PAYING SEAMS

[Vitalba]

Fairly recently there was a small illustrated note on Paying Seams between planks with putty which I thought appeared in CB Boatmans Notes or was it PBO ? Either way I can`t find it. Can any one help ?
My seams are only about .100" and have been primed. So how soft should the Red Lead putty be. Pressumably it can be softened with Boiled Linseed Oil. VITALBA

 

[Peterduck]

When you add linseed oil to glazing putty, use a spatula on a glass [or similarly hard] plate to work the oil evenly into the putty. It will get progressivley softer and also stickier. I found it fairly obvious when it will be easy to feed the putty into the seam with the spatula. The extra stickyness helps it to stay there. Finish the seam off with the putty slightly indented from the planking, as the planking will expand a little when it goes back into the 'oggin and squeeze the putty out It may take a couple of years before you get invisible seams, so don't despair when you can see them after painting. The Americans make a feature of this, so that the seams are deliberately visible, as a nice sweep of planking is quite attractive.
Peter.

 

[LittleShip]

As usual Peter has provided good advice and we all have our "little tricks".......... mine is to add a little grease to the putty, this will help it to spread much easier!

The seams "raising" is a good point and I finished mine with a piece of 8mm copper to get the concave effect so that they wouldn't show too much!

Good luck with this job as you will find muscles in your hands you didn't know you had!

Tom