We have all looked to the night sky and been taken aback by the view. Telescopes are tools that allow us to get a closer, more detailed view. My dad used to call them “a ladder to the heavens.” There are a number of reasons why you might want to build your own telescope: Custom design, aesthetics and quality come to mind. There is always the element of satisfaction in creating your own. Continue reading
By Captain James R. Watson
The sun is magnificent to view through a telescope—but only with a filter. Building a solar filter for a telescope is pretty straight forward.
To build one for my telescope, I sawed two 1″-wide rings from 1/4″-thick plywood. The inside diameter of the rings matches the outside diameter of my telescope’s optical tube (10 3/4″). I bonded the two larger rings together with an identically-sized ring of foam between them. The laminated ring slides over the tube. Continue reading
If you are using the strip planking method to build a canoe, kayak or even a telescope, you already appreciate the beauty of wood. The following tips will help you achieve the clearest possible fiberglass coating to protect and reinforce the wood and show off your handiwork. Continue reading
People from all over the world have read Canoecraft by Ted Moores & Marilyn Mohr. This illustrated guide to building a strip canoe has helped many first time builders create elegant canoes. Bear Mountain Boat Shop is the company behind the book, a family business that has much to offer the strip canoe builder. Continue reading
Courtesy of Wessex Resins & Adhesives
Craftsmen and volunteers are building the World’s largest wood/epoxy tall ship at a boat yard in England. The 65-meter three-masted barque was ready to set sail in the year 2000. Her crew, a blend of physically disabled and able bodied sailors, will navigate the ship around the United Kingdom and Europe. Continue reading
Backyard pools can be a joy. They can also be an expensive, time-consuming headache. While I don’t have any ideas about how you might escape the cleaning and chlorination chores, I do have an idea that might save you the cost of replacing that old, weather-beaten blue diving board that has faithfully stood a stoic guard over the deep end all these years. Continue reading
Epoxy fillets are important for reinforcing the long joints between bulkheads and hulls or decks. My friend Jack Anderson showed me how to modify one of our inexpensive 808 Plastic Spreaders make to apply neat fillets in one quick pass. Continue reading