wooden viking ship plans: Outerstem, Sternpost and Deadwoods fitted

What seemed like a formality, took quite a while to accomplish, however today I finally was able to view the the fruits of my labour.

Getting the deadwoods to fit snug with the curve of the keel was a slow process, equally fitting it to the lead keel was slow, but somewhat easier as the lead keel is relatively straight. I used a stick of chalk to cover the entire mating surface on the keel and pressed the deadwood onto the keel - this left chalk high spots on the deadwood which I then addressed using a variety of tools, including my new Japanese wood file. In the end I finished up using my Metabo orbital sander with 60 grit discs which was quite effective at removing material from the curved surface. I did check on eBay to see if I could pick up a compass plane, but they all seem to go for big bucks. I toyed with the idea of investing in a Arbortech Power plane disc, but at over 130 euros, it seemed expensive, so I persevered with files and sanders.

Most satisfying was drilling the sternpost and deadwoods for the 3/8" bronze threaded bar which by all accounts presents the distinct possibility for drilling off centre. So armed with a 10mm augur bit I took a line of the scale drawing with my mitre gauge and used this to line up my drill. Taking it slowly and frequently clearing the bit, ended up with a dead straight result for both bolts. However, I possibly should have drilled for the countersunk part first and then continued on with the 10mm bit, as doing so after drilling the main hole, it was tricky to centre a forstner bit to widen out the recess. So I will deploy that technique for the remaining keel bolts which are larger 1/2" bronze threaded bar.

Fitting the keel filler was more problematic - as it turned out I had to remove so much material from the middle of the filler that it ended up in two pieces (actually three - since the two legs of the tuning fork were separated from the other part.

Reverted to handsaw having toiled with a hand plane....!

I am considering the idea of placing the lead keel on top of the hull to drill the keel bolts and finish fairing in the keel and deadwoods. I would then remove it prior to turning up the hull.