Purple wood?

Yes it exists,from the forests in Guyana,South America:

The trees are prized for their beautiful heartwood which, when cut, quickly turns from a dark brown to a rich purple color. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light darkens the wood to a brown color with a slight hue of the original purple. This effect can be minimized with a finish containing a UV inhibitor. The dry wood is very hard and dense with a specific gravity of 0.86 (54 lb/ft^3 or 860 kg/m^3). This wood is quite dense, and if it is to be worked, then a sharp carbide blade is required to cut it. For uses of this wood it is prized for fine inlay work, woodturning, cabinetry, and furniture. The dust can cause nausea.[citation needed] The wood is also known as amaranth and violet wood. Overharvesting has caused several species to become endangered in areas where they were once abundant.[citation needed] http://www.iwokrama.org/newsletter/dec05/images/en_purpletree.jpg


[edit] Species

Happy Birthday to our Blog

B&G Mast head unit

Can anyone supply a Brookes and Gatehouse 213 mast head unit,part number 213 or similar,new,used or repairable,this is what it looks like.

Roy

Wanted B&G hydraulic ram for a Network Autopilot

It is the lower blue ram that is the minimum we require,that serves a single steering position,the upper one a duel position,can you supply either unit?



This is the control unit,we can use a second unit too.

We have the computer and just need the Linear Drive Hydraulic Ram to complete our system,instruments and repeaters will also be considered,what have you got we can use?

Roy

Its winter in South Africa

Some may think that if this is Africa its always warm,most times it is but each July/August we get our share of cold weather,with it the rains,much needed for our summers but also snow on the high grounds too,skiing holidays are even possible!This picture is of the mountain pass Customs Post out of the highlands kingdom of Lesotho,its the well known Sani Pass,more or less impassible without a 4x4 vehical.

Roy

Argie 10,July madness clearance sale

Here we have a demo kit that we played around with for sale,the price of this boat as a kit is R5248,the price of the dinghy built and painted is
a crazy R5775,less 5% if you pay by means other than a credit card,thats only R5500,or U$710 ex works,the pictures are of a similar 'sister' boat.

Roy

021 510 7206 works

Rudders and Foils CNC shaped

The finished job,primed with twin pack etch primers and ready to ship,this order went to New York,USA.



Glassing the shaped surface with biaxial glass cloth and 205 laminating epoxy.



Painted and ready for a power planer to do the next part.


Spray painted,any colour will do but a brite or dark shade will be easier to see as you plane away the unwanted wood.


Laminated Clear Oregon Pine Foils

We made the first set of Didi Mini Transat in the old way of a series of templates shaped to the designers profiles,this is a half profile shape of hardboard,set to every 200mm or so,it works but slowly,one pair of rudders and a foil takes one person over three days to do the basic shaping.We soon worked into using the CNC machine to profile in 3D,then cut the profiles every 50mm,this then gives us a pre cut shape and is quite easy to machine plane to size,we picked up a few tricks as we went,have a look at the pictures.The paint can be any colour,it shows up at the bottom of the cutter slot as we shape into the foil,it tells us when to stop shaping!

Roy

Charlies 'Resolution' is no more

Not really,go to www.hbyc.co.za then the 'Links' page and open the clubs Seafarers Page,a full report was posted on that site page.



This is one of those entries we do not want to make but its happened,so what can we do,it was first posted in South Africa at my local yacht clubs site www.hbyc.co.za they have a seamans forum,check the full report in there,this was Charlies original message:



Charlie's Tokyo West Blog

Resolution is no more
Early in the morning of June 23 Resolution, through negligence of my own, went on the rocks at Great Barrier Island at the mouth of the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. I was able to escape with my life and little else, and Resolution has been beaten into pieces upon rocks infamous for killing ships in this country. Many have expressed their regrets and I appreciate them all. I have written 2000 words about my boat's demise, which Chuck will publish on Duckworks. Another, longer, bit is in the works for Small Boat Advisor. I'm writing from the hotel kiosk as my laptops and notes are scattered among the rocks with Resolution's remains. Sorry for this method of communicating with everyone, but I turned off my regular email address when we set sail, and cannot put messages on the JWBUILDERS forum. Until I return to Japan, then . .

Fate of the Yacht Resolution
Dramatic first-hand account of the wreck of the yacht Resolution by Charlie Whipple. Charlie spent 2.5 years bulding the little beauty and had planned to circumnavigate. It was wrecked on the Great Barrier Island off New Zealand one night just a few days into the voyage . . . . This account is only a few days old as of 30 June 2008.

The friday currency rates guide

As is now a regular blog,the currency rates are as below:

Forex Rates


All exchange rates are updated regularly. However, the rates that you receive in a FNB Branch may differ to these rates due to changing market conditions and the amount of your transaction. Please contact your nearest FNB branch if you wish to buy or sell foreign currency.


For your convenience, our Forex Calculator is available online.


Please note
Bank charges and commissions have been excluded

You can receive these rates by subscribing. These rates will be emailed to you at 09h00 and at 16h00 on valid business days.


The following European monetary area currencies have been incorporated into the Euro currency:

ATS, BEF, DEM, ESP, FIM, FRF, GRD, IEP, ITL, LUF, NLG, PTE, SIT, VAL.


Public Exchange Rates against the rand for amounts up to R50 000.


Published at 2008/07/04 09:02:00 AM


Rand per foreign currency unit

Description Code Bank Selling rate Bank buying TT Bank buying TC's Bank buying notes
EURO CURRENCY EUR 12.4347 12.3209 11.9076 11.9261
BRITISH STERLING GBP 15.6899 15.5477 15.0151 15.0495
US DOLLARS USD 7.8827 7.8827 7.5818 7.6301

Argie 15 export boat kit,by air.

Hollow section six meter clear oregon pine mast,note the luff groove machined to take the mainsails bolt rope luff.The mast can only be part hollow as we also have to allow for the bolt rope track but the boom is totaly hollow and is really light.


This kit is a little different,one of many Argie 15 kits we have supplied but this one will fly out as airfreight to its customer in Kenya soon.

EU and RYA Certification

We are asked for a certification policy on our kits very rarely but did do a little asking around as a result of such enquiries,that last such time was when a chap from the RYA in Britain contacted me asking if we required their help in this matter? I asked him to view our web site and the materials and kits we sell but to understand that while we do supply dinghy and yacht kits,we do not build them or sell them as finished units in any way whatsoever,he came back agreeing we did not need any certification from his department,I have asked the local CE person here in Cape Town,he also agreed but in any case,we supply our plans and materials in good faith but will not be held liable for any error in design or shortfall in a materials list taken from the designer in question design plans materials list,I should add,its not been much of a problem in our last six years of trading.

What is possible is that we can offer selected materials that are CE certificated,this can be a change from the far east marine ockume plys we normaly use,which is stamped with a BS1088 mark but carries no certificate,which is allowed I may add,or use french made ockume plys which also carry a BS1088 stamp but also a certificate number.We do not have a copy of this certificate but it will be available on request,changing to the french ply will add about 30% more to the cost of the ply part of our kits.Our epoxies and Superform bending plys are already CE approoved,so no problems there,all timbers we sell to be used on the boats build are kiln dried and should be acceptable,the SA Pine we supply for things like building stocks,is tanalith treated (copper solution) and carries an SABS approoval too.It is worth noting,that our keel boats are normally designed to the american standard ABS rules, a standard which in its self is world wide accepted,we supply to the same standard as asked for by the designer in question.
All export orders are fumigated as required by international law,a full certificate is included with the orders bill of lading documents.

First National Bank Currency Rates.

Friday once more,so here are the bank rates as of the last issue by FNB.contact me for the full list.

Forex Rates


All exchange rates are updated regularly. However, the rates that you receive in a FNB Branch may differ to these rates due to changing market conditions and the amount of your transaction. Please contact your nearest FNB branch if you wish to buy or sell foreign currency.


For your convenience, our Forex Calculator is available online.


Please note
Bank charges and commissions have been excluded

You can receive these rates by subscribing. These rates will be emailed to you at 09h00 and at 16h00 on valid business days.


The following European monetary area currencies have been incorporated into the Euro currency:

ATS, BEF, DEM, ESP, FIM, FRF, GRD, IEP, ITL, LUF, NLG, PTE, SIT, VAL.


Public Exchange Rates against the rand for amounts up to R50 000.


Published at 2008/06/27 10:02:00 AM


Rand per foreign currency unit

Description Code Bank Selling rate Bank buying TT Bank buying TC's Bank buying notes
EURO CURRENCY EUR 12.7235 12.2168 12.1856 12.2044
BRITISH STERLING GBP 16.0319 15.3924 15.3418 15.3768
US DOLLARS USD 8.0448 7.7957 7.7397 7.7878

Resolution 816 Epoxy information

Table Bay,Cape Town,Royal Cape Yacht Club yachts,in 1965 with Astra on the left





At least once a week we get a question or two about the epoxies we sell,what is it,is it any good,why is it less expensive than the others on sale? When I started the build on a Dix 43 about ten years ago,I took advice from the boats designer Dudley Dix and used Shell 816 epoxy,which since Shell Chemicals moved out of epoxies,has now been re branded as Resolution 816.Its a no nonsense type general purpose epoxy,it has many uses but the one we look at is its glue line and gap filling quality,it works so well that we romove all fastners from the build,then back fill screw holes with 816 epoxy and graded teak wood flour.Little Astra was literaly a sunken wreck,it was given to me on the understanding I fix her,so I skinned her with two layers of 4mm ockume marine plys and of course the glue was Resolution 816. Astra was repaired some ten years back now,she will be 74 years old now,she is also boat number 8 of possibly more than 1000 built.

Roy

Inside our factory

An Argie 15 clear oregon pine boom kit,being hollowed with a 32mm diameter tungsten router bit.



Inside our factory,the 16mtrs long white mast is in for a service and repaint,it will be reassembled using Tef-Gel paste.

Many may wonder where we do the work,we have what I think is a nice factory,its about 275 square meters,plus the offices,part of the factory floor space is pure storage to our stocks of Superform bending and marine plys,the rest we use as work stations,which includes a rip saw,two band saws,radial arm cut off saw,spindle,thicknesser,two compressors,plus the usual hand and power tools,its a set up that is very flexible.At this time we have a set of Clear Oregon Pine stringers to machine for a Wharram Tiki 38 and today ran some timbers for an Argie 15 mast and boom,also in Oregon Pine,the picture on this blog shows the two halfs of the Argie 15 boom,hollowed out and ready to ship with the rest of the boats kit.

Roy

A series of information of specialist woods,Lignum Vitae

From a very soft wood like Kiri,to one of the worlds hardest woods 'Lignum Vitae',we are on a mailing list from a company who trades in such wood,what is it? hard for certain,it may be the worlds hardest species even.Used on ships in the past as propellor shaft bearings,when lubricated with sea water,it would take the strain from the turning shaft,hard wood indeed!
Commercial Lumber cc,our founder company ,specialised in sourcing timbers not normally found on a timber merchants shelf,Lignum Vitea,Greenhart,Purplehart,Spanish Cedar and Mahogany,African Balsa,we can still do the same now.

Roy

lignum-vitae.com

COMMON NAMES: Lignum vitae, Guayacan, Palo santo, ironwood

SPECIFIC GRAVITY: 1.05

DENSITY: 77 - 82 lbs./cu.ft.

TANGENTIAL MOVEMENT: 2.5%

RADIAL MOVEMENT: n/a%

VOLUMETRIC SHRINKAGE: n.a%

DURABILITY: Exceptional resistance to moisture and fungal attack

SOURCE: West Indes, Central America, northern South America

DESCRIPTION: One of the hardest and heaviest woods (three times as hard as oak), lignum vitae is most commonly used for mallet heads, bearings and rollers. Because of its durability and natural lubricants, it is the preferred wood for propeller bushings and other underwater applications. The lignum vitae tree generally grows to a diameter of about 12", although historically, trees in the 18" - 30" range have been known.

Lignum vitae is reddish brown when freshly cut, with pale yellow sapwood. As it oxidizes, the color turns to a deep green, often with black details. The grain is highly interlocked, making it difficult to work with edge tools, but it machines well and takes a high polish. It is a remarkably good wood for turning. A similar species, known as Maracaibo lignum vitae (Bulnesia arboria), which grows in Venezuela and northern South America, is similar in properties and appearance and is sometimes substituted for genuine lignum vitae.

ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT: being replanted by our known suppliers: