I promise-this is the last you will hear about tacks. But this is where things get awfully tedious and I am getting very tired of the whole tack thing. My fingers are too big to easily pick them up and put them in the pilot hole. Then, when I start driving them, some are jarred loose and have to be re-stuck. I have just finished driving tacks on the bow and stern ends, about 500 of them (counting the ones that were there already, there are now just about 1000 tacks in the bow and stern ends). That is just a precursor of what lies ahead.
I must first layout, stick and drive tacks between ribs 11 and 12. For some reason the tacks are more closely spaced here than between the other ribs. They are spaced 3/4″ apart whereas for the other ribs they are 1 5/8″ apart. The photos below show the tacks being laid out and stuck between these two ribs. I have used masking tape again as an aid in laying the tacks out.
Laying out tacks between ribs 11 and 12.Stuck tacks between ribs 11 and 12.
Now comes the really boring task. Back when I was hanging the planks, I deliberately left the feather edge that was facing inward a little “fat”. This was because the plank edge, being so delicate, might be damaged in hanging it. I thought that a little extra thickness there should help keep it intact.
But now I must pay for that precaution. The plank edges must be scraped and sanded down so that there is a smooth transition from one plank to the next. As you will see in the photo below, I used a cabinet scraper with a curved blade and no. 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around a 1″ dia. dowel to get the job done. Even so, it took some time to get the desired result.
Tools for smoothing the inside of the hull.
At last I am ready to stick tacks along the inside of the hull and drive and clinch them. As I stated earlier there are just about 4000 tacks in a traditionally built Adirondack guideboat. That makes for a lot of work, tedious work. Below shows a row of tacks stuck along the garboard plank seam.
Row of stuck tacks along the garboard plank seam on the inside of the hull.
Now the hull is ready for an equally boring and tedious task, varnishing. More on that next time.
This tool is really quite simple. It is also very ingenious. I often wonder how it came about. Who invented it? It is also very cheap. I got mine for about $5. They are of Sandvik steel but I don’t think the manufacturer is critical.
Cabinet scrapers.
It is called a cabinet scraper. Cabinet scrapers are made of mild steel. They are less than 1/16″ thick and are about the size of a filing card . To make one ready for use you first”burnish” a burr on each edge.
Cabinet scrapers are billed as the answer to sandpaper. To use one you draw the sharpened scraper across the surface of a rough piece of wood. You can feel it dig in and you will see tiny shavings appear. It acts almost like a mini-plane.
Cabinet scrapers remove material much faster than sandpaper and leave a smoother surface. They are especially handy when you are applying a feather lap to a plank. I tend to round the lap when I only use a block plane. When I use a cabinet scraper as the final step in cutting a lap I have great control over the amount I am removing. The final lap is absolutely flat with no rounding. I also use a scraper for finishing off the inside of the hull prior to varnishing. In that case I use a scraper with a curved blade to conform to the concavity of the hull.
They are also indispensable in removing varnish “runs”. Have you ever tried to remove a varnish run with sandpaper? It is next to impossible. A scraper makes short work of it.
The trick to success with scrapers is to sharpen them properly. I tried the old way using a burnishing iron with limited success. Then a tungsten carbide burnisher came on the market. It really does a great job of sharpening a scraper.
The steps in sharpening a scraper are as follows. First, remove the old edge by sanding or filing it away. Then clamp the scraper to the bed of your band saw or other power tool so that it hangs over the edge by about a 1/2 inch or so. You can apply some motor oil to the top surface if you like. Now run the carbide burnisher across the surface so that it is parallel to it. Apply moderate pressure and run the burnisher back and forth at least 10 times. This will form a burr on the edge of the scraper.
Burnisher with scraper clamped to table of band saw.Step 1-Drawing the burnisher across the surface of the scraper to form a burr.
Now you need to turn the burr so that it is at right angles to the plane of the scraper. Do this by running the burnisher along the exposed edge of the scraper. Angle the scraper at slightly less than 90 degrees to the scraper. This will turn the burr so that you now have a cutting edge. The scraper is now ready to go.
Turning the burr so that it is at 90 degrees to the plane of the scraper. The scraper is now ready for use.
With all this talk about sticking and driving tacks, I couldn’t help but recall the video that runs in the Museum’s boat building near the boat shop. It follows Willard Hanmer as he builds a guideboat. Now Williard is very highly esteemed in the village of Saranac Lake, NY, so esteemed that the annual guideboat race in that town is named in his memory. More on his life will follow.
The reason I am so familiar with the video is that it plays over and over again and is loud enough that I can hear every word while I volunteer in the boats hop. The video seems to run at twice the normal speed,perhaps double time. I certainly hope so since there is no way I could come anywhere near the pace at which he works in that video.
One portion shows him as he drives tacks on the inside of the hull. He first lays out and opens the pilot hole for the tacks with an awl. This is all done by eye. No careful laying out of the holes with a gauge block as I do so methodically (and slowly). Next, he and his wife Pauline stick the tacks. Then along comes Willard with tack hammer and clinching iron. In a blur a whole row of tacks is driven and clinched in the wink of an eye.
Willard and Pauline sticking tacks. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Museum.
The more I read about Willard the more I believe he lived as the guideboat builders lived 100 years before he was building boats. Willard was born in 1902, the second son of Theodore, who was a guideboat builder. Theodore spoke proudly of his son saying “It takes a woodsman to building a woodsman’s boat and Will is the still the best boatbuilder in these parts”.
Willard learned how to build guideboats from his father. He began by sticking tacks, then caning seats and sandpapering. As Willard said, he was given tasks where if you didn’t do it right you couldn’t hurt anything. Of those times he said” It would take a long time to rub a hole through a boat by (sandpapering) by hand. Still would I guess”.
Willard and his father Theodore. These are two custom built boats built for a client on Spit Fire Lake.
The following Hanmer family history was gleaned from Chris Woodward’s excellent website, Adirondack Guideboats. Willard worked for his father for 18 years until 1928 when he married Pauline Bennett. They built a boat shop in Saranac Lake in 1930 and built boats there for 33 years. The shop was eventually purchased by Chris Woodward who builds guideboats there today.
Willard and Pauline Hanmer. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Museum.
During those 33 years many challenges confronted this intrepid pair. In those days customers would not pay for all the hand labor involved in building a guideboat. Willard countered by “mechanizing all aspects of guideboat construction that he could” to quote Carl Hathaway.
Willard with one of his newly completed guideboats. The handhold in the deck is characteristic of his guideboat construction. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Museum.
Willard was a very talented builder and craftsman. Proof of this came several years ago when two of his guideboats, in mint condition, sold at auction for $25,000 each!
The life Willard lived hearkened back to the days when guides would build their own boats in the winter and guide during the summer. Willard couldn’t follow that tradition to the letter but he came pretty close. He would build boats during the winter and spring and then go out on the lakes to repair boats during the summer. Come fall he would go into the woods and hunt.
I have known a few true “Adirondackers”. They are exceptionally clever people who can use hand and mind to create most anything. They are generous to a fault. I know of one gentleman who lived all his life in the Adirondacks. One time a neighbor of his came to him in desperation. His home had burned down and he had no insurance. My friend said “Don’t worry, I have a saw mill. We’ll build you a new one”. And he did.
I believe that Willard Hanmer was one such soul.
Willard cutting ribs from root stock. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Museum.
As you know already, the original guideboat builders sealed the joinery between planks by driving and clinching a double row of tacks along the plank seams. One row was driven from the outside toward the inside and the second from the inside toward the outside. The rows were laid out so the the tacks were staggered, thus getting the most watertight seam possible.
A problem arose at the stem ends. Here the hull narrows so much that it is impossible to get enough throw with a tack hammer to drive tacks from between the number 12 rib and the stem. What to do? The old timers still drove a double row of tacks in that region but the tacks were all driven from the outside inwards.
I decided to do the same but I waited until the hull was off the builder’s jig and upright. I thought it would be far easier working with hull upright. Indeed I was right; I could more easily see what I was doing.
I puzzled over how to lay out the tacks. How does one quickly and easily draw a line on the outside of the hull where the tacks will line so as to be in a straight line? I hit on a simple solution; use a strip of masking tape placed along where the new row is to go. Once the masking tape is in place it is a simple manner to use a pencil to mark the half way point between the existing row of tacks where the new row will be put down.
Strip of masking tape delineates where new row of tacks is to be placed.
Another problem arises in trying to clinch tacks way up near the stems in the bow and stern. There just isn’t enough room there to use a clinching iron. I solved that problem by taking the handle off an old slick and jamming it up between the stem and planking in this no man’s land. It was a bit awkward, but it worked.
Slick for clinching tacks way up in the bow and stern quarters. Slick is at the top of the photo.
The double row of offset copper tacks lent a very attractive accent to the hull. I was glad I took the extra time to add this classy touch. By the way, there are about 1000 tacks in these bow and stern quarters.
Double row of tacks placed on bow and stern quarters.
In the course of building my guideboat I find that certain tools become favorites. I seem to be always reaching for one or the other of them. Truly, I find it would be very difficult to build this boat without them. So who are these unsung heroes of tooldom?
First off, two of the three I have selected for special honors are very inexpensive. The first is one you can make yourself with very little effort and an expenditure of about $5. It is called a long board or fairing board. It is basically a long, thin strip of wood with two handles that is covered on one side with sandpaper. You can also buy one for anywhere from $40 to $60. Long boards are very easy to make. Get yourself a thin strip of wood about 18″ or so long and the width of the sandpaper. Then attach the handles that you can buy at most any hardware store for about $5.
. Home made long boards.
I use Klingspor 80 grit sandpaper on my long board. The paper has a sticky back that easily attaches to the wooden board. The Klingspor paper seemingly lasts forever. I have used the same paper from start to finish while constructing my latest boat. You can reach Klingspor at 856 21st Drive SE, Hickory, NC 28601.
So why do I find a long board so handy? By now you have probably realized that nothing on a boat is at right angles. Everything seems to be a combination of curved surfaces that defy to builder to get them to fit together tightly. Case in point are the wale ends that must be fitted to the stems. The wale ends approach the stem at an angle. To make matters worse, the stem is tapered toward its forward edge. Nothing there is at right angles. The long board enables you to carefully shape the wale end and get it to fit properly. Then there are the hood ends of the planks that must fit snugly into the stem rabbet. Again, the long board simplifies this task. And the list goes on and on. When confronted with these challenges you instinctively reach for the long board. So it is right at the top of my favorites.
I am now fully aware of what holds a traditionally built Adirondack guideboat together. It may not be what first comes to mind. I am often asked at the Museum if a guideboat is glued together. When I say “No, no glue or adhesives are used in building a traditional guideboat” there is often a puzzled look on the questioner’s face. How can that be? We are so used to modern adhesives, epoxies and such, that make our life so much easier.
Back 160 years ago there were no epoxies. Guideboat builders could not depend on the glues available back then to withstand the rigors of immersion in water for hours. So they devised another way to tightly join the feather laps in their boats; tacks. They simply drove lines of tacks spaced closely together along the lap joint and then clinched them (drove them against a backing iron so that they would bend back on themselves and form a sort of rivet). They drove staggered double rows, one row from the outside of the hull toward the inside and one row from the inside to the outside.
Tacks were easy to obtain back then. Making shoes alone took large quantities. That’s not the case today. Today the only supplier of tacks that I know is John Wilson, who makes oval Shaker boxes. Thank goodness these boxes require tacks otherwise traditional guideboat building may not be possible today. John sells annealed copper tacks of various sizes from very small ones to ones that are quite large. I was only interested in two sizes; No. 2 and No. 2 1/2 for building my boat. The difference between the two sizes is:
No. 2-length 1/4″, head dia. 1/8″ count per oz.-375/oz.
No. 2 1/2 length 5/16″ head dia. 3/16″ count per oz.- 200/oz.
Two tack sizes, No. 2 (right) and No. 2 1/2
Generally you want the tack length to be 1/16 longer than the thickness of the planking so that it clinches nicely. In my case the planking was a little thicker than 3/16″ so I chose the No. 2 1/2 size tacks. The tack head when using this size shows off well when you have row upon row of them on the hull. As I think Joe Namath said “When you got it flaunt it”. But I did add some extra weight to the hull, about 10 oz. , than if I had used No. 2 tacks. I don’t think I’ll notice the extra weight.
John’s address is: John Wilson, 406 E. Broadway Hwy., Charlotte, MI 48813. Phone (517) 543-5325.
John is an old fashioned trusting guy. When you order from him he will send you the goods with no prepayment. He says “Just send me the amount on the invoice when the tacks arrive”.
You’ll need some special tools to drive and clinch annealed copper tacks.You need to start by opening a pilot hole using an awl. Since these tacks have a triangular cross section it is good to use an awl that also has a triangular cross section.
Close up of annealed copper tacks showing triangular cross section of shaft.
The tacks then have to be “stuck” into the pilot hole. This is a tedious task and one that the old time builders with families employed their kids to help them with. I am told that a kid would get the princely sum of 5 cents a round of planking to stick tacks. To give some perspective, there are a total of 3972 tacks in the boat I am now building.
You will need a tack hammer and a clinching iron too. You can use a clinching iron made of iron but iron leaves black smudges on the wood wherever it touches the planking. It is better to pay the extra money for one made of bronze, which doesn’t leave smudges.
Tools for driving and clinching tacks.
At the top of the photo is a make shift clinching iron made from a slick that has had its handle removed. It is great for getting into tight spots. Its use will come up again.
When I was a kid of six or seven my parents owned a sleep-on-board sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. I remember many happy times spent on that boat. One of my favorite things to do was to row its dingy. It was a small rowboat and apparently just the right size for me because I only remember that I could go just about anywhere I wanted with ease.
That is where I became acquainted with the word “painter”. The painter is the line attached to the dingy that you used to tie it up when you were finished using it. I also learned that a point of etiquette was not to allow the painter to drag in the water while you were out and about. Any captain that that allowed that breach of etiquette was branded as a poor seaman indeed.
Painter rings are really handy things to have on a guideboat. With the painter attached they allow you to tie up at a dock or pier or to easily drag the boat out of the water and onto the beach. They also enable you to tie your boat down securely when car topping it. And, they add an attractive accent to the boat
Painter rings
I purchased the above rings from Island Falls Canoe in Atkinson, Maine (207) 564-7612. They cost $25 each but I felt they were well worth it. The painter rings I had used with my previous boats are smaller and do not show off as well as these.
To mount the rings you need to drill a 3/16″ dia. hole through the top portion of the stem above where the stem band ends. You will need a drill bit that is longer than normal because the stem is still rather thick even near the top. The trick is to square up the drill so the hole runs parallel to the sides of the stem. If the hole wanders right or left you can get into real trouble. That is because you have to open up the hole on inside of the stem. The threaded portion of the painter ring fastener just isn’t long enough to go entirely through the stem. You need to drill a 5/8″ hole from the inside about 1/2″ deep into the stem so that you can get a washer and nut on the threaded portion. If the hole is not squared up you could see daylight!
See the photo below showing the painter ring fastener and the enlarged hole.
Hole drilled on the inside of the stem to accommodate the painter ring fastener.
The trick now is to get the washer and nut onto the threaded portion of the painter ring fastener. I tried several strategies and finally wound up putting some scotch tape sticky side out on a rod and sticking the nut to it.
Nut stuck to scotch tape on a rod. I can now screw it onto the end of the painter ring fastener.
You will need to drill a 1/8″ hole on the forward side of the stem that the other end of the U-shaped fastener fits into. Then fasten everything down tight and you are good to go.
Once the hull was off the builder’s jig and right-side up it was obvious that the wales needed attention. They fit tightly to the sheer plank when viewed from the upside-down position. But when viewed from topside there were gaps of 1/16″ to 1/8″ between the wale and the plank at several places.
This is easy to remedy. Wherever there was a gap, I removed the fasteners holding the wale to the hull and clamped the wale as tightly to the hull as I could. You can see the setup in the photo below. Then I refastened the wale.
Wale being clamped to remove a gap between the wale and the sheer plank.
There were several places where the sheer plank stood above the wale. These need to be cut back so that they are even with the top surface of the wale. I found the best way to do this was to use a chisel and follow it up with a sanding long board.
Trimming the sheer plank to so that it meets the top surface of the wale.
Now things get really tricky. The hood (stem) ends of the wales have to be cut off and shaped to fit nicely to the stem. This is difficult for several reasons; 1) the wale is standing off from the stem so it is hard to determine where to make a cut, 2) the stem cross section is triangular in shape at this point and may be somewhat rounded as well, 3) the wales are coming into the stem slightly rotated off the perpendicular.
I found the best way to judge where to cut the ends of the wales was to use what I call a “toggle”. It is a piece of stock the same width as the wale and about 12″ to 18″ long. It is placed right on the sheer plank with its forward end right at the stem rabbett. Once in position, you swing the toggle out to the wale and use its end to mark where the cut starts. Perhaps the photo below shows better what I am trying to convey.
The wale toggle is up against the stem rabbett. It is swung out to the wale and a line drawn along its end to indicate where to start cutting off the wale.
Now, how to complete laying out the wale joinery? The next step is to take a piece of stock that will delineate a line parallel to the stem. This line will start at the inside edge of the line you just marked off on the wale. Again, a photo may be worth a thousand words.
Laying out the cut off of the wale end.
This will get you in “the ball park” for making the cut. It will take some patience and time to get the job done. Two of my cuts came darn close but the others required some fiddling around.
The last job is a minor duty. The top of the sheer plank should be fastened to the wale at each rib station. This is done by centering a #4 X 5/8″ screw at each rib station and about 1/4″ down as shown below.
That long anticipated moment finally arrives. After months of planking, a milestone is passed. The hull is now ready to come off the jig and be set right side up.
Why is this such a moment of trepidation for the builder? I have been working blind as far as the other side of the hull is concerned. Sure I can scrunch down and look up under the hull to see how things are going. Or, I can take a mirror to see if planks are mating as well as I hope. But none of these stop gap measures will really tell me how the other side of the hull is shaping up. It is frustrating and I have to assume that if things look good on the side I can see then the other side is OK too.
Some of the old time boat builders got around this problem of working blind by having a sort of a builder’s jig “rotisserie” whereby they could turn the hull under construction 180 degrees to view both sides of the hull. In a photo of the Parson brother’s shop one of their boats under construction is suspended on long poles from a high ceiling. It appears that these builders could pivot their hulls around the posts so that they could work on both sides while planking.
It is interesting to see that at least five men were employed in the Parson’s enterprise. Each man may have been assigned a special task that best suited his talent. One may have done planking while another may have gotten out ribs. For example, the man on the left of the photo is making an oar. Faintly seen through the open door in the very rear of the shop is a man holding a guideboat in the tradition fashion via yoke on his shoulders. I found this a rather amusing sideline to the photo.
A view of the Parson’s Brother’s shop taken around the turn of the century. Note the guideboat suspended from the ceiling.
Well, how did the “dark side” of my hull look? I detached the hull from all the bracing and fasteners securing it to the jig. Then a friend helped me lift the hull off the jig and place it on a set of padded saw horses.
I was pleased with what I saw. The plank joinery was tight with only a few spots were the planks didn’t mate exactly. Better yet, there were no gaps where the planks and ribs meet. I was quite happy with the results.
Using a bathroom scale we weighed the hull. It came in at 47.8 lbs. That is just about right for a hull at this stage of construction. By the time I add the decks, the “furniture”, the oar straps, and finish the varnishing she’ll come in at the mid 50’s to 60 lbs.
Below is a photo of the hull free of the jig.
Hull is free of the builder’s jig, seen in the background.
They are called gunwales, outwales, or simply wales. They are thin strips of hardwood that run the length of the hull along the sheer line. They are quite necessary for a guideboat. Wales reinforces a hull that appears deceptively fragile. There was an old time guideboat builder in the northern adirondacks whose last name was Martin. His boats were so lightweight and had such a delicate appearance that they became known as “Martin’s eggshells”. Fortunately, the hull of a guideboat is much sturdier than it appears. The wales also provide a place to attach the straps, or oar sockets, and the decks, which hide the carrying handles.
My past experience with hanging wales causes me heartburn. The wales on my boat are one-inch square cherry stock that run the length of the hull. On past boats they were very stiff. To counter that in the past I have had to rig a tent to steam them and use a windlass affair to slowly bend them in place. It took a number of hours to get one side of the hull done. I was always afraid that I would hear a “craack! as I forced the stock to conform and have wasted hours of work. Fortunately that never happened.
Someone suggested that, instead of using flat sawn cherry for the wales, using quarter sawn stock is much easier to hang. It made sense to me since the grain will then run parallel to the length of the stock and therefore should be more compliant to bending along the sheer. I took the suggestion and bought 3 1/2 board feet of quarter sawn cherry at $9.80 a board foot. It is not a cheap route to go.
I milled the material to one inch square stock and scarfed it to get two pieces 16 feet long. I used #8 X 1 1/4″oval head brass screws to fasten the wale to the hull starting at the midships. The oval head screws lend a decorative look to the finished boat. I left the hull on the builder’s jig while installing the wales so that I wouldn’t have to worry with the hull “flopping” around.
The wales went on very easily with only modest pressure necessary to conform them to the hull. When installing the wales, if there is a choice of whether to use the sheer edge of the plank or the wale to define the sheer line, default to the wale. In any case, you should end up with a nice, fair curve to define the sheer line of the hull.
I then got ahead of myself and tried to join the end of the wale to the stem. This is not a good idea as I soon learned. This joint is very difficult to get right and probably impossible when the hull is upside down and the joint is below your waist. I will show you some tricks I learned when I joined wale and stem once the hull was right side up.
Below is a photo of the hull with a wale being installed.
