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Thread: Challenge 2020-2021 Chief Tiff
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1st November 2020, 10:47 AM #46
An Artificer is/was a military specialist technician; a cross between an Engineer who knows which end of a screwdriver to hold and a mechanic who understands Thermodynamics. In my case I was a Marine Engineer Artificer who sub-specialised as a Metalworker (welding, fabrication, casting and black/copper/tinsmithing); the other two specialisations were Fitter & Turner and Electrician. All three however were cross-trained in each other’s discipline because they could be employed in any role. My forum name “Chief Tiff” is short for “Chief Artificer”.
Tiffs were also found in the other two Naval Engineering worlds; Weapon Engineer Artificers looked after radio, sensors and anything that went bang and Air Engineer Artificers played with aircraft.
Unfortunately the intensive training became just too expensive in both financial cost and time; and with a policy of “repair by replacement” the skills were judged unnecessary. Until of course something broke that you didn’t hold spares for; then you’d hunt down the nearest Tiff, dust him off and set him to work.Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.
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1st November 2020, 03:48 PM #47GOLD MEMBER
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Ah huh! My WWF name comes from a much humbler base - my home renovation business. Although parallels are there. As a carpenter I was trained in a broad building sense but more and more the younger ones coming through specialise in only one area. You know that your work history has now increased expectations phenomenally in regards to your plane making .
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1st November 2020, 08:29 PM #48
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3rd November 2020, 09:32 AM #49
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3rd November 2020, 09:44 AM #50
That’s it for now; back in a week’s time...
Didn’t get as much done over the last couple of days as I hoped to; but it has ended at a natural break so it’ll be easy to pick up again when I’m home again.
Firstly; I remade the rear section to remove the countersunk screw head as I deemed it unsightly.
81BF6DCF-8F92-4671-90A9-19CEE4D41289.jpg
The new one will allow the M6 threads to be staked and a much smaller countersink can be cut; just enough to peen the end of the threaded bar to hide it.
Here are the components so far; along with my latest tapping stick for peening:
EB0FE8B3-E12F-4453-828C-E1B7CE90E57E.jpg
And here they are dry fitted:
9DFACD7A-71D9-45DE-87D6-22277A59288C.jpg
The gaps are horrendous; but thankfully will be hidden by the stuffing...
EEB65661-2A82-4BCC-A687-4939E26935BB.jpg
So the next major step will be to construct a peening block and get bashing.
Now... what timber to use for the stuffing...?Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.
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3rd November 2020, 09:58 AM #51
Thoughts on timbers for stuffing..
Now to work out what timber to use for the stuffing and the handle. Dark, almost black rosewood is what you see on the infills but it’s hard to get hold of. Bdar gave me a piece of blackened ancient bog oak that would have been perfect, but there is only enough for the stuffing; the handle wouldn’t match.
So; I’ve got a couple of ideas to try: The first is a big lump of what was described to me as “Indonesian Rosewood”, but could also easily be merbau.
BF5A0D79-47DD-4609-B4F7-6492E7A3D9B3.jpg It has a very coarse grain and little yellow flecks (silica?) running through it so I’m not sure it’ll suit the small dimensions I will be cutting it into.
Next is a random desert-ish timber, possibly gidgee. It’s brown with black streaks, very dense and scrapes beautifully. What’s left of the bark is very stringy.
9521E80B-0CB3-42C1-8ABE-26573CDA60B5.jpg
Or.....
Should I go for something paler, and more figured?
Here are some totally random examples of tulipwood and lace sheoak...
3FAC8A38-D172-4375-A658-1D2227DA991D.jpg AEDF0C4C-F0C9-45A4-B67A-EB83A3609AF6.jpg
Your thoughts?Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.
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3rd November 2020, 11:16 AM #52SENIOR MEMBER
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And yet another shameless attempt to win favour with a judge.
Oh, and I'd go with the dense, desert timber personally.
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3rd November 2020, 01:09 PM #53
Chief
Whatever you choose it should have as tight (think small) a figure or grain as possible, particularly as your plane is one of the smaller offerings. Large figure will be lost on the small dimensions. (Actually there is one exception I can think of that was posted in the general thread a while back, but that is not what I am talking about .)
I am not sure what you have available, but the Casuarina Oaks are very suitable with their tight grain and you are welcome to some Bull Oak/Hairy Oak if you would like. I certainly would have something suitable in the dimensions required for your plane. Just indicate here (so there is no subterfuge ) and send me a PM with dimensions. Quite OK if you get an offer of a better timber: I am not precious about it..
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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3rd November 2020, 05:11 PM #54
The one thing you forgot Ian, "The Chief Tiff" on a ship was a god!
In charge of most things mechanical on the warship and pretty well top of the heap [even younger ships engineers would more than often bow to him]
Most that I came across were also pretty decent blokes!
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4th November 2020, 10:37 PM #55
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4th November 2020, 11:15 PM #56
That’s an extremely generous offer Paul, thank you! I think I’ll be right regarding timber; the last thing I did before packing the shed away last night was hunt through my little scraps/offcuts and came across a couple of interesting bits like purple gidgee, beefwood and hairy oak. Of course the issue is whether I can get both a front bun and a handle out of the same tiny pieces! At the moment the lump of gidgee I posted previously is my default choice; I’d like it darker but it does have the advantage of being sufficiently large enough to make a couple of mistakes out of as well! I shall however reserve the right to come to you at a later date; cap in hand with my bestest pleading expression firmly fixated upon my features...
Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.
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4th November 2020, 11:25 PM #57
No worries Chief.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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16th November 2020, 08:42 PM #58
I got back home last Wednesday evening but today was the first day I could put in some hours. The last time I posted I had decided to replace the rear section because that countersunk screw head offended me. Since then I had also put in some thought regarding the handle; I think I’m going to plump for a long slender taper with a mushroom head; similar to an awl. I have a piece of 1/2” SS tubing to use as a ferrule but the bore is too narrow to effectively allow a threaded insert to be fitted into the timber. So instead of the rear section having a stud poking out it will just have a threaded hole and the stud will be captured in the handle itself.
And I have no pictures of the above...
But I do have pictures of the four pieces being clamped together ready for peening:
ACA67F34-2545-4E6C-AB7F-43EB4C4E4939.jpg 75DA3207-81BF-4D00-A69C-FF2F56C7FCAA.jpg
Pins and tails peened up nicely:
C3D37C2D-26C2-40E4-8365-2E76055C4121.jpg E9C08D34-002C-441C-81F5-E65624204D43.jpg E31D774A-D9D6-4E04-95AC-CA64F9791217.jpg
That tiny little hammer was brilliant at peening the tails in the base; I didn’t leave much metal to play with (actually less than a 1/4 of a mil ) but the miniature head allowed me to get right behind the gap and tease the metal in. It was actually quite quick and accurate, once I could see exactly where the head was hitting muscle memory kicked in and I just eased the piece around until all was done.
Once the sides were fixed up I added the pins (cut down pop-rivet shanks) and peened them tight as well:
775D661C-4F03-40AA-8CC4-0732EC39A3AF.jpg 449E83F7-7F8E-4F08-9299-905A63365696.jpg 54A3C2CD-7431-477C-8C60-08906643304D.jpg
Next step is to make the lever cap and pin that into place before cleaning off all the excess material and refining the overall shape. I should have most of Wednesday available before I have to go back to work for another fortnight and would like to get that part completed.Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.
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17th November 2020, 02:43 AM #59
Very tidy Chief. Surprising how much a small tool can move metal.
Steve
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17th November 2020, 06:35 AM #60GOLD MEMBER
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Hi CT. Looks like a bright and sunny spot to get your peening done. You're not locked away in a workshop?