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USS Constitution Instruments
These instruments were made from wood taken out of the vessel during her 1990's refit.
Chip Log, Traverse Board, 28 second Sand Glass.

These instruments were built as a gift to the USS Constitution for her 200th birthday. Normally, chip logs, traverse boards and sandglasses are workaday tools and weren't given much decoration. However for this very special occasion, I decided to do a little carving work. On one end disk of the chip log, I carved the year of her launching (1797) plus 2 stars: one for each hundred years of her existence (see the photo below). The other end disk also had two stars carved in as well as U.S.N.

The Traverse Board has the usual 32 compass points carved into a solid well figured mahogany board. Normally, Traverse Boards has a Fleur d'lis indicating North. However, since the Constitution herself is adorned with so many stars, I decided to use that figure.

USS Constitution Instruments
These instruments were finished with many coats of hand rubbed Tung Oil. The sandglass is hand blown glass set in a handmade mahogany frame. The chip log handles were French Braided with tarred marlin and capped off with Turks Heads.
Chip log end disk carving.