Dead-eyes

I finally made the effort to start making new dead-eyes for Robinetta. We got some nice cherry from the Birchanger Woods Trust last week. This cherry tree was damaged in the great storm of 1987 and was finally felled recently. Most of the wood is likely to be picked up by the local wood turning community.

I got a sample last year from a different tree and it made a beautiful and functional dead-eye which we used all season. While sweet cherry is nowhere near as hard as lignum vitae there is a lot to be said for using native species on a traditional boat.

The rather spectacular failure we had on the way from Douglas to Holyhead proved that Robinetta's existing dead-eyes are laminated plywood! That was about the fourth one to show some kind of wear so it is time to replace them all. If I make eight new ones we will have a spare.

 So far I've cut one piece to square. A hand saw is not a quick or efficient way of doing the rough cuts but it is a really good way of getting enjoyable exercise.

This piece should make four dead-eyes. I'll make it into a cylinder by sawing the corners off to make it octagonal and then either use the saw or the spoke shave until it's round, just like making a spar.

Then I'll slice it into four discs and drill the holes before using the electric router to round it off and cut the slot for the wire rope loop.

I'll work harder on these than I did on last year's one to make the holes into proper blind sheaves. I have some ideas about how to do that.