With some help from a shipwright friend, I have finished lofting the 10ft Gartside dinghy, and am pausing to tackle another, rather nautical, project.

The last couple of lines – the Diagonals – were plotted, but I just could not get the required ‘fair line’. The lines just looked too flat amidships. After checking, double checking, even triple checking the coordinates, I was stumped. So, I phoned a friend.

With him giving me a firm nudge, I grasped the nettle and, by moving one nail on each of the diagonal lines – one by several millimetres – we soon had two pleasingly fair lines.

Now, all of the views, with all of their intersections, must correlate with each other. So, I had to use the changes made to the Diagonals to re fair the lines on the other three views. I think I had been reluctant to boldly change those points, because of a dread of having to go through this process of ‘lofting to agreement.’ Happily, with just a couple of points to change, the process went pretty well.

So, here are some pictures of the final result:

And now for something completely different.

I have been asked by a friend to make a display case for his Navy sword. I had already made a start, a few weeks ago, preparing some yellow cedar from the ‘Winchester wood haul.’

The smell of the cut cedar is lovely, and the grain pattern is gorgeous – at least it is to look at – but it’s a devil to work, as the grain direction changes so much!

Yesterday, I started on the joinery. Using a Paul Sellers technique, a simple jig ensures that the dovetails are cut square and true.

I’m aiming to use mitred dovetail joints, particularly at the back, where I need to cut a rebate for the back panel of the case. They are tricky joints, and that rebate may be a bit of a challenge with the wavy grain … fingers crossed!