Gaaaah! B*#$&£%s!!

K

Kristal

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cked up for Aggrivated Arson
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I posted a little while ago about finding some alarming kind of plastic bodge on the end of Crystal's bumkin. Now, stripping the bowsprit, I've found more of the horrible stuff being used to fair in the bronze plate which the protects the sprit itself from the traveller. I've wrenched it all off, and the wood beneath seems alright here, so I'm about to remove the plate and check beneath for rot.

More annoyingly, though, when I realised there was more grotty plastic, I was momentarily distracted from my work with the hot air gun and have now produced a scorch mark just over an inch square right in the middle of the spar. It's quite a serious one, almost black. Is there anything, short of sanding a dent into it, I could do - perhaps paint it to look like a knot?!

Very cross.

/<
 
As you said "stop being a bleedin' arsonist" /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

cheers Joe
 
I shall find out tomorrow how deep I have to go, but I'm hoping it won't be too far. For that sort of job, I presume I'll have to use a reasonably coarse grade of paper - the acres of 18 wet and dry I just bought presumably would take forever. Perhaps it's time to replace the mouse sander I lost a while back, it would make feathering considerably easier.

Thanks, PD, I shall report back.

/<
 
Re: Gaaaah! B*#$&amp;£%s!!

With say, 60 grade abrasive paper, the job will go quickly and you'll miss out on the tedium of 'sanding forever' to get to where you want. Follow up with a quick swipe with 100 grit until the marks of the 60 are gone, and then 220 to finish with. It is a common error to try to do serious sanding with a fine grit. It's like trying to build a dam with a dessert-spoon.
If you need to do some shaping of wood, you'll find that a 'traditional shipwright's angle grinder' with a rubber sanding disc and a coarse [again, about 60 grit] sandpaper gets a lot of wood off very quickly.
Peter.
 
Re: Gaaaah! B*#$&amp;£%s!!

A thought - the time you are spending trying to put this Bumkin to rights, you could have started again and made yourself a new one?

By the sound of it its not too late to start, and at least then you will know its all OK!
 
Re: Gaaaah! B*#$&amp;£%s!!

This weeks worries are mainly concerned with the bowsprit. I'm still very tempted to make a new bumkin, even though I had a look at it yesterday and between my girlfriend and I, we've brought it up beautifully - apart from the dreadful pre-existing bodge. There is no doubt, though, after close inspection, that there is definitely a big problem at the business end and I think it might be quite good fun to make another.

The bowsprit, on the other hand, is a far more serious spar and I don't think making another is going to be less work than bringing the existing one up to scratch - unless, of couse, I can't remove the weathering or the scorch mark. Making a replacement properly is definitely beyond me, what with it having a built in sheave and a few metal reinforcement fittings. I don't think I can find the cash anytime soon to pay a professional to do it for me.

I'm optimistic, though, that I can make more of a difference by using a coarser grade of sandpaper - I have been rather cautious thus far, but next week I shall be having a go at it with 60 grade, as has been suggested above, and see what the results are. If it comes up as well as the bumkin did, all might well be alright. We shall see.

/<
 
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