A strip that stands out too much

Piet looked at yesterday’s photos and had a remark about the strip I fitted above the coppering: in his view it would have looked better in the same colour as the hull planking. As it is, it is quite an eyecatcher that does not match the rest. Was I going to stain it? He has a point. Mind you, I had bought the strip as walnut, see the product description. The trouble with walnut is that the colour difference can be enormous: the heart of a walnut tree is very dark and the outside very pale. I noticed that when a walnut tree once landed on my car and I sawed it into pieces. So ordering a new strip does not necessarily help. Staining perhaps, but should I not then do the whole hull above the waterline?

From the photo Piet also thought the keel was still bare wood. That is masking tape for protection, because the plates tended to come off whenever they caught on something. The keel is, as Piet describes, coppered right down to the bottom. Only the underside itself is not. Whether I will add a false keel there I do not know yet.

Hans came up with a recipe to darken walnut: a mixture of vinegar with a wad of steel wool dissolved in it. A quarter of a jam jar of vinegar, a wad of steel wool the size of a euro coin, and then it takes a few days for the steel wool to dissolve. Do try it on a test piece first, because it can also come out too dark. Piet thought that better than staining. I brewed the mixture straight away, now to wait and see.

The top moulding around the bow

Meanwhile I fitted the top moulding at the bow. Because it is in one piece and has to make quite a curve, I grabbed a few extra clamps to be on the safe side. I had already put the curve in beforehand, otherwise the whole thing obviously snaps.