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Hi there!

I started building my gaff today. For me it seems quite challenging to open the jars to the mast's width without breaking them. The plans say to put in wood to keep it open when glueing the rest. I stopped the first test attempt since it didn't sound good and the two bars were still a good distance away from each other. Any hint on how to do this better is welcome.

 

Cheers,

Martin

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Martin,once you have split the jaws,only glue them once you have separated the jaws with a piece of wood,when making my gaff i used 6mm ply laminated on the outside of the jaws.

cheers paul.

Hi Martin

If you are using solid timber for your gaffs to get the bend, you are probably going to have to steam them, even if you are using fairly thin laminates. I used a pot half filled with water over a gas cooker and put a couple of holes in the pot lid so that the steam can escape. I put a towel over the gaff jaw to help keep the steam 'trapped' for as long as possible.

Steaming really works and allows the timber to bend without breaking.

I made a jig into which gaff jaw was clamped to help induce the bend. I left if for a day after steaming to let it dry and take the bend. Then I could see how much 'springback' had occurred.  Then I glued up and clamped it back in the jig. Very little springback once glued.

Dave

I ran into the same problem, steaming did not help much, anything above 8-10 mm wooden strips broke, therefore I had the gaff laminated out of more strips.

My gaff was glued from two pieces of timber. I cut slots lengthwise into the forward part of the gaff timbers (the part which needed bending) which made it easy to bend and glue. Use a piece of thick plywood (12mm), draw the gaff onto it, bolt blocks along your drawn line and clamp the gaff to these blocks while the glue hardens. I did not need to steam bend any piece of the gaff.

Maybe these pics help  http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?scre...

Ralf

Excellent! Thanks a lot for the fast answers! I already feared that I was the only Dumbo not managing to build the gaff with the hints in the plan!

Martin

Thanks again! The laminating finally worked fine (still needs some finish):

 

Since I started on that track, I also made an attempt with watering two solid pieces. I almost succeeded, but when it dried again it cracked. Maybe I put it out too soon.

I had to saw these into thinner plies to achieve the bend.

I made one attempt to build the gaff per plan and didn't like the results I was getting.  I decided to go with a bent lamination.  I ripped a piece of Douglas Fir into 8- 3/16" x 2" strips and laminated them on this jig.

I was much happier with the result, which I also think is stronger without the induced stress points of the saw cuts.  Neither heat nor water was needed to do these bends.

Look in http://tikirio.blogspot.com.br/2012/12/gaff-e-o-comeco-do-cockpit.html

I use thinner timbers then plans. In Tiki 30 wharram recomends 2 timber with 2,5cm, I use 4 x 1,25cm . is more easy 

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