It would seem to me that the birdsmouth system would be impractical before
the appearance of power tools. I can't imagine the construction of a
birdsmouth mast using hand planes. I think there would have been more
practical methods.
Paul Reagan
"derbyrm" wrote in message
m...
I've seen it described as the "Noble System" and I think it was patented
in England.

Without looking, I believe the description was in the section on masts in
"Practical Junk Rig" by H. G. Hasler and J. K. McLeod/

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

"quixote" wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anyone know how old birdsmouth masts are (or anything using
birdsmouth jointery, really)?

I did some looking around, and didn't find anything that listed
anything similar to historical relavance, and I am always curious about
these things and how they developed.