Irene Rebuild                        

Page Four

7th December 2004 

Dissertation on Framing

There was in general sound timber below a level of approximately a foot above the lower deck. Above that, all had suffered major damage. There were areas, for instance on the starboard side from stem to a point after mid-ships where although both frames and planking were badly burned the outline remained intact. We could therefore remove the charred remains of a single frame behind which was unburnt outer planking timber and fabricate a new frame in it’s place. By using the same template one could carve out it’s twin on the port side. Once this had been done enough times it was possible to put three spiles across and remove all the burnt timber.

The original frames were mostly made in seven pieces assembled in the loft, all being placed directly on the keel and held in place by the keelson on top of the middle part of the frame, the floor. The fire with few exceptions had only consumed the upper futtock and the first step in framing therefore was to remove that burnt timber down to the unburnt wood at the first scarph. It is prudent in many cases to remove the second or joining piece so that all our new frames would not simply have joints in line. As most frames are in pairs it meant that in general we have one long and one short twinned, the long one representing one piece of timber instead of the previous two.

"Midship drawing circa 1907"

Pieces of quarter ply approximately 6’ x7” are placed against the spiles, inside the sound planking, and down to the bottom of the scarph. The line is transcribed onto the ply which is then cut with a jigsaw and if done accurately when placed back in position fits the three spiles, the good timber and the scarph accurately. That template is then held in its correct position and at right angles to the centre line of the ship. A bit forward of the mid ships, that would mean it is also at right angles to the planking but everywhere else there was an angle, a bevel between the aft and the forward side of the frame which had to be taken into account when cutting it out.

All our oak has been delivered in 6” slabs and it is therefore possible to transfer the template straight onto a line on the face of the oak. Taking measurements between the planking at the scarph we could obtain regular 5-1/2” - 5-5/8” depth. The frame lessens to 5” at the top. It was therefore possible to use the same curve of the template to reproduce an inner curve with a 1/2” to 5/8” difference in depth between top and bottom. That was now the shape of one side of the frame and could be roughly cut out by a chain saw. That piece was then taken to the band saw where the bevel angle was reproduced on the bottom plate, the saw blade taken carefully along the pencilled line on the wood finishing therefore with an accurate frame that would fit the scarph and equally importantly fit both the inner side of the outer planking and the outer side of the ceiling planking. It is a simple matter to tack off-cuts of ¼ ply already shaped to the lower scarph and repeat the exercise to make the next frame alongside.

Where these chunks of wood are fairly straight fitting is often just a bit of planing here and a bit of sanding there, simple enough except for having to remove a heavy piece of oak every time you wanted to skim an 1/8 of an inch off somewhere proud.

It has been for me impressive to watch our shipwrights achieve levels of accuracy that would be the envy of many a mechanical engineer. I was privileged to be introduced to this arcane art. Within a day and a half I had produced with a great deal of help and tutoring, two presentable mid-ship frames.

"Junior apprentice's 1st frames"

Before finally being put into position these frames are plastered with copious quantities of linseed oil and creosote, clamped to the spiles and “through bolted” with trunnels. Further trunnels will go through inner and outer planking and the scarphs on each frame.

Needless to say as we approach the stern end where the curves are complex, the remaining wood is scant, the job will be much harder. Certainly well beyond the skills of the latest apprentice. We have located a sawmill high up on the moors specialising in “bends”, that is wood that has already grown in the approximate shape for the frames avoiding therefore the serious deficiency in having a cross grain.

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