CRAFTSMANSHIP
Boatbuilder’s Notes
By Robin Gates
Chisel knife The Hultafors square-ended chisel knife is rather more knife than chisel, because the edge is bevelled on both sides, but it’s nonetheless a useful hybrid of both kinds of tool worth keeping to hand in a cockpit locker or attached to your belt by its plastic sheath. The carbon steel blade is 70mm long, a sturdy 3mm thick
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and ground flat on one edge – well up to driving with a hammer, as you might do when
1: Cutting
splitting kindling for a barbecue. The meaty handle
three-strand line
likewise withstands a heavy blow so you might use
with the knife edge
this tool for rough tasks where you’d hesitate to
2: Hinge mortise
deploy a more valued chisel, yet it’s also precise
chopped out with
enough for more critical work like cutting a hinge
the square
mortise. The fact of the handle being longer than the
chisel end
blade assists with accurate positioning, much like a butt chisel. Handy for cutting wood, plastic or rope, and excellent value at around £7.
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L-R: Wing, Moore & Wright and Lancashire dividers
hammer No 4203 (left) and Warrington
ROBIN GATES
8oz hammer (right)
Step out with dividers
It’s far from being the cheapest pin hammer on the market but I’ve found the 4oz No4203 made by CK (which stands for Carl Kämmerling, who founded the company in 1904) to be a solid investment. This old
Dividers are invaluable for transferring measurements without recourse to a
example has an ash handle, whereas today’s is fitted with
ruler. The forged iron type used by a 19th-century shipwright was securely
the similarly durable and shock-absorbing hickory, but
locked by a screw tightening on a quadrant extending from one leg, and the
the shapely swellings which fit the hand so well remain
tool is also sturdy enough to scribe an arc with sufficient clarity to guide the
unchanged, as does the secure wedging to the drop-
saw. The lighter Lancashire pattern spring dividers adjusted by a wing nut
forged head of carbon steel. The hammer is well
acting against a bow spring are prone to twist if used for scribing, but are
balanced, with the weight of the head concentrated over
favoured by joiners for the more delicate work of stepping out marks for
a small area that’s ideal for driving small nails and pins,
dovetails.
while the flattened cross pein (or peen) is designed for
More rigid and precise than the old Lancashire sort are the spring dividers
getting them started while gripped betwixt finger and
used by toolmakers, such as these made by Moore & Wright around 1950. Legs
thumb. Pictured alongside the joiner’s standard 8oz
pivoting on a hardened steel fulcrum are set by a sophisticated ‘quicknut’ with
Warrington hammer for comparison, the CK pin hammer
split collet, permitting rapid readjustment between wide settings. Similar
has an RRP of £18.22 but may be less at cktools-
M&W-branded dividers are available from Workshop Heaven in Banbury,
superstore.co.uk.
priced at £21.50.
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CK pin hammer
CLASSIC BOAT JULY 2021
ROBIN GATES
CK 4oz pin
