boat spotting

Last month I went to the Classic and Wooden Boat Show held at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. There were a heap of different wooden boats of all sizes and designs. It was a great opportunity to observe the various different styles of yachts, power boats and craft which have been built or restored.

I particularly enjoyed a few designs and yachts that were shown. The Halvorsens are a particularly beautiful craft, although I doubt a novice like myself could build one. It would be great to spend a week travelling up and down rivers in one of these boats.

Another magnificant craft on display was Whisper, a 10' clinker dinghy designed by Paul Gartside and built by Denman Marine. This beautiful dinghy is made out of Huon, King Billy, and celery top pine. The craftsmanship on this craft is exceptional.

Denman Marine had also brought their Iain Oughtred designed Caledonian Yawl. I must have spent a couple of hours just gazing over the various parts of this boat. Again the celery top and huon pine construction looks amazing.


Since the show, I have been looking at the various Oughtred designs and my dream is to build a Tirrik. This is a shorter version of the Caledonian Yawl, although I am sure numerous fans of these boats would outraged by such a summary. Grapeview Point Boat Works is the only website I am aware of which details the construction of the Tirrik (no comment on the quality of their photos). Hopefully in the future I will have the skills (and finances) to undertake the construction of one of these beautiful designs.

Overall I was very impressed with the Classic and Wooden Boat Show. Since I am more interested in the construction side of wooden boats, I probably spent more time talking to folks about the designs rather than checking out the yachts. However I hope one day to get to the stage in life when I can turn up to such a show and display some of the craft I have made. Until then, I'll continue to be happy to observe.

Trim - another beautiful design and build

the eureka build

My close friend and work colleague Peter Novak is also a keen woodworker. He particularly enjoys making boat models. At the end of 2007 Peter started to talk about building real boats. Although I was a little sceptical about our ability to build anything that could float, Peter researched our options and decided to build a Eureka canoe.

The Eureka is designed by Michael Storer from Adelaide in South Australia. It is built using the 'Stitch and Glue' method - according to the great detailed plans provided by Michael (Peter bought the plans from the Duck Flat Wooden Boats website for A$90), you cut out five sections of the boat from marine plywood. Four parts are glued together with epoxy into two long sections using butt strap joints. The three long sections are then "stitched" together using wire. Once the basic frame of the boat is together, the joints are secured with fibreglass tape. The panels are coated in epoxy to seal the wood from the water.

I was able to help Peter in these initial stages of the build (however I had to return to Sydney for 6 months so I missed the second half of the project). It was a great introduction to modern boat building and very easy to do. For further information on building a Eureka canoe, you can visit Peter's blog (written in Slovene) or a very informative site by Peter Hyndman.

When I return to Slovenia (mid-June 2008), I hope to get into a few boating projects with Peter. I am unsure what we will start with - maybe my own Eureka to travel with Peter, or another Storer design. I will share my boating and woodworking dreams another time.

Peter's Eureka Canoe

The Admission

get a hobby, son

Everyone needs a hobby. We work to live (and I also think, in order to serve, but that's another blog). So many years ago I became interested in wood working. I am not sure if it started by looking in those country arts shops and thinking to myself, "I could make a better wine holder than these". Then there were the beer coasters, bowls, turned pens, knife handles, cheese boards, and even kids toys from trains to cars to noisy rattles. Certainly I have a head full of ideas concerning different wooden bits and pieces which you could fill a shop with and sell for a tidy sum.

However, who has the time for that? You need to have the time and place to start churning out such items to sell. So instead of dedicating myself to such a profession, I just decided to dabble in all things woodworking. I found a hobby in it. Hence I bought and read a few books, dreamt of a few necessary work shed items to make, started collecting various basic tools, went to wood working shows, bought some wood, subscribed to a good woodworking magazine, and basically made plans.

"What did you make?", you may ask. At the start, not a great deal. Its slightly hard to throw yourself into building stuff if you live in an apartment. So when I returned to the home of my youth, I would dabble in this and that. Obviously, it is necessary to make something you can use to work on. So I firstly made a table.

This is a really beautiful European style woodworking table. You can find the plans for such a table on the net. I am unsure where I found the plans for this table. And sadly this isn't a table I have made.

Rather I made this smaller table. No lovely vices on the sides. No deep well at the back of the table for shavings and tools. No strong wood used to make a solid bench. The only benefit it had was its ability to fold up nicely and fit against a wall. The idea came from a $2 book I found at a liquidation sale. Although the plan was basic, I could adapt it enough to make it workable.

Sadly, my father got at it and basically painted it entirely white. I am not sure if this was to hide a few mistakes we'd made. It didn't really change the usefulness of the table. However any lovely joints or wood grain we might have accomplished were hidden under the colour. Nevertheless, it was a great and necessary project to start a woodworking hobby with.

the admission

But I have an admission to make...

I suppose I have known the truth for some time. However this first major woodworking project forced me to make an honest assessment of my woodworking skills. Wood is a very unforgiving material to work with. The adage 'Measure twice, cut once' is very sound wisdom. If you make a mistake with wood, you'll mess up your work and unless you have an abundance of wood in store to replace mistakes, you'll see the mistakes forever.

So I am sad to admit, that I am a sawing hack. As much as I practise and try, I can not saw a piece of wood straight. If the wood is marked with a straight edge, I will still wobble left and right, creating a dreadful cut. I have tried different saws, using the correct types for different cuts. I have tried standard styles and Japanese styles of saws - cutting on the push or cutting on the pull. However none of these help. I am a sawing hack.

Thankfully, woodworking is more than just sawing. In answer to my failings, I have developed a range of skills to overcome my poor sawing abilities. I can leave excess wood, then use different tools like planes, sandpaper, or rasps, to bring the edges down straight. Overcoming such shortcoming and finding solutions are a few of the reasons I enjoy working with wood.

the bookshelves

Obviously, there is also great joy in finish a job. For example, over two years I made three bookshelves. I have been subscribing to Australian Woodsmith magazine for many years. This is a great magazine, originally out of America, but adapted for Australia. They offer tips for all sorts of woodworking - from cutting wood to finishing it. They have detailed plans for several different type of projects - furniture, jigs, tools and so on. I was looking for a good bookcase project I could use and this magazine had a plan for a bookcase which you could adapt depending on the style you wanted (see Australian Woodsmith 9:20-25). Instead of solid oak I used oak veneer plywood. I had to dress the front of the shelves, but it gave me the opportunity to use some solid wood.


After sanding the cases, I gave them a good drenching in linseed oil, then I used Briwax as a protective coating (see Australian Woodsmith 42:60-62). These bookcases were very satisfying to adapt and build. They took time to build as I was working out of someone else's backyard shed, which was impossible to work in during the European winter months. However once all the shelves and sides were ready, I could assemble them together in our flat. (I'm also thankful to the in-laws who helped with the oiling and waxing).

So what else have I dabbled in? I'll let you know in future blogs.