A gripe is a simple form of
clamp used in building a
clinker
Clinker may refer to:
*Clinker (boat building), construction method for wooden boats
*Clinker (waste), waste from industrial processes
*Clinker (cement), a kilned then quenched cement product
* ''Clinkers'' (album), a 1978 album by saxophonist St ...
boat, for temporarily holding the
strake
On a vessel's hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of planking or plating which runs from the boat's stempost (at the bows) to the sternpost or transom (at the rear). The garboard strakes are the two immediately adjacent to the keel on ...
which is being fitted onto the one to which it is to be attached. The strake is relatively thin and wide, so the tool must have a long reach and requires only a small movement. This is achieved by taking two pieces of dense timber, typically oak, each of a length a little more than twice the widest width of the strake. A coach bolt (see
carriage bolt
A carriage bolt (also called coach bolt and round-head square-neck bolt) is a form of bolt used to fasten metal to metal or, more commonly, wood to metal. Also known as a cup head bolt in Australia and New Zealand.
It is distinguished from othe ...
) is fitted through the middle and adjusted so that the gripe will fit onto the land (the joint between the adjacent strakes) while admitting the point of a wedge between the free ends of the two parts of the gripe. The wedge is then tapped in so that the gripe grips the land, using the bolt as a fulcrum.
The name is pronounced with the 'i' as a long
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
and is a form of the word 'grip'.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gripe (Tool)
Woodworking hand tools
Shipbuilding