On to the gun carriages

The next little project is the 9-pounders. For those I want to make the gun carriages myself, because the kit contains walnut-veneered ones and to my mind those are just not crisp enough. So I bought some other wood that goes by the name of castello. Never heard of it, but on Marktplaats it was sold as a boxwood substitute, and since boxwood had suited me well for the binnacle I bought a few small blocks of it. It is indeed excellent wood.

Milling on the cross-slide table

For the gun carriages I started by milling the shape of the cheeks from a small block, which I first sawed to size. I clamped the block to the cross-slide table and then milled successive passes, so that a stepped profile emerges.

The end result is exactly what I’m looking for in terms of crisp lines. Unfortunately the proportions are completely wrong: the steps have come out too deep, so I have to start again. Ah well, this was only attempt 1.

Cheeks and axletrees

The next day the first beginnings were there. I have remade the blocks, this time with the necessary precision. From each I take two 2 mm strips for one side, so that each cheek consists of two parts.

After that I started on the axletrees. Whether I have done that entirely right, I’ll find out tomorrow: I think the front axletree shouldn’t be square, but slightly raised on top. I want to make them as they appear on the drawing in Anatomy of the Ship. The first small ring at the end of the front axletree is on as well. That gives a cool effect, so I want to carry that through. A bit of a faff to make, but the result is worth it.