As a result of ealier appeals for sources of green oak for a new rudder post for Kildare, a number of people made suggestions and most were followed up -thank you. BW at Bradley couldn't help with a lockgate off cut and a log from a tree that they were felling on the site of the Foxton incline did not come to fruition either.

So, with time running out, it was decided to buy a piece, which was obtained from the timber yard on the left of the North Stratford canal as you come down lock 3.

It was (and is) a sizeable lump of timber, which requires two people to lift on its own. When we add the blade we may well need the Museum crane.

The first job (other than to fit a truss for the impending hernia) was to plane the sides of the lump to a continuous taper. This was achieved on a thickness planer which usually produces perfectly parallel sides. However some long thin wooden wedges were attached to the underside of the lump to produce long thin tapers on the top. Then it was turned over to do the other side with a double thickness wedge.

Planing the tapers on the sides, makes sawdust BIG time !

Next job was to cut the blank to profile, in this picture the curve to fit the stern of Kildare has been shaped, the angle of the top has been cut together with the taper to take the 'ellum.

One of the more difficult jobs was to cut the square hole for the 'ellum. This not only has to be right for size (large square tapered hole - tricky) but it has to be spot on for angle, otherwise the 'ellum will hit the cabin top or be so high we will need a step ladder to steer the butty!!. If anyone can invent a drill to make square tapered holes, I am very interested !!.

Also in this shot, the hole for the top hook has been drilled, and the top of the stock rounded over, ready for fitting the piece of aluminium to protect the end grain.

Here the chamfers on the curved portion of the stock make sure the rudder does not foul Kildare's stern when on full lock. The preliminary shaping for the bottom hook and the bottom blade supports (floats ??) is also shown.

Marking out and fitting of the top floats at the right angle is not trivial, particularly as the resulting gap between them has to be an exact fit to the blade thickness. Also the rebating for the bottom hook has been accomplished allowing a trial fit.

In this shot most of the major woodworking has been finished, with the exception of the rebating for the bottom floats. The top hook has been trial fitted, while the top floats will be cut to length during the fitting of the blade.

As I write (end of April 05) the boats are away on their first trip of the season with the old rudder. While they are away as much of the painting of the new stock as possible will be done.

On their return, the old rudder will come north to Yorkshire, again, the hooks and the blade stripped off and fitted to the new stock and the whole assembly finish painted and bitumened as appropriate.

In summary, the job has been quite challenging, particularly as the wood is too big for many of my machine tools, but the experience of working in green oak is a definite plus. It gives off an aroma, when being cut, not dissimilar to Scotch Whisky, so at the end of the night, I need to check that my smell and taste senses are not out of kilter!.

Here it is! The rudder as at Sunday 15th May. The final assembly of the wooden parts has been made with all of the metal parts ready to go on next. A final coat of gloss followed by all the decorative fiddly bits is this week’s work before it is transported to the BCLM next weekend ready for the trip to Crick.

The reason for the clamp is that it gets a bit windy opp' ere in Yorkshire and the blade makes an excellent sail. Not popular if it fell all over the missus' car !!!