The first planks and the joggling

Finally started on the deck. First I cut strips to size and applied the caulking seam. For that I use an oil-based pencil; it works fine and comes out very black. Then, with a razor-sharp (new) blade, I scraped the top face smooth in advance and tested at the same time which way the grain runs. I marked each plank so that I know which is the front and all the planks lie with the grain the same way. That way I won’t damage them later when I scrape the deck once more.

The first strips are glued down. I’m using a four-butt shift (or is it a three-butt shift, because there are three planks in between?). Pingu57 said four. The margin plank is still held on with double-sided tape, so that I can remove it easily.

When to joggle, and how far

Piet had no photos of his own deck (that was the USS Constitution, long before his forum days), but he did have an answer. The symmetry should look roughly the same to the eye on port and starboard; a hundred per cent is not achievable, since the strips are not all identical by nature either. In principle you joggle as soon as the angled edge of the strip that meets the margin plank becomes longer than the width of the strip. It’s on page 95 of Mondfeld, with a drawing.

I am indeed following Mondfeld, but it doesn’t say how far you should joggle. Do you carry on right through amidships, or does it stop somewhere because the angled part gets too long? According to Piet it’s the latter: you stop as soon as the angled side gets too long, so only at the bow and sometimes at the stern. Perhaps I’ll find out for myself once I get there.

Not perfect yet, but it is only practice after all. And practice makes perfect. Now back to making planks, because I’ve run out again. I need well over 225 of them for the gun deck, so that will keep me busy for a while yet.