After the plank had received a few coats of tung oil on all sides, it was time to begin assembly.
The rat bars on this gangplank are mahogany attached with silicone bronze screws. The rat bars were evenly spaced and then taped in place to avoid movement while the screw holes were drilled.
Before each hole was drilled, all the bars were re-measured to make sure everything was still in alignment.
One side was drilled to completion while the other side was held in place by tape. Screws were introduced to further hole the bars in place add the other side was drilled, once again measuring everything before each hole.
At the end, all the rat bars were held in place by the outside screws. At this point everything was disassembled.
Each screw hole needs to be drilled three times for screws made with cut threads. Once for the threaded portion, once for the shank, and once more to countersink the head.
The screw holes in the plank were re-drilled with a hand drill, then the rat bars were re-drilled for the shanks and again for the head.
All the bars were numbered so that they could easily be relocated at assembly time with the numbers written in the orientation to the plank.
All the rat bars were re-installed and tightened down fully. Lastly, using a hand drill I drilled the middle screw hole for each rat bar, being sure to only drill the bar section for the shank diameter, as it would be too large a hole for the threads to engage.
