Perhaps my luck is changing...

Well, at least I hope so. I don't know exactly what it was, but I seem to have been followed last week by either a black cloud or Murphy (yeah, that Murphy) himself. Everything I came in contact with seemed to have turned to uh... yeah, that.

Late in the week, my luck seemed to have turned. I was looking at a forum that I follow and one of the members who is a boat-builder (among other things) who had some lofting and patterns for a traditional lapstrake canoe designed by R.D. "Pete" Culler, a well known designer and builder of classic wooden boats, that he was looking to give away. As this kind gentleman and I both had Monday off, I drove down to his shop on Long Island to pick up these items. We had a nice visit that was all too short, really. He'd worked doing repair work at various yards in the area and at the Apprenticeshop up on Rockland, Maine. He was even kind enough to have gone to the local library and made copies about the boat from John Burke's book about Culler's boats. That's above and beyond, if you ask me.

Detail From the Lofting

Lofting and Patterns

Exerpt from Book
(Shows 13' version of canoe)

I've been looking forward to finding a boat that would be good for teaching another boat-building class. Perhaps this will be a good choice. Time will tell.

Today, I was in my office when one of my co-workers came in and told me to follow him. We went through the building to the shipping dock. He then grabbed his coat and we headed outside. (???) We went to his pickup truck and he dropped the gate. "I've got a few things for ya." (??? - again) In the truck were three planes - a Sergant smothing plane, a Stanley Bailey pattern #5 bench plane and a wood-soled plane of unknown origin. Also were two LARGE wooden clamps - those things are about 18-20" - a very large clamp. The planes need a bit of cleaning, sharpening and lubrication and but for the repair of one handle, they're in very good shape. Quite a treat!


Here's to hoping that my luck has actually changed!