I have been led to understand that there is an article in the United Nations Human Rights Charter that expressly forbids 'cruel and unusual punishments', however nowhere does it specify the Bevelled Dovetail Joint, a serious omission!
This particular fiendish joint is one that demands that you think in several dimensions at once and contains a number of bevels, none of which appear to make any sense until it is assembled. A number of us had lost the will to live before we had even got the thing onto the drawing board and once again the guinea pig bedding mountain has been growing rapidly around my bench. (I have also found that the wood burner in the accommodation is useful for disposing of the evidence of ones more criminal attempts).
However, progress has been made in other directions and my knowledge of boat structure and the various formulae that go into calculating draft, tilting moment, and speed through the water, to name but three, has increased exponentially. (As has my experience of carpentry I should add and we have another 5 weeks to go of this phase!)
We have also been learning about Gymnosperm Conifarae, and Angiosperms Dicotelydons, soft and hard woods to you and I. Today's item of trivia Balsa wood is technically a hard wood...
This friday see's decision time on what boats are going to be built and I am still hopeful that I will be building a traditional clinker Beer Beach Boat, modified slightly to meet my own particular requirements.
