Vol. 64, No. 3 Autumn 2019 202


16. Clothespins used as clamps to hold a batten along the bottom of the notches fi led for each frame. A pencil line will follow the top edge of this batten.


all clamping in building this bateau model was done with ordinary clothespins. (Figure 17)


Planking Planking


the bateau can be simple and


straightforward, much like its relative, the Banks dory. In the case of the dory there is much less fl are. T us, the top of the garboard and the edges of the next two planks are almost straight. T e sides of the bateau, however, have much greater fl are, requiring planks with much more curvature. To allow for this, the stock for getting out the bateau planks will need to be about 2 inches wide and 28 to 36 inches long. T e model will call for about fi ve sheets of the standard 4-inch by 24-inch basswood stock. T ey will be split down the center and scarfed together to gain the required lengths. Figure 18 gives a sense of how each plank will look when complete.


Nothing was so necessary or complex in the building of wooden ships as scarfs. Beside such basic rules of thumb as “a scarf ’s length is 12 times the thickness of the material being joined” (Gardner 1987, 75) we could consider the dozens of diff erent types. (Crothers 2000, 31; Desmond 1984, 39-43) Gardner makes the point that modern adhesives have made most of these obsolete. For this exercise a simple halved and nibbed scarf will illustrate the basics and be true to the type used in a nineteenth-century bateau.


Take a piece of planking stock and measure in twelve times its thickness (3/4-inch) from one end. Using a square, drop a line across the stock, perpendicular to its long edge. Make a knife cut along this line no more than 1/32-inch deep. T is is a stop cut. Using a knife, chisel or gouge, cut towards the stop cut, removing chips or shavings down to 1/32-inch or less. Remove the same amount of wood from the remaining scarf


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