Avast Me Hearties

The latest acquisition to be fitted to the oak doors to the 'engine room' and No.1 Son's vestibule. Thank God they arrived while Hay is away.

17 inches (43cm) across and damned heavy, despite being aluminium. The glass is toughened and fairly heavy on its own.

Was considering brass portholes, but the theme of the house is chrome and stainless steel, so aluminium is more in keeping with the look and feel (as well as being less of a bugger to keep shiny). They will require some judicious grinding of the flange at the back to make them fit the door panels as well as the fabrication of a back-plate, but I can get Stuart (our tame fabricator) to do that - perhaps with some light buffing too.

Also got this last week for a song on eBay:

It's a double sheaved block from around the 1950s made of steel, brass and oak - I'm intending to use it to convert the gun tackle hanging over the main minstrel gallery into a luff tackle, but until I get a decent ladder to reach the upper block hanging from the ridge beam, it's being used as an ornament.

The previous owner was going to use it in his house, but it had seized and he didn't know how to free it. It's pretty easy, you just unscrew the brass plaque and hammer out the pin from the other side (with great difficulty if it has become seized), but if you don't know how these things are constructed then it's a bit of a mystery. Some sanding to get rid of a thick layer or orange paint and some beeswax and it now looks like new, or at least a little less stressed.