Sustenance through Wooden Boats
Dear WoodenBoat,
I am writing in response to your editorial (“That’s Made out of Wood?”) in the May/June issue of the magazine (WB No. 304). I have been designing and building wooden boats since 1952, when my father helped me build an 8′ pram in our basement. I was 8 years old. Later, I received a certificate as a yacht designer from Westlawn School of Yacht Design. I’ve now designed more than 200 boats, most of them wooden, and have built several. My favorite project was a 15′ runabout I built for my daughter when she decided she didn’t like to go sailing with my wife and me; she wanted to be able to jump onto the sand bars around Plum Island and hunt for sand dollars.
I turned 81 in March 2025 and worked for 60 years as a Civil Engineer in a high-stress environment. Messing about in boats kept me sane. In the middle of March every year I would stand in my cubicle and picture sailing past the green can at the entrance to the Ipswich River in Massachusetts. That vision, and WoodenBoat magazine, sustained me for many years.
Tom Doane
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Bandsaw Blade Repair
G’day,
I read with interest the article by Harry Bryan in WB No. 306 in which he describes the repair of bandsaw blades. I often repair such blades, and use the same basic technique as Harry. However, I have found it difficult to control the heat when applying a flame directly to the blade, especially at the fine edge of the prepared blade. Above is a photograph of a pair of tongs that have a cube of steel welded to each end. These cubes are heated to the required temperature (dull red) and then clamped onto the blade secured in a jig with the silver-brazing alloy between the over-lapping blade ends.
Rod Slinn
Via email