Woodworking Tip of the Day: Dust Collection You'll Actually Use: Hoods, Shrouds and PPE

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. the dust. Not the chips on the floor, the stuff you can't see. Right now on the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory I'm sanding cured epoxy, fairing compound, a little teak and some cedar, and every one of those makes a fine powder that hangs in the air long after the sander stops. I've been building boats and running jobs as a licensed contractor long enough to know the dust setup that works is the one you'll actually turn on every time. So here's a simple one: catch it at the tool, clean the air as a backup, wear the right mask the right way, and clean up without stirring it all back up.

Why it matters: NIOSH treats wood dust as a potential occupational carcinogen and recommends keeping it under 1 mg/m³ over a work shift. OSHA's legal limit is much looser (15 mg/m³ total dust, 5 mg/m³ respirable), and OSHA itself says many of its limits are outdated and points employers to the NIOSH number. Teak is on the ACGIH list as a suspected human carcinogen, and Western red cedar is a known respiratory sensitizer, with a tighter ACGIH limit of 0.5 mg/m³. California's health department lists cedar, oak and mahogany among woods known to cause asthma. Then there's epoxy. WEST SYSTEM says the sanding dust of partially cured epoxy is still reactive, and breathing it raises your risk of becoming sensitized. Once you're sensitized, even a little exposure can set you off. Fairing fillers aren't much of a hazard on their own, WEST says, but any nuisance dust makes existing lung trouble worse.

Materials

• A HEPA-filtered shop vac (built for HEPA, not just a shop vac with a HEPA cartridge stuck in it)
• A cyclone separator and a bucket or drum between the tool and the vac
• Sander with a dust port, hose and adapter to fit it; hook-and-loop discs with holes that line up with the pad
• A small hood or shroud (store-bought or a shop-made box from scrap plywood) for jobs the sander port can't catch
• A half-mask respirator with P100 filters (or a NIOSH-approved N95 for short jobs); organic vapor/P100 combination cartridges if you'll be using solvents
• Safety glasses with side shields marked Z87, and earmuffs or plugs

Tools

• Random-orbit sander, longboard or sanding block
• Ceiling-hung air cleaner (optional, as a backup)
• Spray bottle and a damp rag or mop for the last pass of cleanup

Steps: a dust setup you'll actually use

1. Catch it at the tool, first. Hook the sander's port straight to the vac hose, with the cyclone in between. Fine Woodworking tested Oneida's Dust Deputy cyclone with quarts of the finest sanding dust, and "not even a teaspoon" got into the vacuum. That keeps the vac filter from clogging, so your suction stays strong, and you're not beating a caked filter out in the yard. Line up the holes in the disc with the holes in the pad, or the port isn't pulling anything.
2. Make sure the vac is really HEPA. A HEPA filter catches 99.97% of particles at 0.3 micron, the size that's hardest to catch. EPA's warning is worth hearing: a shop vac with a HEPA cartridge dropped in isn't necessarily sealed, so dust can leak past the filter. Buy one designed to run with a HEPA filter.
3. Put the hood right where the dust comes off. Suction dies off fast. OSHA's ventilation manual says that at one duct diameter in front of a plain opening, capture velocity is about 10% of the velocity in the duct, and the source should be no more than 1-1/2 duct diameters from the hood. OSHA's example: a 6-in. duct, 9 in. max. By the same rule, a 2-1/2-in. vac hose has to be within about 3-3/4 in. of the work. Blowing air carries a long way; suction doesn't. So for scraping, hand-sanding fillets or working inside the hull, clamp the hood right up to the work, and baffle the sides with cardboard or plastic so a fan or an open door doesn't blow the dust past it.
4. Run the air cleaner as a backup, not a substitute. Fine Woodworking's 2010 test of five ceiling-hung air filters in a mock 400 sq. ft. shop found they did clear the finest dust (0.1 to 10 microns) in 20 minutes or less, about 15 minutes for the best. The same test concluded they don't keep the air at levels experts call safe; for that you need collection at the source. Turn it on while you work and leave it running after you quit.
5. Pick the right mask. For dust, you want a particulate filter: N95 means it catches at least 95% of particles, P100 at least 99.97%. N means not oil resistant, R is somewhat resistant, P is oil proof. WEST's minimum for epoxy, wood and filler dust is N95 or better. On a long sanding session I wear a half mask with P100 filters. Organic vapor cartridges are for vapors (solvent wipes, or epoxy in a closed-up space like inside the hull), and a plain OV cartridge does nothing for dust. If you need both, use a combination OV/P100 cartridge.
6. Check the seal every time you put it on. OSHA's user seal check: cover the exhalation valve and breathe out gently; you should feel slight pressure with no leaks at the edges. Then cover the cartridges and breathe in gently; the mask should pull in slightly and stay that way while you hold your breath for 10 seconds. That check doesn't replace a fit test, which is how you find the right model and size. And the hard truth for us old-timers: OSHA doesn't let employers put tight-fitting respirators on anyone with facial hair under the seal. A beard breaks the seal. That rule is written for tight-fitting masks, so if the beard stays, look at a loose-fitting powered (PAPR) hood instead.
7. Change filters on time. NIOSH says replace any particulate filter when it's damaged, dirty or noticeably harder to breathe through. Vapor cartridges are a different story: OSHA requires either an end-of-service-life indicator or a change schedule based on objective data, like the maker's service-life figures. Bag the cartridges between uses.
8. Eyes and ears, quick. OSHA requires eye protection with side protection where there are flying particles; look for Z87 on the frame. NIOSH's recommended noise limit is 85 dBA averaged over 8 hours, and 85 dBA is also OSHA's trigger for a hearing conservation program (90 dBA is OSHA's limit). Planers, routers and a shop vac all at once add up. Earmuffs hang right on the vac.
9. Sand epoxy only when it's fully cured. WEST says epoxy cures to a sandable solid fast, but full cure can take more than two weeks at room temperature (or a post-cure with heat). Wait several days before sanding fresh epoxy, wet sand when you can, and if you can't wait, gear up: mask, glasses and long sleeves. Wash up with soap and warm water after sanding.
10. Clean up with the vac, never the air hose or the broom. The UK's safety regulator (HSE) says it straight: never dry sweep or blow wood dust off with compressed air, because it just makes a dust cloud you breathe. WEST agrees: vacuum or mop, because less dust goes back in the air. Vacuum the boat, the bench, the floor and your clothes, then a damp wipe.

MOAM's shop note: The dust setup that works is the one that's quick to start. Keep the vac, cyclone and hose on one cart next to the boat, with the mask hanging on the handle in a bag and the earmuffs on the hose. Plug the sander into the vac's tool outlet if yours has one, so the vac starts when the sander does. If it takes five minutes to hook up, some Saturday you'll "just do a quick pass" without it, and that's the pass that gets you. And if your shop's like mine in late October, with the doors shut and the stove going, the air cleaner and the mask matter more, not less.

Numbers here come from NIOSH/CDC, OSHA, EPA, WEST SYSTEM, Fine Woodworking, the California Department of Public Health and the UK HSE. The 3-3/4 in. figure is my arithmetic from OSHA's 1-1/2-duct-diameter rule.

Sources: NIOSH/CDC, Filtering Facepiece Respirators, User Seal Check FAQ, Service Time Recommendations for P-Series Filters, Understand Noise Exposure; 42 CFR 84.170 (LII). OSHA, Wood Dust, PELs vs. RELs, 29 CFR 1910.134 and Appendix B-1, 29 CFR 1910.133, Occupational Noise Exposure, Technical Manual, Ventilation. EPA, What is a HEPA filter? and HEPA vacuums. WEST SYSTEM, Preventing Overexposure, Shop Hazards, Epoxy Safety. Fine Woodworking, Dust Deputy Cyclone and Eric Constans, Air Filters (July/Aug. 2010). California Dept. of Public Health, Wood Dust and Work-Related Asthma. UK HSE, Wood dust.

MOAM Out.

Tools for this tip

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Oneida Air Systems Dust Deputy DIY anti-static cyclone separator for wet/dry shop vacs: cyclone between the sander and the vac, so fine sanding dust lands in the bucket, not the filter
• 3M 6503QL Rugged Comfort Quick Latch half facepiece reusable respirator, large: half-mask respirator for long sanding sessions on epoxy, fairing compound and teak (seal check every time)
• 3M 2091 P100 particulate filters, 3 pairs: P100 filters for the half mask: at least 99.97% filtration, oil proof
• 3M 60921 organic vapor/P100 cartridge, 1 pair: combination organic vapor/P100 cartridges for solvent wipes and epoxy in a closed-up hull
• 3M PELTOR X4A over-the-head earmuffs, NRR 27 dB: earmuffs to hang on the vac cart for sanders, routers and planers

Use whatever you already have in the shop; these are just the ones that fit this job.

Two Lives, One Deed: Thomas Pitman, Wenepoykin, and Marblehead's 1684 Bargain

Every Marbleheader has walked past the framed 1684 deed in Abbot Hall. I've looked at it a hundred times. Only recently did I learn that one of the men who helped bring it about was my own ancestor, Thomas Pitman. By my family records he is my 9th great-grandfather. On the other side of that parchment stands Wenepoykin, son of Nanepashemet. He is the man at the center of my novel, The Wing. The two of them were born within a few years of each other. Their lives ran side by side for seventy years, and they met on paper only after one of them had died.

Here is their story, told side by side and as close to the records as I can keep it.

Two boys, two worlds (c.1612–1633)

Nobody knows exactly where Thomas Pitman came from. He was born somewhere around 1612 to 1617. His own sworn ages in court drift across those years, which was common at the time. You'll see a 1612 baptism at Wedmore, Somerset, repeated online, but it rests on nothing more than a matching name. One family historian writing in 1913 called his ancestry "unknown," and I'll leave it there. The Pitman name is heavily a Somerset and Dorset name, so a West Country origin is likely. That is a probability, not a fact.

Wenepoykin was born around 1616, on the shores the English would call Lynn and Marblehead. John Higginson, born in 1616 himself, later testified that George (the English name for Wenepoykin) was "young then about my Age." His father, Nanepashemet, was dead by the fall of 1621. In December 1633 smallpox swept the coast. Governor Winthrop wrote that "John Sagamore died of the small pox, and almost all his people," and that "James Sagamore of Sagus died also, and most of his folks." Those were Wenepoykin's older brothers. At about seventeen he became sagamore of what was left.

A fisherman comes to Marblehead (1640s)

We don't know when Thomas crossed the Atlantic or on what ship, and no English record yet tells us where he was born or what he did there. He first appears in February 1646, standing surety for a neighbor in the Salem court, years after the great Puritan migration had ended. Marblehead was a rough fishing station, not a pious village. Governor Winthrop dismissed its fishermen that year as "profane persons, divers of them brought the last year from Newfoundland to fish a season."

Everything about Thomas suggests he came for work, for fish, land and a better living than the struggling West Country could offer, where pirates were taking ships, men were being pressed into the navy, and civil war had broken out. He did not come to build a godly commonwealth. Marblehead had no church of its own until 1684, and nothing shows him joining Salem's. Yet he became a pillar of the place anyway: as constable in 1659 he reported neighbors who had taken up with the Quakers, he helped pay for the meeting-house, and in old age he was probably made a freeman of the colony.

He stayed. In 1648, the year Marblehead became its own town, the commons were divided among 44 families, and the list reads "Tho. Pitman, 2 cows." Most families got one. In 1657 Thomas, "of Marblehead, fisherman," bought a house and barn. In 1658 he was sworn constable. Over the next decades he served as fence surveyor and as selectman, and in 1670 a witness to a street brawl saw "Thomas Pitman & his foare sons." He raised six known children with his wife, Joan or Jane. One of them, John, married Charity Gale in 1681. My own line runs through John.

During those same years, Wenepoykin's land was slipping away. In 1652 he mortgaged Nahant to Nicholas Davison of Charlestown for £20. He pressed the General Court over his late brother's land and got nowhere. The missionary John Eliot judged in 1649 that the Lynn Indians were "all naught" because "their sachem … careth not to pray to God." Wenepoykin married Joane Ahawayet, daughter of the Nahant sachem called Black Will. In time he moved north to Wamesit, in what became Chelmsford.

An inquest, a war, an island (1664–c.1683)

The two worlds touched early. In December 1664 Thomas Pitman sat, signing with his mark, on the jury of inquest into the death of "an Indian named Peter," found frozen on the highway at the edge of Marblehead.

In 1672 an Indian court at Natick heard old Ahaton swear that "George Saggamore w^th no nose was Saggamore of y^e place where marblehead is seated." Wenepoykin agreed that his kinsman James Rumney Marsh could deal for the Marblehead land, provided George received half the pay.

Then came King Philip's War. On 25 August 1675, "Mark Pitman of Marblehead," very likely Thomas's kinsman, was killed in the fight near Hatfield. Wenepoykin, by later accounts, sided against the English. Those accounts are secondary, and the details of his part in the war are undocumented. He was captured in 1675 or 1676, depending on the source, and he ended up in Barbados. Selling war captives into Caribbean slavery was common, so enslavement is the likeliest reading. The romantic story that John Eliot won his release is tradition, not record. What is on record is a 1686 deposition: "Sagamore George when he came from Barbados he lived Sometime and dyed at y^e house of James Rumley Marsh," at Natick. Before he died he left his land claims to James. He was dead before July 1684.

July 1684: the paths cross

By 1684 the colony's charter was under threat from the Crown, and land titles suddenly mattered. "James the Indian and some other Indians" pressed their claim to Marblehead. On 14 July 1684 the commoners met, and the town records read:

"it is votted and agread to by generall consent that M^r Mosis Maverick m^r John Deverix Capt Sam^ll Ward m^r Thedeous Riddan William Beall Thomas Pittman Richard Read and Nathanill Waltown be Joyned as a Comittee with the present Select men of the Town to mack Inquierie into the saied afaiere and sarch after the pretended Claieme and truth of thear title…"

Thomas, now about seventy, was one of eight men chosen to look into the claim. Only Ward and Devereux were empowered to strike the bargain, and they moved fast. Four days later, on 18 July 1684, the heirs sealed the deed for £16 "Currant money of New England." Those heirs were Wenepoykin's widow Joane, "relict Widdow of George Saggamore als Wenepawweekin late of Chelmsford," their daughters Susannah and Sarah, their grandchildren, and James Rumney Marsh's family. The deed was acknowledged that day before Governor Simon Bradstreet. (You'll sometimes see "16 September 1684." The parchment says July 18.)

Then the bill came due. On 6 August the proprietors

"Impowred m^r Samuell Chevers Samuell ward Thomas Pittman and Nathanill Walltown to Joyn as a Comittee with The Select men to proportion each mans part acording to his privellidg in saied township and thay proportioning by Cows leases fiend it to amount to nien pence p^r Cow in mony."

So the fisherman who got two cow rights in 1648 helped work out what each cow right owed for the town's title. It came to ninepence apiece.

Historian Sidney Perley noted that this Thomas Pitman "was of Marblehead when it became a town, in 1648." There was also a younger Thomas, so I can't be absolutely certain it was the elder. Everything points that way. Thomas Pitman died in the summer of 1694, ten years after the deed.

Why it matters to me

Wenepoykin never signed that deed. He had agreed to it in principle in 1672, then lived through war, slavery and exile, and died before the paper existed. Thomas never met the heirs face to face, as far as we know. His job was the inquiry and then the arithmetic. Still, the two men were near-exact contemporaries on the same shore, and one document ties their families together for good. When I stand in Abbot Hall now, I see both of them.

Sources

• Sidney Perley, The Indian Land Titles of Essex County, Massachusetts (Salem, 1912), pp. 10–12, 51–63: deed text and Marblehead Town Records of 14 July and 6 Aug. 1684. https://archive.org/details/indianlandtitles00perl
• Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, vols. 1–7 (EQC 1:91; 2:127; 3:297; 4:267).
• Samuel Roads Jr., History and Traditions of Marblehead (1880), pp. 19–20.
• Perley, "Marblehead in the Year 1700," Essex Institute Historical Collections 46–48 (1910–12).
• Vital Records of Marblehead to 1850 (1903–08).
• Winthrop's Journal, ed. Hosmer (1908), I:114–15. https://archive.org/details/winthropsjourna04hosmgoog
• George M. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War (1906), pp. 129–30.
• Alonzo Lewis & James Newhall, History of Lynn (1865). https://archive.org/details/historyoflynness00lewi_0
• Linford D. Fisher, "'Why shall wee have peace to bee made slaves,'" Ethnohistory 64:1 (2017). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5654607/
• Marblehead Historical Commission, "Town Deed." http://marbleheadhistory.org/town-deed/

New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Friday, October 23

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. 43 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 17 towns.

Top towns: Newburyport and Lynn lead the pack with 6 each; Beverly had 5; Ipswich and Gloucester had 4 each; Danvers and Salem had 3 each; Middleton and Peabody had 2 each; and Manchester, Rockport, Lynnfield, Rowley, Salisbury, Saugus, Boxford, and Swampscott had 1 apiece.

By property type: Residential 27 · Residential Lease (rentals) 10 · Residential Income (multi-families) 4 · Commercial Lease 1 · Land 1.

The MOAM's take: Newburyport and Lynn sit at opposite ends of the North Shore, yet they tied for the most new listings today, and with 10 rentals and 4 multi-families in the mix, there's something here for renters and investors as well as buyers.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Friday, Oct. 23

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Thursday was a split decision. The B's put on a clinic at the Garden, the Pats came up one onside kick short in Chicago, and tonight the Celtics finally get to raise the curtain on Causeway Street. Coffee's on. Let's go.

Short version: Bruins blanked Nashville 6-0 and still sit on top of the Atlantic, the Pats lost 30-24 at the Bears, the Celts host the Knicks tonight at 7 in their home opener, and the Sox are still home for the winter.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: W 6-0 vs Nashville Predators
• Today: No game
• Next: Sat., Oct. 24, 7:00 PM ET, vs San Jose Sharks (home, NESN)
• Standings: 8-2-1, 17 points, 1st in the Atlantic, No. 2 in the East

Michael DiPietro, 28 saves, first career shutout, on Hockey Fights Cancer Night, for his mom. Try not to get a little misty on that one. Pasta had two goals and two helpers, McAvoy had four assists, and that's a seven-game point streak. These guys are fun to watch.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: L 30-24 @ Chicago Bears
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun., Nov. 1, 4:25 PM ET, @ Miami Dolphins (CBS)
• Standings: 4-3, 2nd in the AFC East, 1.5 games behind Buffalo (5-1), No. 9 in the AFC right now

Drake Maye was sharp: 24 of 31, 321 yards, two TD passes and one on the ground. Stevenson's 48-yard catch-and-run at the halftime horn was a beauty. But Caleb Williams threw for 308, Santos drilled a 58-yarder late, and the Bears recovered the onside kick. Three-game win streak over. Ten days to regroup before Miami.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday: No game (last game: L 121-113 at Detroit, Tuesday's season opener)
• Today: 7:00 PM ET, vs New York Knicks (home opener, Prime Video)
• Next: Mon., Oct. 26, 7:30 PM ET, vs Chicago Bulls (home)
• Standings: 0-1, 1.5 games back in the Atlantic

Home opener against the Knicks, and both teams come in 0-1. A loud Garden and a chance to wash that Detroit collapse right out of our mouths. Get the W, fellas.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games, season over
• Next: Sat., Feb. 20, 2027, @ Tampa Bay Rays (Grapefruit League opener; time TBA)
• Final standings: 87-75, 3rd in the AL East, swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round

Still hot stove season. Pitchers and catchers can't get here fast enough.

That's the Friday board. Celts tonight at 7, B's tomorrow night at 7. Enjoy the weekend, everybody.

MOAM Out.

New England This Morning — October 23, 2026

 

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Friday showed up dressed for the weekend. A bright gold sunrise over the harbor, crystal-clear air on the summits, and a still, frosty start in the Vermont and New Hampshire valleys. Sunny everywhere today, with a high near 54 in Marblehead and a brisk north breeze on the coast. Here's how four corners of New England looked around 7:37 this morning.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — The sun popping up over the trees and laying a gold path across the water, a blue sky overhead, and a scattering of boats still hanging on their moorings. Sunny with a high near 54 and a north wind of 12 to 17 mph, so bring a jacket to the waterfront.

Mount Washington North View — Not a cloud in sight. The northern Presidentials are lit up in warm morning light with ridge after ridge fading into the haze, and a few patches of old snow tucked in the summit rocks. Sunny with a high near 31, but a north wind of 30 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 keeps it a summit day for the hardy.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Frost on the grass, a glassy dark eddy under the old bridge, and the trees nearly bare now, with one gold maple still holding court behind the bridge. Sunny with a high near 54 and barely a breath of wind.

Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH — The PhenoCam is back after a day off. From the top of the NEON tower, the hardwoods have gone mostly gray and russet, with a few gold birches and dark green pines and hemlocks holding the color, and the first light catching the ridgeline. Sunny with a high near 52.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, Mad River Valley Television, and NEON/PhenoCam.

MOAM Out.

The Snow House: 58 Front Street and the Harbor It Grew Up Beside

 

Walk down Front Street toward Fort Sewall and you're walking through some of the oldest housing stock in New England. One house I want to start this series with is No. 58, listed in the state's historic inventory as the Snow House.

What the record says

The Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS), the state's inventory of historic places, carries 58 Front St. as inventory number MAR.361, the "Snow House," with a date of 1747. I haven't yet seen the full inventory form, so I can't tell you who the Snows were, whether the 1747 date is documented or estimated, or who built the house. I'd rather tell you that plainly than guess.

What I can tell you is the company it keeps. On the same stretch of Front Street, the inventory lists the Laskey House at No. 50 (1725), No. 54 (1720), the William Bowler House across the way at No. 57 (1745), and the Ruth Morse House at No. 47 (1750). Further down are the Bartoll houses at Nos. 31, 33 and 39, from about 1740–1760. No. 58 is one of a row of mid-1700s houses that have stood beside the harbor for more than 275 years.

The street around it (context, not the house's own story)

To understand a house like this, you have to understand the water out front.

Marblehead was built on cod. After a visit in 1660, the King's agent reported back to England that Marblehead was "the Greatest Towne for Fishing in New England." Fishermen from Cornwall and the Channel Islands settled here. By 1837 the town's fleet numbered 98 vessels, 95 of them over fifty tons. Then came September 19, 1846. A hurricane-force gale caught the fleet on the Grand Banks, at least eleven vessels never came home, and sixty-five men and boys were lost. The town marks that storm as the start of the fishery's decline.

Front Street ends at Fort Sewall. The fort began as an earthwork on Gale's Head in 1644 to protect the fishing fleet from pirates, the French and the Dutch. It was manned in the French and Indian War and the Revolution. On April 3, 1814, the USS Constitution, chased by two British frigates, ran into Marblehead Harbor under the fort's guns and got away. Whoever lived at No. 58 that spring was a short walk from the action.

The neighborhood also sent men to war by sea. John Glover's Marblehead regiment, commissioned in 1775, crewed the schooner Hannah, which the town calls America's first naval vessel, and on Christmas night 1776 rowed Washington across the Delaware.

Today the house sits inside the Marblehead Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1984. The district runs roughly from the harbor to Waldron Court and Essex, Elm, Pond and Norman Streets.

Why I care about houses like this

Nanepashemet Real Estate is the proud rental agent and property manager of 58 Front St., so this one is personal. I'm a broker, but I'm also a builder, and a house that has stood since the 1740s earns my respect. Houses this old have carried generations of families through storms, wars and good years on the water. They also come with their own quirks: framing, chimneys, wiring and drainage that a careful owner learns to watch. If anyone has deeds, family papers or old photos of 58 Front St. and the Snows, I'd love to hear from you, and I'll update this story.

Own an old Marblehead house and wondering what it would take to sell it someday? My seller checklist is a good place to start. Or call or text me at 781-727-6516.

Photo: Front Street, Marblehead, on a 1914 postcard (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). The photo shows the street, not necessarily No. 58.

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Rub Joints That Work, and When They Don't

Not for nuthin'…. But….. there's an old trick in the furniture trade that still makes people do a double take: glue two boards edge to edge, rub them together a few strokes, and walk away. No clamps. It's called a rub joint (or a rubbed joint), and when it's done right it holds. When it's done wrong, you find out next week with a crack running down your panel. I'm in the middle of the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory, and I've been a licensed contractor long enough to know the difference between a shop trick and a structural joint. So here's when a rub joint earns its keep, and when you reach for the clamps or the epoxy instead.

Why it matters: A rub joint has no clamp doing the work. You rub the air and the extra glue out of the joint, and the outside air holds it shut. Patrick Edwards, writing in Fine Woodworking, puts that at about 14 lb. per square inch, "plenty to hold something like a glue block." Now compare that to what Titebond wants for a regular clamped glue-up: generally 100 to 150 psi for softwoods, 125 to 175 for medium woods and 175 to 250 for hardwoods. So a rub joint is running on a small fraction of normal clamp pressure. That's fine when the edges already meet perfectly and the glue grabs fast. It's not fine when you're counting on the joint to pull a gap closed, straighten a long board, or hold a boat together.

When a rub joint works

• Glue blocks and short, narrow edge joints. Corner blocks under a top, knee blocks, cleats, a bookmatched panel for a small door. This is where the rub joint lives.
• Hot hide glue. It's the classic rub-joint glue because it gels as it cools and grabs fast. Edwards notes that protein glues also contract as they cure, pulling the wood together, which synthetic glues don't do.
• Yellow glue on small stuff. Fine Woodworking's "Six Essential Glues" calls yellow (PVA) glue "ideal for rub joints": coat one surface and slide the wood back and forth. Same article: the joint still has to fit well for a strong bond.
• Thin stock that a clamp would bow. Regulars on the Fine Woodworking forum use hot-hide rub joints to edge-join thin panels where clamp pressure would bow them.

When it doesn't

• Long boards. Fourteen psi won't pull a sprung or gappy edge closed, and the longer the board, the harder it is to joint it perfectly and to rub it without racking. Shop practice from Fine Woodworking's reader forum: past about 3 feet, get a helper on the far end. That's experience, not a manufacturer spec, but it tracks.
• Wide panels all at once. The same forum veterans say do two boards at a time, let them set, then join the pairs. Try to rub up a six-board tabletop in one go and you'll be chasing it around the bench.
• Liquid hide glue. Here's the one that surprises people. Old Brown Glue's own FAQ says its liquid hide glue is "not recommended for rubbed joints" (they sell granulated hot hide glue for that). The difference is urea: it keeps the glue liquid and drops the gel point from around 100°F to around 80°F. Popular Woodworking tested Titebond's liquid hide glue and found "virtually no perceivable tack." Great glue, wrong trick. Clamp it.
• Epoxy. Epoxy has no quick grab; it has to be held until it cures. WEST SYSTEM wants two-step bonding (neat wet-out, then thickened epoxy) and "just enough clamping pressure to squeeze a small amount of the epoxy mixture from the joint." Too much pressure squeezes it all out and starves the joint. Rubbing a joint dry is the opposite of what epoxy needs.
• Oily woods. Teak and friends need surface prep, not elbow grease. WEST's routine is a solvent wipe, 80-grit sanding, another solvent wipe, and epoxy within 15 minutes. Titebond's sheets for II and III say to call their tech line before gluing oily woods like ipe and teak.
• Anything wet, outdoors, or structural. Titebond lists Original and its Genuine (liquid) Hide Glue as not for exterior use or where moisture is likely, and lists Original, II, III and the hide glue as not for structural or load-bearing work. II and III aren't for continuous submersion or below the waterline. On the dory, the laps, stem and transom get epoxy, properly clamped or fastened. Rub joints stay in the shop furniture.

Materials

• Hot hide glue granules and water (Old Brown Glue's maker sells 192 gram strength granules and calls hot hide glue ideal for rubbed joints), or yellow glue (Titebond Original) for small parts
• Two boards, long grain to long grain, dry, flat and freshly jointed
• A rag, a bucket of hot water, and a scrap pair for a test joint

Tools

• A glue pot or a jar in a water bath, plus a thermometer
• A jointer plane or a well-tuned jointer, and a straightedge
• A bench vise to hold the bottom board edge-up
• A cheap glue brush
• An infrared thermometer for checking the wood, not just the air, in a cold shop
• A couple of clamps anyway, for when the test tells you to use them

Steps: a rubbed edge joint with hot hide glue

1. Pick the right job. Two boards, long-grain edges, short and narrow, indoors, not carrying a structural load. If it's long, wide, wet, oily or holding up something important, stop here and clamp it (see the table in the plan).
2. Joint the edges dead straight and square. Stand the top board on the bottom one and hold them up to a light. You want no light through the seam and no spring (no gap in the middle or at the ends that closes only when you push). The joint has to fit before the glue goes on; a rub joint doesn't fix a bad fit.
3. Get the glue and the wood warm. Fine Woodworking says to heat hide glue to between 140° and 150°F; one FWW writer holds his at 145°F. Too hot breaks down the glue. WOOD magazine says the shop and the workpieces should be above 50°F, warmer is better, because "chilly boards suck the open time out of hot hide glue." In a cold shop, Old Brown Glue's tip is to wipe the gluing surfaces with a very hot, damp cloth just before you glue so the cold wood doesn't pull the heat and water out of the glue.
4. Glue both edges and set the top board on. Clamp the bottom board edge-up in the vise. Brush hot glue on both edges (Edwards and WOOD both glue both surfaces for hide glue; with yellow glue, one edge is enough). Set the top board in place, ends lined up.
5. Rub it until it grabs, then stop. Push down and slide the top board back and forth along the grain in short strokes. You'll feel the excess glue and air squeeze out, then the friction jumps and the board "grabs." Line up the ends and faces right then, and let go. Don't keep fussing with it.
6. Leave it alone. Let gravity help: the board's weight sits right on the joint when it's edge-up in the vise. One forum veteran lets it sit overnight; with liquid hide glue, Old Brown Glue says to keep clamps on overnight. Titebond's rule for its glues is no stress on a new joint for 24 hours. Do the next pair, and join the pairs another day (or clamp them conventionally).
7. Test before you trust it. Make a scrap pair first and snap it when it's dry. If it breaks in the wood, your edges and glue are right. If it lets go on the glue line, warm things up, re-joint, or go to clamps.

MOAM's shop note: Even when you are clamping a panel, a little rubbing helps. Popular Woodworking (from American Woodworker) says boards that slide around under the clamps are usually "swimming" on too much glue: put glue on one edge only and rub the boards until the glue gets tacky, then clamp. And watch the thermometer this time of year. Titebond II wants 55°F or better; Original and the liquid hide glue want above 50°F; Titebond III goes down to 47°F. For epoxy on the boat, WEST 206 Slow wants 60°F and 205 Fast works down to 40°F. A New England shop in late October can sit below those numbers overnight, and the wood stays cold long after you light the stove. Check the board, not just the air.

Cold-shop numbers (from the makers, at 70°F unless noted)

• Hot hide glue: heat to 140–150°F (FWW); gels around 100°F (Old Brown Glue FAQ); work above 50°F, warmer is better (WOOD)
• Old Brown Glue (liquid hide): use around 140°F, normal range 110–160°F, don't hold it above 180°F; gel point around 80°F; not recommended for rubbed joints
• Titebond Genuine (liquid) Hide Glue: apply above 50°F; open time 10 minutes; total assembly 20–30 minutes
• Titebond Original: above 50°F; open 4–6 minutes; total assembly 10–15 minutes
• Titebond II: above 55°F; open 3–5 minutes; total assembly 10–15 minutes
• Titebond III: above 47°F; open 8–10 minutes; total assembly 20–25 minutes

Numbers here come from Titebond (Franklin International), Old Brown Glue, WEST SYSTEM, Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking and WOOD magazine; where a figure is one woodworker's shop practice, I've said so.

Sources: Fine Woodworking, W. Patrick Edwards, Glue blocks and rub joints with hide glue; Sticking with Hide Glue; Hot Stuff (on the cheap); Scott Gibson, Six Essential Glues; reader forum, Rub Joint. Old Brown Glue, FAQ. Popular Woodworking, Hide Glue in Liquid Form and Q & A: Rub-Joint Gluing. Titebond, Original, II Premium, III Ultimate, Genuine Hide Glue and FAQs. WOOD magazine, The hot dish on hide glue. WEST SYSTEM, Bonding and Clamping, User Manual (2021) and User Manual & Product Guide (2020).

MOAM Out.

Tools for this tip

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Brooklyn Tool & Craft hide glue, 192 gram strength, 1 lb (granules for hot hide glue): granulated hot hide glue, the classic rub-joint glue: soak, then heat to 140-150°F
• Old Brown Glue liquid hide glue, 5 oz: liquid hide glue for clamped joints (its maker doesn't recommend it for rubbed joints)
• Titebond 5063 Original Wood Glue, 8 oz: yellow glue for small rub joints like glue blocks and cleats; apply above 50°F
• Etekcity Lasergrip 774 infrared thermometer: checking the boards' surface temperature in a cold shop, not just the air
• IRWIN Quick-Grip 12-inch one-handed bar clamp: the clamps you reach for when the job is too long, too wide or too important to rub

Use whatever you already have in the shop; these are just the ones that fit this job.

Another Toll at the City Line? Boston Eyes New York's $9 Congestion Fee

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says there's no plan yet. But she's sending a team to Manhattan to study New York's congestion pricing, and she says "everything should be on the table."

When a politician says everything is on the table, check your wallet.

What Wu actually said

On Oct. 20, Wu told the MBTA Advisory Board that her team has "been in touch a little bit" with New York City to understand its system. She called New York's toll "a huge source of funding for public transit improvements over there," and added: "We've all been talking about revenue for a long time now because the economic environment that we're in is straining cities in general."

The next day she told Spectrum News: "There's not a specific plan on the table. It's really just learning and understanding what the real before and after has been for New York." She also said, "Everything should be on the table when it comes to finding ways to fix traffic and have the quality of life that we all deserve."

Notice the word that keeps coming up. Revenue.

What New York charges

Since Jan. 5, 2025, most cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street pay $9 once a day at peak times, 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Trucks and buses pay $14.40 to $21.60. The MTA says the toll raised more than $550 million in net revenue in its first year and cut vehicle entries by about 11%.

Supporters point to faster crossings. Fair enough. But $9 a day, five days a week, is about $2,250 a year for someone who has to drive in to work. A New Yorker in real estate told Spectrum News: "The problem with it is the average consumer can't afford it." His advice to Boston: "Don't do it."

Who pays on the North Shore

Think about who actually drives into Boston from Marblehead, Swampscott, Lynn and Salem:

• Contractors and tradespeople with a truck full of tools. You can't carry a tile saw onto the commuter rail.
• Small business owners making deliveries and service calls, who would pay the toll and then have to raise prices for their customers.
• Shift workers and nurses whose hours don't line up with the train schedule.
• Retirees driving to medical appointments in the city.

These people already pay the gas tax, the Tobin and Sumner tunnel tolls, the excise tax and the parking. A congestion toll would be one more charge for the same trip.

Beacon Hill would have to sign off

Boston can't do this alone. Any plan would mainly affect drivers on state-owned highways and bridges, so the Legislature would have to be involved (WHDH). Gov. Healey's Transportation Funding Task Force considered congestion pricing and left it out of its final report. Healey told Spectrum News the timing isn't right: "Not in the moment that we're in. I'm focused on affordability every single day."

Good. But these ideas don't stay dead. In 2024 the state's transportation secretary floated tolls at the state's borders and got hammered for it. Now the idea is back with a new name.

The bottom line

No plan has been filed with the City Council or the Legislature. That's the time to speak up, before a "study" turns into a toll gantry. If the city and the T need money, start with how they spend what they already take in. Don't send the bill to the guy in the pickup truck coming down Route 1A.

Should Boston charge drivers to come into the city? Tell me in the comments.

— John Nestor, Man of a Million

Sources

• Spectrum News NECN, "Boston considering congestion pricing" (Oct. 21, 2026): https://spectrumlocalnews.com/us/snplus/news/2026/10/22/boston-considering-congestion-pricing
• State House News Service, "Boston has been in touch with NYC about congestion pricing" (Oct. 20, 2026): https://www.statehousenews.com/news/transportation/boston-has-been-in-touch-with-nyc-about-congestion-pricing/article_322f9089-ac37-4b5d-82ed-74ea33d0524b.html
• WHDH 7News, "Boston exploring congestion pricing to cut down on traffic" (Oct. 21, 2026): https://whdh.com/news/boston-exploring-congestion-pricing-to-cut-down-on-traffic/
• The Boston Report (Oct. 21, 2026): https://thebostonreport.com/2026/10/21/wu-boston-congestion-pricing-new-york/
• NY Governor's Office / MTA, first-year results (Jan. 5, 2026): https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/less-traffic-better-transit-its-first-anniversary-governor-hochul-celebrates-transformational
• Boston Globe on 2024 border-toll backlash (May 7, 2024): https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/07/metro/boston-congestion-pricing/

Note: $2,250/yr = $9 x 5 days x 50 weeks (our arithmetic, peak car rate).

New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Thursday, October 22

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

Not for nuthin'…. But….. 58 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 22 towns.

Top towns: Beverly leads the pack with 11; Salem and Lynn had 5 each; Gloucester, Rowley, and Saugus had 4 each; Merrimac had 3; Swampscott, Boxford, Danvers, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Georgetown, and Newburyport had 2 each; and West Newbury, Wenham, Hamilton, Peabody, Manchester, Salisbury, Amesbury, and Middleton had 1 apiece.

By property type: Residential 34 · Residential Lease (rentals) 14 · Land 4 · Residential Income (multi-families) 4 · Commercial Lease 2.

The MOAM's take: Beverly alone brought nearly 1 in 5 of today's new listings, and with 14 rentals and 4 multi-families in the mix, it's a good day for investors as well as buyers.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Thursday, Oct. 22

Not for nuthin'…. But….. it's a two-fer Thursday. The B's are back on Causeway Street at 7, and the Pats kick off under the lights in Chicago at 8:15. Grab the remote, grab the clicker for the other TV, and tell the family dinner's at 6:30 sharp.

Short version: nobody played last night, the Bruins host Nashville tonight still sitting on top of the Atlantic, the Pats are at the Bears on Thursday Night Football, the Celts lick their wounds before Friday's home opener, and the Sox are home for the winter.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: No game (last game: L 3-2 in OT at Dallas, Tuesday)
• Today: 7:00 PM ET, vs Nashville Predators (home, NESN)
• Next: Sat., Oct. 24, 7:00 PM ET, vs San Jose Sharks (home, NESN)
• Standings: 7-2-1, 15 points, 1st in the Atlantic, No. 2 in the East

Rantanen had to go and get a hat trick in overtime to snap the five-game streak, but the boys still banked a point and came home 3-0-1 off the western swing. That's a road trip I'll take every time. Now let's take care of business at home.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game (last game: W 26-19 vs New York Jets, Sunday)
• Today: 8:15 PM ET, @ Chicago Bears (Prime Video)
• Next: Sun., Nov. 1, 4:25 PM ET, @ Miami Dolphins (CBS)
• Standings: 4-2, 2nd in the AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (5-1), No. 5 seed in the AFC right now

Short week, prime time at Soldier Field, and both teams come in 4-2. Win this one and the mini-bye heading into Miami tastes a whole lot better.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday: No game (last game: L 121-113 at Detroit, Tuesday's season opener)
• Today: No game
• Next: Fri., Oct. 23, 7:00 PM ET, vs New York Knicks (home opener, Prime Video)
• Standings: 0-1, 1 game back in the Atlantic

Up 22 in the third and the Pistons ran off 23 straight. Ouch. Paul George dropped 38 in his Celtics debut, though, so there's something to build on. Friday night at the Garden against the Knicks is a fine place to get the first W.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games, season over
• Next: Sat., Feb. 20, 2027, @ Tampa Bay Rays (Grapefruit League opener; time TBA)
• Final standings: 87-75, 3rd in the AL East, swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round

Hot stove season. Somebody wake me when the equipment truck leaves Fenway.

That's the Thursday board. B's at 7, Pats at 8:15, Celts tomorrow night. Enjoy the double dip, everybody.

MOAM Out.

New England This Morning — October 22, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Thursday came in soft and pastel. A pink-and-lavender sky over the coast, a clear sunrise glow on the summits, and a frosty, still morning in the Vermont valleys. Partly sunny and near 58 in Marblehead with a brisk north wind, sunny and upper 50s over in the Mad River Valley. Here's how three corners of New England looked around 7:34 this morning.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — Streaks of pink and lavender cloud over a calm, silvery harbor, with the moorings mostly empty now and the last few boats riding quiet off the float. Partly sunny with a high near 58, but a north wind gusting near 30 says hang onto your hat.

Mount Washington North View — A peach-and-blue sunrise band along the horizon, the northern Presidentials sharp and clear, and patches of snow scattered through the summit rocks. Mostly sunny with a high near 37, but a north wind of 35 to 50 mph with gusts to 65 makes it a summit day for the brave only.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Frost on the grass and a glassy, dark eddy under the old bridge. The trees are just about bare, with one stubborn gold maple and a few rusty holdouts by the farmhouse. Sunny with a high near 59 and barely a breath of wind.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television. (The Bartlett Forest PhenoCam was unreachable this morning.)

MOAM Out.

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Fairing Compound vs Epoxy Filler: What Goes Where on a Hull

Two tubs of powder on the shelf, and they are not the same thing….. It's an easy grab to get wrong. Fill a gappy plank lap with fairing compound because it "spreads so nice" and you've got a weak joint. Fair a whole topside with colloidal silica and you'll spend two weekends sanding it like you're trying to wear through a granite curb. Both mixes start as epoxy and a white-ish powder. What they turn into is completely different. On a boat like the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory I'm building, it pays to keep the two families on separate shelves. Here's the rule: strength goes in the joint, fairing goes on the skin.

Why it matters: WEST SYSTEM sorts its fillers into two camps. Adhesive (high-density) fillers, 404, 406, 403 and 405, cure to "a strong, hard-to-sand cured epoxy plastic" for bonding, fillets and hardware. Fairing (low-density) fillers, 407 and 410, cure to a "light, easily sandable material" for cosmetic work: shaping, filling and fairing. On WEST's own selection chart, 410 gets no stars at all for general bonding or fillets. System Three says the same thing from the other side of the street: microballoons and microspheres "should not be used in adhesive formulations as they reduce tensile strength." So a fairing putty in a structural joint is a weak joint, and an adhesive filler on the topsides is a hard lump that won't sand at the same rate as the wood and fairing around it. Pick the powder for the job, not for whichever tub is closest.

What goes where on a hull

• Plank laps, scarfs, chine and bottom seams, transom and stem bonds: an adhesive filler. 406 colloidal silica or 403 microfibers at mayonnaise consistency for general bonding (WEST). 403 is the one WEST singles out for wood.
• Fillets (bulkheads, frames, inside corners): 406 or 405 at peanut butter consistency. 405 is WEST's wood-toned choice for fillets and glue joints on bright-finished wood. (Full fillet how-to is in my Sept. 25 tip.)
• Bolts and hardware under load (oarlock sockets, a towing eye): 404 High-Density, which WEST rates highest for hardware bonding where cyclic loads are expected.
• Low spots, dings, staple and fastener holes, glass-tape edges on a painted hull: a fairing filler. 410 Microlight is the lightest and easiest to sand; WEST says it's about 25% easier to sand than 407 and about three times lighter.
• Under dark paint, on sun-baked topsides, decks and thwarts that get walked on, or a thicker fill: 407 Low-Density. WEST doesn't recommend 410 under dark paint or on surfaces that get hot, and calls 407 the better choice for thicker fills or where you need impact or abrasion resistance.
• Bright (varnished) work: leave the fairing fillers on the shelf. 407 cures dark red-brown and 410 cures light tan (WEST), so they're for painted surfaces. Fair bright wood with a plane and a scraper.

Materials

• Epoxy resin and hardener (WEST 105 with 205 Fast or 206 Slow; pick by shop temperature, see the shop note)
• Adhesive filler for joints: 406 colloidal silica and/or 403 microfibers (404 for hardware)
• Fairing filler: 410 Microlight for big, light-colored or underwater areas; 407 Low-Density under dark paint or where it'll take a beating
• Carpenter's chalk or a soft pencil for finding highs and lows
• Release fabric or plastic (optional, for batten guides)
• Aluminum oxide sandpaper, 50/60 and 80 grit (WEST prefers aluminum oxide for cured fairing material)

Tools

• A long, knot-free batten (wood, plastic or metal)
• A longboard: a flexible fairing board with handles, long enough to bridge the lows (on a 40-foot hull that's 3 to 6 feet; on the dory, a couple of feet for the planks)
• Plastic spreaders, one with notches cut in it, and a wide smooth knife
• Mixing pots, sticks, and a scrap of plywood to spread the batch out on
• A card scraper for drips and ridges
• A real dust mask or respirator and eye protection (WEST calls fairing dust one of the most hazardous parts of the job)

Steps: fairing a low spot the right way

1. Find the lows before you mix anything. Rub a chalked batten over the area; the chalk lands on the high spots. Or scribble pencil all over it in a few directions and take a pass with the longboard: what's left of the pencil is low (Epoxyworks). Decide whether you're filling the lows, knocking down the highs, or both. Then sand the whole area with 80 grit so the compound has something to grab.
2. Clean it and wet it out. If you're going over cured epoxy, wash off the amine blush first with water and a Scotch-Brite-type pad, dry it with plain paper towels, and sand any shiny spots (WEST). Bare wood gets a coat of neat epoxy so the wood doesn't suck the resin out of the fairing mix. Sanded epoxy doesn't need a wet-out. On the topsides, let the wet-out go tacky or gel before you trowel, or the compound slides right off (WEST).
3. Mix resin and hardener first, then the powder. Fill your pot no more than a quarter full of mixed epoxy to leave room (WEST). 407 roughly doubles the volume of the batch and 410 makes it about two and a half times bigger (Epoxyworks). Stir in filler until it's a stiff, non-sagging peanut butter. The more filler, the easier it sands; too thin and it sags and sands harder (WEST). Spread the batch on a scrap of plywood to buy working time.
4. Trowel it on a little proud. Work it into the low with a plastic spreader and leave it slightly above the surrounding surface, so you sand down to fair instead of filling twice. On a big area, drag a batten across the fill with a slight Z motion. For whole topsides, one pro shop uses a notched trowel ground to leave ribbons about 1/8" deep and 1/4" wide, then fills the valleys later (WoodenBoat). Anything deeper than 1/2" goes on in two or more layers, the second after the first has partly cured, so it doesn't cook itself (WEST).
5. Let it cure all the way. Sand when it's solid: you can't dent it with your thumbnail (WEST). At 72°F, thin films of 105/205 get there in about 6 to 8 hours and 105/206 in 10 to 15 hours. In a cold shop it's longer, so wait for the thumbnail test, not the clock. Wash off any blush before you sand, because it clogs paper.
6. Longboard it fair. Start with 50 or 60 grit on the longboard to take down the fill over a broad area, then go to 80 when you're close (WEST). Change direction often, swinging the board through about 0°, 45° and 90° so you don't sand a valley in. No finer than 80 at this stage. Check with the batten: it should touch everywhere with no gaps. Fill the leftover lows and repeat. You don't need another wet-out unless you sanded through into the original surface.
7. Seal it before paint. Fairing compound is full of broken microballoons, and paint will soak into them and look ragged (System Three). WEST says an epoxy barrier coat is required over sanded 410 before any solvent-based paint (solvents can cause print-through) and recommended over 407. For a moisture barrier on exterior surfaces, WEST's fairing manual calls for at least three coats, about 10 mils, and up to six coats, about 20 mils, for more protection. Recoat when the last coat still takes a fingerprint but doesn't come off on your finger. After the last coat cures, wash and sand it for the paint you're using.

MOAM's shop note: On a lapstrake boat like the dory, the laps are the look. Fairing compound is for dings, hollows and fastener holes inside a plank, not for filling the landings flush. And where a hole sits in a structural spot, like an old screw hole through a lap, fill it most of the way with a 406 bonding mix and put only the last skin of 410 on top, so the strength is underneath and the easy sanding is on the surface. The other thing that bites New England builders this time of year: WEST lists a 60°F minimum for 206 Slow hardener, while 205 Fast works down to 40°F. In an unheated shop in late October, that's the difference between fairing that's ready to sand Saturday morning and a tacky mess you're still poking at on Sunday.

Numbers here come from WEST SYSTEM / Epoxyworks, System Three and WoodenBoat; where a figure is one shop's practice, I've said whose.

Sources: WEST SYSTEM, Filler Selection Guide, Fairing, 410 Microlight, Final Fairing & Finishing manual and User Manual & Product Guide; Epoxyworks, Epoxy Fairing Basics and Preparing to Fair; System Three, Bonding with Epoxy and Filleting, Fairing and Molding; WoodenBoat, Andy Giblin, Fairing with Thickened Epoxy.

MOAM Out.

Tools for this tip

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

• West System 406 Colloidal Silica filler (1.7 oz): the bonding and filleting filler: laps, chine seams, screw holes that carry load
• WEST SYSTEM 410 Microlight fairing filler (5 oz): the easiest-sanding fairing filler for big, light-colored or below-the-waterline areas
• WEST SYSTEM 407-5 Low-Density fairing filler (4 oz): the tougher fairing filler for dark paint, sun-hot topsides and decks that get walked on
• West System 105 Resin + 206 Slow Hardener bundle with 300 Mini Pumps: wet-out, the fairing mix itself, and the seal coats over the sanded fairing
• The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction (book): the Gougeon brothers' book on fairing, coating and building a hull with epoxy

Use whatever you already have in the shop; these are just the ones that fit this job.