Mike In Maine
Caulking Tools
Caulking Tools at the Maine Maritime Museum - Bath, ME 20-Aug-07
Traditional caulking (also spelled calking) on wooden vessels uses fibers of cotton, and oakum, which consists of pieces of hemp fiber soaked in pine tar. These fibers are driven into the wedge shaped seam between planks with a caulking mallet and a chisel-like device called a caulking iron. The caulking is then covered over with a putty in the case of hull seams, or in deck seams with melted pine pitch in a process referred to as paying.
Caulking Tools
Caulking Tools at the Maine Maritime Museum - Bath, ME 20-Aug-07
Traditional caulking (also spelled calking) on wooden vessels uses fibers of cotton, and oakum, which consists of pieces of hemp fiber soaked in pine tar. These fibers are driven into the wedge shaped seam between planks with a caulking mallet and a chisel-like device called a caulking iron. The caulking is then covered over with a putty in the case of hull seams, or in deck seams with melted pine pitch in a process referred to as paying.