is easier to take each 
Fig-22/* 
art of Keel Clock o< BiTTm 
To be bevel off. 
block out one at a time and bevel them off in a vise than it is 
to try and do it after you have nailed them in. Spike 
each one to the keel with a 2in. galvanized nail. Then 
when the garboard strake is put on you can rivet it to 
this block, and when you come to caulk the seam there 
will be something to keep the cotton from hammering 
clear through to the inside of the launch. 
While the moulds gave an idea of What the shape of 
your launch was going to be, you can get a far better idea 
of her when all the frames are in place. 
Planking. 
The moulds can be taken out after you have put on 
the top board of the planking. Boat builders call this 
upper plank the ''sheer strake," because it is the plank 
that outlines the curve or upward sweep of the boat 
called her sheer. The planking or boards that you put 
on outside the frames are put on one at a time, forming 
streaks of planking about 4m. wide. Therefore, the top 
streak is called the sheer streak. But to be purely nautical 
you must use poor grammar and pronounce it sheer 
strake. 
There is quite a bit of science connected with the 
planking up of a launch — to decide corectly how many 
strakes of plank will be best to put on a boat and how 
wide each strake should be; how much to taper each 
plank to bring them out to just the right width at the 
ends. 
It's one of those kinks difficult to describe and even 
more difficult to do. Experience is by far the best 
teacher. But I can help you along a great deal if I can't 
give you a certificate of proficiency in planking. 
Take as an example a barrel. You are all familiar with 
that. There you have the principles that enter into a 
boat's planking. The only difference being that the barrel 
makes a gradual taper toward each end, whereas the 
launch does not. The boards in the barrel are wide in 
the middle and taper toward each end just as the launch's 
are. 
But a boat builder goes about his work in a different 
manner from a cooper. A cooper takes the distance 
around the middle of his barrel and divides it into as 
many divisions as the width of his staves will make and 
then to find how wide they will be at the ends, he takes 
the distance around that circle and divides that into the 
same number of divisions. If it measures 6oin. around 
the middle of the barrel and the cooper puts in twenty 
staves 3m. wides, he can find the widths at the end by 
measuring the circle, and if it comes to 4oin., the twenty 
staves divided into forty will give 2in. for the width of 
the end of the staves. 
Just so with boat building. Take our launch and bend 
a thin strip of wood outside the middle frame, measuring 
the distance from the keel to the sheer line. It is just 
46m., and at the stem it measures 34111. Ten planks will 
give us 4 6-ioin. for the width of the strakes amidships 
and 3 4-ioin at the stem. This is the rule — so far as a 
rule can be laid out for planking a boat, but by experi- 
ence boat builders learn to widen the plank where the 
boat's shape is flat, and narrow them where there is a 
sharp curve such as' at the turn of the bilge half way 
down mould No. 3. 
You would be surprised to see what a straight line a 
plank that is crooked when laid out flat will sometimes 
become whet* bent around, the frames, 
Most boat builders plank their boats by eye, pu'.ting on 
three or four planks at the top, some at the bottom and 
then dividing up the remaining space evenly. 
Several kinds of wood are used for planking, though 
most launches have white cedar. Cypress is considerably 
used, and a few huilders use -white pine or yellow pine. 
It matters but little which you use. Cedar makes the 
lightest boat, but is expensive in some parts of the 
country. 
The requirements of planking are these: You want 
a wood that is thoroughly dry when you put it on ; one 
that shrinks and swells the least, so the seams will not 
gape open when the boat is hauled out over winter ; a 
tough wood, so if the boat should hit anything floating on 
the water she would not break a plank, and a wood that 
will finish up nicely when painted or varnished. 
Mahogany and oak are sometimes used for planking, 
making a beautiful but exceedingly expensive finish, but 
they are mostly used as the trim on launches, as they are 
woods that stand exposure well and make a pretty finish. 
If you use white pine for planking you can get it per- 
fectly clear ; if cedar, there will be knots. Don't discard 
a plank because of this. Although, of course, if you want 
to and can stand the expense, it would make a nicer job 
to pick out all perfect boards, but boat builders could 
not do business if they were to be so particular. There 
are two ways of remedying a knot hole : A loose knot 
and one that should come out can usually be spotted by a 
fine black ring around it. Tap all suspicious ones and 
knock out all that start."' Bore the holes out so all the 
loose bark that surrounds them is cut away. Then either 
fit in a cork or whittle a pine plug and hammer it in 
tight from the outside, first dipping it in white lead paint 
to make it stick. Saw it off even with the plank and you 
will never know there was a knot there when the boat 
is painted. 
But a far worse evil than knots is sap in a board. 
Nothing rots quicker than part of a plank that shows 
white or bluish. That is the sap, and you'll always find 
it on the edges. 
. If you take a straight plank for your sheer strake you 
will find you cannot bend it around the top of the frames 
where it belongs. The curve of the side of the boat, 
together with the various bevels made by the different 
frames forward and aft, require a crooked shaped plank. 
To determine this shape is one of the difficulties of boat 
building. Its process is termed by boat builders taking a 
spiling. 
Take a thin board, say about %.m. thick, and bend it as 
it will naturally go around the frames, keeping it down 
below the ribband along the heads of the frames that 
outline the sheer and hold it either with a few nails or 
some clamps. In some places the board may be very 
close to the ribband; in others a couple of inches away. 
With your pencil and rule draw a series of lines at every 
frame from the ribband down across the board to give 
you the direction in which to measure, and apply the dis- 
tance with the compasses. Then set a pair of carpenter's 
compasses so as to span the greatest distance from the 
ribband to the board you are using as a pattern, and at 
every one of the pencil marks you have made — Fig. 23; — 
/} Frame 
•3 piling 
Fig -25. 
(or every other frame as you become familiar with plank- 
ing), prick off the distance you set your compasses to 
down from the ribband along the mark to wherever it 
may come on the thin board. Then take the thin board 
off the frames and lay it out flat on the plank from which 
you are going to cut your sheer strake. By repacking 
back along the lines , from the marks you made on the 
pattern to this board you have a row of spots that by 
drawing a line through them with a batten will give you 
the exact shape you should cut the sheer strake "to. 
This is the top edge only, and you may be wondering 
how to determine the lower edge. This requires no spil- 
ing. Just make it a fair line, keeping it 3 l / 2 'm. wide at 
the forward end, 4^in. wide in the middle and 
3in. at the after end, as you have previously 
decided. Bend a thin batten of wood through these 
spots and mark it along with a lead pencil. Then saw 
it out and plane the edges up square. The end, of course, 
has to be fitted into the rabbet cut in the stem and the 
transom shaved off, if necessary, so the plank makes a 
perfect fit. 
To look well this top plank should always be wider 
forward than aft, and widest of all about amidships. And 
if the transom has a quick round to it, boat builders who 
have planes with a round iron, hollow out the inside of 
the plank and round off the edges on the outside, making 
a perfect fit. 
The next board or strake of planking you find the 
shape of in exactly the same way as you did the sheer 
strake. Spiling for the upper edge and making them the 
widths in the middle and ends you decided on at first. 
If you have the facilities, such as a band saw or split- 
ting saw, it would pay you to work each plank out of 
i^in. boards and then cut them in two edgewise, making 
two planks just alike. If yoU don't do this be sure and 
line the planks out the same on each side. 
When you have the sheer strake on one side, take a 
spirit level and straight edge and level across at inter- 
vals, marking a snot to guide you in putting on the op- 
posite strake, so both sides will be the same. 
You may not be able to get planks long enough to go 
