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06 / 19 / 00 Because of their traditional look I wanted to try deadeyes on Aloha. Besides they are easy to make and stainless turnbuckles are quite expensive. The concern is about the trouble of keeping them tight with a folding mast. 

I made them out of 6 / 4 mahogany. I wanted the holes equilaterally positioned about outside of the block so I did not use a hole saw but cut them with a jigsaw. I wanted them a little bigger than the Stevenson plans showed. They are 3" diameter.

I routed the corner edges, then drilled holes that I carved out in the direction the reeving would take so the rope would not have a hard edge to pull against. As the plans show, on the top deadeye I routed a round bead for the shroud cable to lie in, and for the bottom I routed a 3/4" flat groove.  I used stainless strapping for the bottom groove.
03 / 31 / 01 The work well enough to keep the shrouds tight. But since they are fairly solid I do not travel with them attached or they would bang up my paint job. This makes them somewhat inconvenient to have to fiddle with at setup. One problem (knowing which deadeye goes to which chainplate) will be relieved when I build a shroud spreader.
04 / 15 / 04 I didn't like the way the deadeyes looked with all the epoxy and shiny varnish. This with the flat surfaces on the faces. They just didn't look traditional, so I stripped them and the cleats down to bare wood. I routed the edges of the dead eyes to make them more rounded and refinished them with linseed oil. These working parts look much better now with a oil finish like the blocks have.