92 CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2017CRAFTSMANSHIP
Boatbuilder’s Notes
Bore from
both sides
BY ROBIN GATESA sharp centre bit is an excellent tool for
boring a shallow large-diameter hole,
with a point to locate the bit dead centre
and a spur which neatly circumscribes
the hole in advance of the cutting edge.
However, special care is needed when a
hole passes right through, if the bit is
not to emerge like a bulldozer
through a brick wall.
One solution is to clamp the work to a
sacrificial backing piece, to support surface
fibres on the exit side, but this is not always
convenient – if boring the hole for a pipe or
wiring to pass through a bulkhead, for
example, represented here by a 1in (25mm)
hole in a 19mm board. Providing you can
access both sides of the hole, bore from
one side until the point of the bit is just
showing on the exit side. Then switch sides
with the brace and bit, using the small exit
hole to locate the point, and finish the job
from the second side. Separated by the
spur, the last of the wood is extracted on
the point as smart as a button, leaving
crisp edges all round.Razee ‘ship’ plane
This style of plane with the rear end cut
away is a razee or ‘ship’ plane, named after
the practice of slicing o a warship’s
elevated quarter-deck and forecastle to
make a vaisseau rasé with less top weight
and better sailing qualities.
For the shipwright the benefit lies in
lowering the rear handle so that thrust is
applied closer to the timber and from more
directly behind the blade. The cutaway also
makes it lighter, so less tiring in the heavy
work of planing timber down to rough
dimensions.
This 14in (35.5cm) razee jack plane from
the Bermondsey, London, factory of
Friedrich Emmerich, bears the EMIR
trademark, which woodworkers of a certain
age may recognise from their school days. In
the 1950s and 1960s EMIR tools and benches
were standard issue for technical schools,
where the razee jack was better known as
the ‘technical’ or ‘sunk handle’ jack.ADVICE
1 Begin boring from one side 2 The point showing on the exit
3 Centre the bit on the second side 4 A crisp resultROBIN GATESROBIN GATES1324Razee and standard
jack planes and (insert)
the EMIR trademarkCB353 BBldrs Notes.indd 92 26/09/2017 12:35