Barbashela Bow Seat Table

Well Skipper misses Barbashela and wanted a table for the front porch, so I took the patterns and templates from the restoration and made the first 2 feet of the bow, minus a few planks and the outwale.

It was the first time to use the frame pattern, I poked a few holes with an awl and the frames came out great.

Used the stem pattern to get the rake and sweep angles.

I also had a full size pattern for the bow seat, so I cut that out from 2 pieces of cypress and tacked the inner stem, bow seat and frames together. The seat is held together underneath with cleats. Next I roughed out the bottom planks, and used the Table of Offsets to set the distance from bow (station) and breadth of the frames. Once I could see where the frame feet sat, I added 15/16 inch to either side from frame to bow, that would be where the mini planks rested. Then I cut out the outer stem and held it in position with the mini planks and bottom plank. Everything got fastened with #10 silicone bronze screws. Edges were radiused with a 1/8 inch roundover bit on a compact router or random orbital sander with 60 grit pad. This detail gives the piece a little age and makes it pleasing to look at, vs sharp edges everywhere. The outer stem was shaped with a belt sander. The last small detail was a to cut a small cove along the face of the seat riser, barely noticeable but faithful to Barbashela's design.

06-07 Dec 16:

Paint is next, Valspar Ultra aklyd enamel Swiss Coffee, Whipped Apricot and Mark Twain House Brown to match her inspiration Barbashela.