Secondhand silverware made ideal tools
Issue 113: March/April 2017
Nurdle’s toerail was leaking and I had no choice but to remove and rebed it — all 70 feet. While most of the Dolfinite compound used for bedding the rail in 1979 had hardened after 37 years, the portion in the groove at the hull-to-deck joint was still soft and adhering. However, proper preparation required I remove all of the existing bedding, not just the bad stuff.
After limited success trying a variety of scrapers, screwdrivers, razor knives, and so forth, I had a light-bulb moment. I went to my local thrift store and bought an assortment of ordinary table knives for 10 cents each. Made from polished stainless steel, the knives are durable, stiff enough for scraping and digging, and the goo can be wiped off them easily.
The tips of the blades were not quite the ideal shape but, after a few passes on the bench grinder, I had them contoured perfectly for the job. The knives are so cheap and plentiful I even ground a couple of different shapes to try. I bent one of them into a hook shape, reproducing a scrieve knife I had seen in S.S. Rabl’s classic, Boatbuilding in Your Own Backyard. (I had to use heat to bend the knife without it breaking.) This tool was helpful in certain parts.
One trick I discovered too late was to select a knife with a large, rounded handle as it will produce fewer blisters. I picked up a few extra knives to modify for future projects.
John Churchill built a raft at age 6, sailed Snipes as a teenager, and worked his way toward bigger boats as an adult. He has sailed a Cape Dory 26 singlehanded to Bermuda and back, and a Bristol Channel Cutter trans-Atlantic with his father. Now living in Florida, John races and daysails Nurdle, a Bristol 35.5, while rehabbing her for extended post-retirement cruising.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
