RiversWest Small Craft Center

Maritime Skills Workshops and Demonstrations Starting up in March

john — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:14:07 +0000

Our popular series of Maritime Skills Workshops will be starting up again on March 17. We will hold workshops each month on the Third Saturday of the month. We are also adding a series of Maritime Skills demonstrations on First Saturdays. In these the participants will not be producing anything themselves, though they may have the opportunity for some hands-on experience in the skill being demonstrated. In all cases the workshops and demonstrations will start at 10:00 unless otherwise stated. Some may start earlier if they are especially time-consuming, and some, for instance the oar workshop, may be continued on Sunday morning at 9:00. More information about each will be available closer to the event.

Workshops

March 17-18     Oar Making                   Mike Simmons
April 21            Plane blades                 Mike Simmons, John B
May 19                Plane bodies                Mike Simmons, John B
June 16               Wooden Cleats            Ralph Cohen

Demonstrations

March 3          Cedar Strip construction         John Whitehouse
April 7          Tool Sharpening                        Jim Litton
May 5          Glued lapstrake                            Steve Najjar
June 2            Taking lines and Lofting            Steve Najjar

Family Boat Building

billw — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:47:04 +0000

The Family Boat Build is happening again! This was a fun and highly successful event in 2010 and 2011, so we are going to repeat it in 2012. It will be held July 7-8 at the Willamette Sailing Club, in conjunction with the WSC, and the maritime Museum. the location will be at the WSC, like last year.

Pictures from the 2010 event can be seen on our gallery page here.

An excellent video of the 2011 event, plus a slideshow can be seen here: http://willamettesailingclub.com/2011/05/portland-wooden-boat-festival/

We will be able to accommodate twelve families this year, up from ten last year. Still, to be safe you should c0ntact Chuck Stuckey at poolstuckey@aol.com and get your name in the hat.

If you are interested in participating or have other questions, please contact Chuck Stuckey at poolstuckey@aol.com.

Boat Building Skills Workshops at RiversWest

billw — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:19:43 +0000

RiversWest has been holding an exciting series of workshops intended to teach or improve some of the skills required for boat building. Led by member Randy Togerson these workshops are being held at the RiversWest boat shop on the third Saturday of each month. The concept behind these workshops is that the leader is not necessarily an expert, but has organized a process and instructions, and any really specialized equipment, but all of us are figuring it out together as we go along. Since most woodworkers and boat builders tend to work alone and are often self taught, and since most of us already have the basic skills needed for these projects, this format is working very well. We expect to repeat any workshops that are especially successful, and for which there is demand.

The first workshop was on building oars. Randy provided an elegant design, and showed the attendees how to shape their oars using a plane, rasp, spokeshave and sandpaper to obtain a smooth, fair surface.

This was followed by a set of three workshops on wooden plane making. In the first workshop we built three varieties of plane makers floats; each person went away with at least two. These tools are used primarily to clean up the throats of wooden planes, but can also be used to fine tune tenons or other kinds of precise joinery. In the second workshop we built plane irons, skew chisels and marking knives. After hardening all these items by heating them in a special oven to 1800o F and then quenching in oil, in the third workshop we built the wooden plane bodies out of hard maple. As with the oar making, there was a strong emphasis here on shaping the wood. The sides and bottom of the plane bodies need to be perfectly square, but the ends are rounded to fit the builder’s hand. Most of the attendees had working planes by the end of this session, though everyone still had some work left to do at home. In the course of these workshops we all learned a great deal about working with metal, metal hardness and how it is achieved, sharpening plane irons, and the mechanics of wooden planes. Beyond what we learned from Randy we also learned from each other.

The next workshop coming up will be on paddle making. Attendees will have two options; they can either build a canoe paddle or a Greenland style kayak paddle. This will be similar to the first oar making workshop; everyone will go away with a paddle and an improved skill set.

Following this we will be holding a workshop on spar shaping. This will be a demonstration, only one mast will be made, but everyone will be able to have a hands-on experience.

These workshops are open to members and non-members alike, though we have been charging non-members a bit more. The cost for most of them has been between $10 and $50 for an all day session ($15-$60 for non-members) depending on the cost of materials. For more information on the schedule and cost, as well as more photos of the finished items, please go to our web site: www.riverswest.org .

We are hoping to get ideas, volunteers to teach, and sufficient interest among participants to continue these workshops. Woodworkers and boat builders alike tend to work alone and are often self taught; workshops like these are wonderful for expanding our thinking about how to perform the technical parts of our craft.

Upcoming Class Dates:
Paddle Making April 16
Spar Making May 21
Oar Making June 18

Materials for paddle making class:
Wood_Glues_and_Tools
Beavertail_Paddle
Ottertail_Paddle
Greenland_Double
Paddle length

Plane Makers Floats

randy — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:18:24 +0000

The next Third Saturday Project will be on Saturday November 20th at the boat shop and will we will be making plane makers floats.

From Lie-Nielsen Toolworks:

Floats are traditional tools used to cut, flatten, and smooth the critical surfaces of a wooden plane, such as the bedding of the blade, the mouth, and the wedge abutment. They are capable of extremely precise work.

Floats are also useful around the woodshop for lots of jobs besides plane making, and if you have never used one you will be amazed at how quickly they will produce an accurate, smooth surface. Try one for flattening, chamfering, smoothing flat and curved surfaces.

Our floats will be made from O-1 tool steel, hardened and tempered to Rc 50-52 for edge life and resharpening ability. To learn more about plane makers floats go to http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=534 or http://www.planemaker.com/planemakers_floats.html.

The kits to make two floats will be $25.00 for members and $30.00 for non-members. You may sign up here: Pattern Makers Floats Signup.

Information on our Third Saturday Projects is here.

Oar Finishing On Third Saturday in October

randy — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 04:43:35 +0000

On October 16th there will be a Oar Finishing session at the boat shop starting at 9:00 AM. Students and instructors from the Oar Making class will be finishing their oars. There will be no charge for the session but there may be a charge for any supplies you might use. There will be a leathering demonstration and leather available for purchase to make your own oar leathers. If you want to finish or refinish your oars, you should bring your own finish, brushes, paper towels and rags. Daly’s makes two excellent finishes for oars, oil based SeaFin Superspar varnish and water based AquaSpar varnish both are available from Woodcrafters in Portland.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar oar blanks will be available for sale. Alaskan Yellow Cedar is a moderately strong wood, stiff for its weight and with good shock resistance. It works easily and takes a good finish with both hand and machine tools. Like Port Orford cedar it is noted for its resistance to decay.

September Board Meeting Date Changed

randy — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:35:09 +0000

The date of the September board meeting for Riverswest Small Craft Center has changed to Wednesday September 22nd at 7:00 PM at the boat shop. The board meetings normally occur on the third Monday of the month. The October meeting will be on Monday October 18th at 7 PM at the boat shop. The meetings are held in the boat shop until it is too cold to hold them there.

Help needed for Family Boat Build

randy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:23:19 +0000

We have begun the process of putting together a prototype of the Salt Bay Skiff we are using in the Family Boat Build. Things are going well. Initial funding is in place and I’m confident we can pull this off. Remember the event is part of River Fest on the downtown waterfront the week end of Aug 21-22. What we need and how members can participate are:

We need a few tools. Each family will need a tape, (12 ft is plenty), a block plane, a battery drill ( screw gun), a sanding block, caulking gun, and a few things I’ve not thought of. Anyone out there willing to loan some tools to the project will mean less tools we have to buy.

Volunteers to oversee the building. Each “family” is different, some will need constant help, others will need only an answer to “what do we do next”. We also need someone around to make sure tools are “as they should be” and switching out batteries, etc. Since we looking at 6 to 10 families (8 is optimum), we hope for one boatwright for every two boats.

Volunteers to build the kits. We are providing a complete set of parts. All a family need do is assemble. All those parts have to cut out, double checked, marked, etc. The heavy lifting will take place after the prototype is done, say the 1st Sat in aug, the 7th. there’s plenty of work to be done before then and help is welcome.

Logistics. We have a loan of two 20 x 20 canopies. (thank you Steve Mahoney). We may well need more cover or at least could use some more for our own booths, tool table, “buy a hat” kind of stuff. some of you may have these 10 x 10 canopies (the kind you see at every soccer game, etc) that could be of help. The club has one (or two) but they need to be checked out to be sure all the parts are there. Any help in this regard would be appreciated. The two days of the event would benefit from one or two people willing to “run get what we forgot”.

If you are looking for fun time, or are just willing to help, please e-mail me back and I’ll start a spread sheet. RiversWest remains a great organization because we step up when it’s needed. Thanks in advance,

Chuck Stuckey, President

July News From RiversWest

randy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:06:42 +0000

Members and Friends of RiversWest,

We have four things to mention:

Family Boat Building at River Fest

RiversWest, together with the Oregon Maritime Museum will host Portland’s first ever Family Boat Build at the annual River Fest weekend, August 21-22, at the downtown waterfront. Anyone wishing to participate as a volunteer helper or who knows of a family who might wish to join in, please contact Chuck Stuckey, President, at 503-287-2065. The ideal family is one or two parents and kids about 8 to 12 years old. We expect this to be a lot of fun and the participating families can take their boat home with them.

New Boat being Launched by Jacob MacLeod

_We received this note from member Jacob MacLeod: _
I hope this finds you well! As many of you know, I’ve spent most of my spare hours over the last year building a boat in the garage. Although boats tend to be never-truly-ending projects, I’m calling this one done, and I’d love it if you could help me celebrate this Sunday at 6:00 PM for a proper launching. We’ll be converging under the Sellwood bridge where I hear there is a place to launch craft, and let’s go for a sail!

Please forward this on to any who have an interest, and drag along those who don’t.
See you there!
~Jacob
217-390-8368

Boat Show at Triton Yacht Club in Eugene*: *An opportunity for you to show your boat (free!)

Triton is an at-the-docks club based at Richardson Marina on Fern Ridge Lake outside Eugene. On Saturday, Aug. 7, we’re staging an in-the-water and on-the-grass boat show at Richardson. The show theme is boats with traditional lines, whether in wood or fiberglass.

A number of A-Dock slipholders have volunteered their spaces for larger boats in the show, and Lane County Parks (a co-sponsor of the show) has given us permission to display smaller skiffs, canoes, dinghies, etc. on the grass at the head of A-Dock. Eugene Parks, as part of their sailing program, will provide marketing and publicity in The Register-Guard, Eugene Weekly, local radio, etc.

While the number of slips available for the show is limited, we will have large amounts of lawn space. If you’re interested in participating and if you have a boat that would fit the theme, please shoot me a response with a description of your boat and a telephone number.

The show, which will run from noon to five, will be publicized in Eugene media. There is no entry fee and no admission charge for spectators.

Would appreciate a response soonest.

thanks,

Mike Thoele
wyejay@cvcable.com
541-998-3484
/Sequel/
Slip B-56, Richardson

RiversWest Newsletter about to come out!

Watch your mailboxes, the latest edition of the RiversWest Newsletter should arrive in it next week, With an interesting expose of our new president, Chuck Stuckey (written by himself), an article on the launch of Ralph Cohen’s 21′ Redwing, Zakkendrager, and other articles of interest. The Zakkendrager had to be lifted with a crane out of Ralph’s back yard, this may interest many of our members.

Home Built Boats Weekend at the Center for Wooden Boats

randy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:35:33 +0000

The Center for Wooden Boats http://cwb.org/home-built-boats-weekend will be hosting its second Home Built Boats Weekend. An on-the-docks two-day event featuring amateur boatbuilders and their boats, visitors interested in boatbuilding and seeking how-to information, plus professionals who cater to the amateur builder. Skills demonstrations and Q&A sessions will be offered by professional boatbuilders and instructors.

RiversWest will have at least two entries this year and we encourage more members to attend.

CWB Boat Shop Talks will consist of multiple talks and skills demonstrations on Saturday for amateurs and others interested in small boat building. All talks will be in the CWB Boat Shop.

Speakers will include:

Pat Ford, professional boatwright: “Roll and Tip, an explanation of paint and varnish work.”

James McMullen, a longtime amateur turned professional boatwright: “What I learned from my first 55 boats.”

Professional boatwright and lapstrake expert, Eric Hvalsoe: “Clench nailing and riveting demonstration, plus a lapstrake Q&A.”

Thomas Nielsen, Seattle boatwright and home-builder-of-many-cool-boats: “Jungle boatbuilding, jazz sailing, or making it up as you go with whatever you have!” (Nielsen will have three boats at the show, a Tiki 26, Ulua 18, and 6-0 Wray Fish.)

Tips for the home builder” – a panel of recent amateur builders offer their advice.

Plus several more talks yet to be scheduled.

For more information go to the Center for Wooden Boats web site http://cwb.org/home-built-boats-weekend.

Oar Making Class Concluded

randy — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:43:14 +0000

The Oar Making class concluded on Sunday with four pairs of Oars in various stages of completion. All of the oar makers were very happy with the class and with the new skills they learned. “Just learning how to sharpen and use my tools was worth the class” Russell Smith was quoted. Students learned how to sharpen their block planes and spoke shaves and how to use them. The shop band saw was used to rough out the oar, the final shaping was done with block planes and spoke shaves.

The students learned how to make and use an 8 side gauge also called a spar gauge. The skills to round over the loom of the oar are the small skills used in making spars. The Alaskan Yellow Cedar that was used for the oars also makes beautiful spars.

Two of the clubs oars were fitted with leathers as part of the oar making class. Using a baseball or herringbone stick the leathers were quickly attached to the oars.