Reservoir Cloth, Centerboard and Relief Valve Parts

 After work, I had some time, so I thought I'd get the reservoir cloth on. This was definitely easier than the cloth on the bellows - partly because this isn't my first time in doing this now, partly because you can see inside the box the entire time, so it's easy to inspect for mistakes.

After the cloth came out from under its 30 lbs. of clamping weights, I attached the side and end battens with glue and secured them with #2 3/8" brass screws from the inside of the box. I predrilled, stained, and shellacked the battens and the air outlet block, but I'll probably give all of the joints another round of shellac once the cloth glue is fully cured.

I also put the temporary battens on the centerboard halves, fitted the center strip and glued over a piece of blackout cloth using a rubber typesetter's roller to get it down flat and smooth. I think I'll go over this seam with some shellac as well. I also sanded down the areas where the valves and valve mounts will be going.

While everything was drying, I cut out some pieces that I'll be using to make up the relief valve. I left the valve arm purposely long, so I can cut it to fit once the bellows/reservoir assembly goes into its eventual position. At the fabric store last weekend, I found something called "jeweler's memory wire" in a gold finish. This is fairly stiff wire with very good spring capabilities, so I'll try to fashion some sort of spring out of it for the relief valve.