Bruce Foxworthy

Spanky: I've done quite a bit of sailing when I was younger ,too. My first boat was an International Fireball. A two man 16 foot racer so I'm very familiar with the trapeze and I loved it. Then I had a Laser but didn't care for it. Then I had a CL16 with a trap on it and a 120% roller furling Jenny. That boat is basically a knock off of the famous Wayfarer and without a doubt my favorite boat ever. Unfortunately as I got older I developed degenerative disk disease to the point where I was no longer able to hike out or use the trap any longer. I also spent time cruising in friends boats all over the Great lakes. Here's a picture of me with my CL16 I'm around 35 years old. Best time of my life. When ever I'm in Grand Rapids again I'll have to look you up. Regards Bruce

Well I think I've made a big mistake today. I decided to cut away the Bulwarks from the deck thinking that I was going to put them the shields and oars in one at a time after the main part of the hull and sail were done inside the bottle. Anyway I made a complete mess of it so now I'm strategizing plan B.

Spanky, I'm in, Walled Lake just the other side of Novi. So about three hrs from you. I have a nephew who now lives in Grand Rapids. He is a purchasing agent for Miejers there. Quite the sailor, or used to be I should say, before he had kids. He's participated in the Mackinaw Race several times in his younger days. Did you ever sail? Regards Bruce.

Beautiful ship coming along there Spanky.🤗

I've been able to work on my Viking ship the last few days. With all this staying home now, I think I'll start moveing along better in the coming week. Here are some pics of where she's at presently. Stay safe guys and gals.

Looking Great Onni.🧐 Regards Bruce

Ditto: Thanks for the print. Great idea! Regards Bruce.

JesseLee: Not only that but I've got a bucket of springs, door knobs, hooks and the like. lol.😋

Alan: I think your inventiveness is a great asset for you and actually any of us doing this hobby/art. Gluing a map to a display board is a Sweet idea. Thanks for the info on that. Going to steal that for sure. I forgot to mention in my comments to you how much I appreciate your showing us the bottle holder you made. Quite clever actually. Probably going to steal that idea too and make one myself. I'm just a thief. LOL.🤣 I'll never forget my Dad years ago told me to never through a pair of shoes out without first cutting the tongues out and saving that leather for some future use. Like hinges and such.LOL. So I've now accumulated over the years a five gallon bucket of shoe tongues. LOL. My wife thinks I'm nuts! Go figure.😂 But I use them all the time. For example one of our bird feeders recently lost it's hinged roof. No problem , I just stapled some leather hinges I cut out with scissors onto it and it's as good as new. Lol. A side to that, is that my Dad always saved his bent nails he pulled off of something in a bucket. When he needed a couple of nails for something he was working on and he didn't have enough of them, he would through the bucket of nails down on the garage floor and pick out the ones he needed. Then he would straighten them out on his vice with a hammer and used them right then and there. Saved him a trip to the hardware store. Guess what? I have a five gallon bucket of bent nails myself. My wife thinks I'm nuts! Sure comes in handy in a pinch though. We're a crazy lot us sailors. Lol. Regards Bruce

Exwafoo: Wonderful job. Looks great. I like the idea of using an old map to cover a piece of wood for the stand. What kind of glue did you use to glue it down with? I never heard of spray painting a bottle to improve it's clarity but it does look good. Wonder if that coating will hold up over time? Any idea on that? Regards Bruce

Onni: Sweet!! Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to check it out. Yeah, I figured a long piece of line. Thanks again friend. Regards Bruce

Onni: Where did you come up with this jig??? Can you send along a print for it?? I'm really wanting to learn to make a Turks head. Regards Bruce

Onni: I never knew about putting metal loops on the deck for future rigging purposes. I'm going to have to try that technique real soon. Regards Bruce.

Hi Micky: I've decided to go with the soft metal sewing pins mostly because I don't have to worry about them bending and I can also rust these to a brown color with some acid,( I think ). regards Bruce

Well It's another Sunday, and March first at that: And Mommy only had me replace the garage door hinges and rollers today. Good thing too, cause most of them were broken. I'd be lost without her supervision. I'm so glad she keeps me on task because on my own, I'd be in my bottle for sure. LOL! After chores, I went into my Hobby Center room and started to figure out what I was going to do about making the oars for my Viking ship. Originally, I was thinking of making them out of pretty hard piano wire which I have on hand in different sizes. Then for what ever reason I thought about using more pins like I just did for my shields. Suddenly it dawned on me that sewing pins are just about the correct length for my oars. EUREKA! I hit a gold mind and not only that but that material they are made of is much softer than piano wire. So I raided Mommy's sewing box. LOL!! I'm a bad boy but she'll never miss them. LOL! So I took my little ball peen hammer and placed one of the sewing pins on top of the anvil part of my little vice, then I struck the tip of the pin three times and I got a sweet looking oar blade shape at the end of the pin. Of course I can shape it with a fine file but this is defiantly a good start for a process for making my oars. I'm going to practice this technique for some time cause I've got a million pins now that I can trash. Eventually I should figure out how to make consistent oar blade shapes. One of the biggest joys I get out of this hobby/art, that we do is that it allows your mind to go places. I mean like thinking about everyday things we interact with and then suddenly attach them to our craft. I love this part of the whole thing. Anyway here are two pictures of the sewing pins. Before and after. That's it for today. I'm going as fast as I can on this build but as you all know there's so much to do. Regards Bruce