Not posted for a while, real life has been a bit busy and I have had other projects taking up my time.

After the block shells had soaked in the Boiled Linseed Oil for a week, they were taken out and after about an hour of letting the oil drip back into the pot the remaining excess oil was removed with a soft cloth and the shells hung up to dry. This is the result after a day or two. Technically, Linseed oil doesn't dry, it polymerises with exposure to oxygen and hardens, but the effect is the same.

After more than a week drying, sheaves were installed using a stainless steel pin and the shells were given about eight coats of varnish. This was during a spell of warm weather and by putting a coat on first thing in the morning, the varnish had cured sufficiently by late afternoon to put on another coat, so the process didn't take that long. After the coats varnish had been applied I hung the shells up again to allow the varnish to harden for another week.

Finally, I added the rope work to the block. This consists of a length of rope with an eye-splice in the end that is made around the block and a whipping added to the base of the splice to draw the eye tight on the block. The result is pretty good.

I also whipped the free end of the rope and cut off the melted rope as I find that it cracks over time and because it is hard, it is not so easy to thread through holes.

This is one of the block loosely tied around the boom. When I rig Naiad after launching, the block will be tied a lot more securely. This is just to show how the new block will be fixed in place.

Not a bad job. I learnt a few things in the process of making these, the sheaves have glass and plastic bearing races so they turn very freely and the result looks very nice. 

A suitable upgrade for Naiad.