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This Chapter Explains Methods 6 Framing the Forward End of the Ship—Methods of Trimming Timbers Also Are Described N FRAMING the ends of a ship special. problems are encountered. The stem, at the forward end and the sternpost at the rear, must be set’ in place and the surrounding timbers properly arranged before the planking operations can be commenced. Of the two ends of the vessel, the framing of the bow is much the simpler. Today wooden ships usually are built with either clipper bows or steamer bows. Vessels with auxiliary power usually are provided with clipper bows while full-powered motor vessels or steamships have steamer bows with the customary straight stem. The characteristics of these two types bows are generally understood. The steamer bow is perhaps the less artistic of the two, although easier to frame. In the steamer bow the stem is set perpendicu- lar to the keel; in the clipper type bow, the stem has a rake forward and is set at an acute angle to the keel. A typical clipper bow, with the framing. in place ready for planking, is shown in Fig. 83. ° A steamer bow, in a similar stage of completion is.shown in Fig. 94. The bow construction of modern wooden ships has been greatly simplified by the large timbers now available in all sections of the United States. par- ticularly on the Pacific coast. In the old days in. England it was necessary to build up the stem, deadwood, apron, knighthead, ete, out Oba great many pieces, all of which had to be carefully locked. scarfed, hooked and bolted together. In some old English ships of the: dite. as many as 34 pieces were used in the stem construction. The stem proper of modern wood- en ships can be easily fashioned from one piece. The apron like- wise can be made of one piece, and the knightheads may be similarly gotten out. As shown in Figs. 84 chief and 96, the frames near the stem must be swung or canted forward, out of square with the line of the keel.” This; is done: in: ‘order to avoid excessive molding dimensions. Frames which are so swung are termed cant frames, whether they are located in the forward or after part of the ves- sel. The remaining frames, usually, are known as square frames. On the Pacific coast at the present time, however, the term cant frame is more loosely con- strued to mean any frame which heels against the deadwood as in Fig. 96, in- stead of against the keel. On account of the tapering of the ship toward the forward end. it is necessary to fill up the thin portion with blocks of timber termed deadwood in order to form a suitable footing for the frames. In the case of clipper type ships, such as that shown in Fig. 83, it is mot possible, even, to heel all of the frames against the deadwood, and some of the shorter ones near the upper part of the stem are heeled against the apron, which is a piece fitted immediately be- hind the stem. This construction is clearly shown in Figs. 83 and 89. The short timbers in the latter illustration, parallel to the stem, are known as knightheads. They are utilized to fill out the framing where the bows are comparatively blunt. Some years ago FIG. 84—DETAILS OF STEM SHOWING LARGE NATURAL KNEE 395 By H. Cole Estep old-line English wooden shipbuilders thought it absolutely necessary to use oak for the stems of wooden ships. Modern experience, has indicated, how- ever, that this is not necessary at all, and at the present time fir, yellow pine and other woods are employed with equal success. In fact, the latter woods are preferable on account of the large sizes in which the timbers may be obtained. The advantage of using larger timbers already has been dis- cussed. If, however, it is necessary to build up the stem of more than one piece, the sections should be connected by scarfs similar to those used to connect the pieces of keel together. These scarfs should be so disposed as to give a good shift to the pieces of the apron, in case the latter also is com- posed of more than one piece. On ac- count of the strain to which they are subjected, it is not a bad idea to dowel scarfs of this character. Prior to 1850 jit was customary to join the stem to the fore piece of keel by means of a curved scarf. It was necessary, therefore, to convert the stem from a timber which already had | the necessary natural curvature so as to avoid shortness of grain at the thin lip of the scarf. In such cases. also, to aid in the conversion of the timbers, a portion of the curvature of the fore-foot was in- cluded in the fore- piece of keel by placing the scarf a little higher up the stem. At the present _ time, however, a_ verti- cal scarf similar to that shown in Figs. 84 and 97 usually is em- ployed and the joint is rein- forced by insert- ine ao natural knee. Sometimes this knee goes in over the dead- wood as in Fig. 84. In other cases, it constitutes the lowest piece of deadwood as in Fig. 97. In the lat- »