There are still areas where the 'black art' effect lingers. Certainly there are still those that will tell you that varnishing is next to impossible unless you have spent 30 years chasing badgers to shave their sensitive bits to make the perfect brush etc.
But I think the biggest area of black art is still 'sailmaking'. I have made one set of sails and to be honest they were pretty awful, but the next set will be better
. To that end, I have been trying to find another industrial sewing machine as mine got bust a while ago.But I found this post on the Star-board forum about sailmaking and just so liked it, I hope that he won't mind if I cut'n'paste it here:
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copied from: http://2006.star-board.com/forum/starbu ... 0043418204
Sail making is a black art.
It isnt actually that hard to do, its just difficult to know where to start or to know where to get the information from to know how to do it.
It is unlikely that your first few sails will be any good, there is always a learning curve.
Andrew at the start of this thread put in some negatives, i thought i would address these for you.
Industrial sewing machine? big$
Look for sewing machines look for a Pfaff 138, singer 307 G2 or singer 107. These are Zig Zag machines and are relatively cheap(£100 GBP) they are all more than capable of the general seaming work. (most seams will need to be 20mm with two rows of zig zag)
Sewing skill? Lots of trial and much error!
yep definetly your young though you got the time!!
Set up a loft table? big$
Nah couple of sheets of 8*4 on trestles around ya sewing machine to keep it all flat is good, but you dont need a table. The floor is good, just need a big enough FLAT space to put on edge curves in one go
Sailcloth in small amounts of different materials? Find it! big$
Nope pretty easy, go to local sailmakers and ask. Most sailmakers would help out a kid who was keen, we would.
Hot knife cutter? big$
£50 GBP for a engel hot knife, but whats wrong with a soldering (£4.50GBP)iron with a flat blade? they usually take a little longer to warm up but they do exactly the same job.
Sail fittings. Find them!
Easy ask the sailmakers again, you could actually make a decent sail without any anyway, just need to engage your brain a bit, think around the problems that confront you
Batten material. Find it at a reasonable price!
Pretty easy again, sailmakers, chandlers, kite suppliers anyone who uses fibre poltrusions.
Press to put in fittings? big$
Nope dont need one, most rings used in windsurf sails can be set with a hammer if necessary, its easier with a hydraulic press but not necessary.The setting tools cost a bit though, (£70) try using a plain d ring atatched with webbing instead? its done on yachts.
Design. Totally hit and miss. Most likely miss by a mile!
Cant argue with that, first few might not be fantastic but you got to start somewhere.j <Would add that many sailmakers are more than happy to help with this - even to offer use of their sail-design programs and laser cutting - ed>
Copy an existing sail with sub-millimeter seam shaping. Yeah, right!
sub millimeter shaping? NOPE this accuracy is just not possible with current construction techniques. Sails are assembled by hand and eye even in mass production facilities in china, lanka etc. They are not constructed to this level of accuracy. Millimeter maybe
Seam shaping by hand? Forget it.
why? absolutely no problem with seam shaping by hand. Thats how its done.
Seam shaping by computer program? big$
? dont even know of a machine that sticks sail panels together
Computer controled cloth marking and/or cutting? For home manufacture? Got to be joking! Huge big$
yes so why bother. CNC plotter cutters in sailmaking are very good for larger production runs and usefull in small scale as well, but they are not essential, in fact they are not always even that accurate.
Just be carefull marking out, measure twice cut once.
Hopefully you can see that where there is a problem there is a solution.
It wont be cheap though, you will make a few before you make a good one. BUT it will be fun trying!!
matthew
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this seemed like such completely great advice from someone who is really right on the CVRDA ethos.
So thank you to Matthew Burridge
If anyone recognizes the name - please do tell them I have copied his post to here.
cheers
eib
