You can't build a boat until you can do this...

[Cruisingdad]

Looks like Portugese boats have not changed in design much over the last many hundreds of years!! Probably no faster today than they were then. Not to mention, there are not even any BBQ's!!! Come on!! Get modern!!

- CD

[Jeff_H]

Alex,

What you describe as 'Sheep Grease' probably is what we would call Lanolin, or else tallow. In the days before petrolium based compounds traditional caulking compound materials often used pitch from pine trees, seed/bean oils, fish oils, or other organic animal based oils as raw materials.

Jeff

[Giulietta]

I don't know the name in English, but its fat removed from lamb..is lanolin that?

Curious, that's all.

[Giulietta]

CD, assuming your remark, have you noticerd one thing???

These boats probably have more miles under sail than any 3 catalinas tied together, and most are 100 or more years old??

in 50 years, any Cantalina is just plastic wrap inside a cardboard box, keeping a Chinese computer safe during transoportation


ehehehehe

[Jeff_H]

Alex,

I think that your sheep grease is lanolin. Below is the definition of Lanolin. I still use lanolin on turnbuckle (bottle screws) threads and as a thread compound where stainless steel bolts are installed in aluminum.

Jeff


From Wikipedia:

Lanolin, also called Adeps Lanae, wool wax, wool fat, or wool grease, a greasy yellow substance from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw material (such as in shoe polish). Lanolin is "wool fat" or grease, chemically akin to wax, which is secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals, such as sheep. These glands are associated with hair follicles. Lanolin's ability to act as a waterproofing wax aids sheep in shedding water from their coats. Certain breeds of sheep produce large amounts of lanolin, and the extraction can be performed by squeezing the wool between rollers. Most or all the lanolin is removed from wool when it is processed into textiles, eg yarn or felt.
Lanolin is chiefly a mixture of cholesterol and the esters of several fatty acids. Crude (non-medical) grades of lanolin also contain wool alcohols, which are an allergen for some people. Recent studies also indicate that antibiotics are present in the lanolin. The extract is insoluble in water, but forms an emulsion. At one point, the name Lanolin was trademarked as the generic term for a preparation of sheep fat and water. [1]

[Giulietta]

Thank you Jeff, it is lanolin, in fact.

The funny thing is that the writter of the article refered to it as Lamb/sheep grase, and not lanolin.

They guy, by the style and type of articulate witting seems to be highly educated, thus me not understanding the reason why he refers to is as sheep grease.

It could very well be, that, in order to preserve the nature and tradition of the name, when enquiring about what the substance was, the old men may has simply said Sheep grease, as the word is in " "...and I am pretty sure the old builders didn't know lanolin 's name..

Thank you for the very informative and fun thread we're keeping here.

Next week if I have time, I'll go to the museum, and find out the designers of the Royal Yachts of King Carlos.

Alex

[tdw]

Hey Axle that was superb. Wonderful images. Tell me, is that Lisbon in your pics ? Are they building the boat on the upper reaches of the Tagus ?

I must show those pics to a good mate of mine who is currently rebuilding a hundred year old workboat. Milled the timber himself, steam bent the stringers, hand drilled all the holes for copper nails which are attached in the old fashioned way with a clout on the inside. Each nail is a two man job. Skill way beyond my meagre abilities and not as unique as those guys but you still have to admire guys like that.


Cheers to you.

Wambot.