Editing Caulk (section)

==Historical uses==

===Wooden shipbuilding===
Traditional caulking (also spelled calking) on wooden vessels uses [[fiber]]s of [[cotton]] and [[oakum]] ([[hemp]]) soaked in pine [[tar]]. These fibers are driven into the wedge-shaped seam between planks, with a caulking mallet and a broad [[chisel]]-like tool called a caulking iron. The caulking is then covered over with a [[putty]], in the case of hull seams, or else in deck seams with melted pine [[Pitch (resin)|pitch]], in a process referred to as paying, or "calefaction" (cf Dutch ''[[:nl:Breeuwen|kalefateren]]''). Those who carried out this work were known as caulkers. In the [[Hebrew Bible]], the [[Biblical prophet|prophet]] [[Ezekiel]] refers to the caulking of ships as a specialist skill.<ref>{{bibleref2|Ezekiel|27:9|NKJV}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Caulked hull timbers, Spry, Blists Hill.jpg|Dried-out caulking on the [[Severn trow]] [[Severn trow, Spry|''Spry'']], now displayed on shore
File:Caulking tools.jpg|The tools of traditional wooden ship caulking: caulking mallet, caulker's seat, caulking irons, [[cotton]] and [[oakum]]
File:MaryRose-caulking tools2.JPG|A caulking mallet, tar pot and a piece of petrified tar found on board the 16th century [[carrack]] ''[[Mary Rose]]''
</gallery>

===Iron or steel shipbuilding===
In riveted steel or iron [[Shipbuilding|ship construction]], caulking was a process of rendering seams watertight by driving a thick, blunt chisel-like tool into the plating adjacent to the seam. This had the effect of displacing the metal into a close fit with the adjoining piece.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/nvic/7_01/n7-01.pdf |title=Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circulars (NVIC): USCG |website=USCG.mil }}</ref>

===Boilermaking===
Caulking of iron and steel, of the same type described above for ship's hulls, was also used by [[boilermaker]]s in the era of riveted [[Steam boiler|boiler]]s to make the joints watertight and steamtight.<ref>{{cite book |last=Colvin |first=Fred H. |author-link=Fred H. Colvin |date=1906 |title=The Railroad Pocket-Book: A Quick Reference Cyclopedia of Railroad Information |publisher=New York, Derry-Collard; London, [[Locomotive Publishing Company]] (US-UK co-edition) |page=C‑9 <!-- Not a range --> |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HhUx85xep4cC |access-date=February 17, 2022 }}</ref>