Thin hardwood stock

[PeterSibley]

I'd say that unless your thickness planer is a particularly good one with perfectly setup pressure rollers you will shatter a lot of wood. Any big local mill shop will have a thickness sander and that is the best solution.

[cathouse willy]

It's got strings! It sounds good although I'm not satisfied with the frets, they may get redone. All in all I think it's a decent first try, enough so that I'm going to try another one..........tiptoe through the tulips.

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[cathouse willy]

A few more photos





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uku too 007.jpg



uku too 002.jpg

[Hugh MacD]

Beauty! Keep it up!

[cathouse willy]

My shop built thickness sander for the wood lathe works ok, but its very awkward to use as I have to push the stock through, let go of it at the wrong moment and it flings the workpiece across the shop. I splurged and ordered one of these and it arrived today. It makes thicknessing stock much easier,it was nicely set up right out of the box and I really like the motorized feed table.I'm looking forward to "thinning" some backs,tops and sides for another ukulele. They'll go through the planer to as thin as I dare, about 3.5 mm and then get taken down to working size of less than 2mm on the new sander.

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[cathouse willy]

So the sander works very well I thinned the back, top and side stock for a second ukulele.Top and back are 1.8 mm thick while the sides are 1.5 mm. Espave for the sides and back and spruce for the top.

These are the back pieces

uku number 2 007 (338x450).jpg

[goodbasil]

Would thin plywood be suitable? ( I know didily about what you making.)

Anyway, Lee Valley has this stuff in small sheets, http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...at=1,250,43217

[cathouse willy]

Solid wood stock seems to be the preferred material for string instruments. There is a hardwood company in Chilliwack called Wood to Works that has a good selection of solid stock meant for instrument making and now between my thickness planer and sander its easy to get it to the right thickness.The website woodtoworks.com is an interesting place to browse

[Favorite]

Tangential to your question but might be useful some day ... was just on the throne reading an old Woodenboat - I think May-June 2017 but don't hold me to it - and there was an article about a bandsaw blade - the Wood Slicer ? - that would happily resaw to 3/32 thick. That'd be 2.5 mm and closer than what you're starting at ... if some day you want to slice up some thicker pieces. Sounded interesting for people that do laminating, too.

The guy who wrote the article was seriously impressed, and it was in Woodenboat, so maybe some truth in it.

[David Satter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Sa2GW0iu8 I was just looking at these. Think I'm going to get a good resaw bandaw this spring. Watch his slicing at the end. Dave

[cathouse willy]

Some progress on ukulele number two.

body side view
uketoo 005 (450x338).jpg

glueing the top braces
uketoo 002 (450x338).jpg

the body with end blocks and linings
uketoo 009 (450x338).jpg

and the neck so far
uketoo 004 (450x338).jpg

[Gary Davis]

Tell us more about your vise please

[cathouse willy]

"Tell us more about your vise please"

I got it from Lee Valley, the jaws swivel so it can hold irregular shaped pieces and the whole thing swivels on its base.It's very handy for this sort of project.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...=1,41637,41659

[cathouse willy]

The glued up top bracing I was so proud of had to be removed as a bridge support needs to be glued down first.Thankfully the hide glue I used is possible to release ,a thin spatula and some moderate heat and they popped right off. Doing things twice is why making one of these things takes me so long.

[Gary Davis]

thanks willy. I'm finishing up a baritone ukulele and starting on a mandolin. the vice looks very handy

[cathouse willy]

thanks willy. I'm finishing up a baritone ukulele and starting on a mandolin. the vice looks very handy

A mandolin, those are beautiful instruments and more complex than a ukulele.I don't have the skills needed for that.Please post some pictures of your builds. Judging by the number of views on this thread people are interested in this sort of thing.

[Gary Davis]

Almost there - glueing on the bridge. A big learning experience with lots of trial and error (and mistakes). I showed it to my granddaughter at Christmas but brought it back home with me because I didn't have time to set it up.


[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Sides are East Indian rosewood, back is padauk, top is yellow cedar, neck is maple, fretboard and bridge are katalox.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Just getting started on the mandolin but haven't bought any wood yet. Lots of reading ahead of time this time.

[Hugh MacD]

Very Nice! What are you using for a finish? Very smooth!

[cathouse willy]

Nice work Gary! There is something special about holding and strumming an instrument you've made yourself. As far as playing goes I'm all thumbs, it's the building that I like. Let us see more pictures of your progress.
Bill

[Gary Davis]

The finish is a few coats of Tried and True varnish oil and unwaxed shellac. The shellac was applied in the french polish style but left some swirly traces in the finish. Going to attack those with polishing compound per Jeff Jewitt's recommendations.

I'll post another image when its set-up and complete.

Thanks for the compliment. The mandolin is going to be much more difficult but the ukulele was excellent practice and confidence building.

And I don't play either. Maybe one day but its the building part I enjoy now.

Oh - I ordered the vice. Looks like it be a big help down the road.

[Hugh MacD]

Looks like your dog enjoys the building process, too

[cathouse willy]

Moving right along glueing the top to the body



glue up 004 (375x281).jpg

glue up 001 (281x375).jpg

[Gary Davis]

I started my mandolin project yesterday. Got a small sheet of 1/8" acrylic from the hardware store and made templates for the neck and body. The slab of cherry I ordered should be here next week.

And still waiting on the vise to be delivered.

[cathouse willy]

I'll be watching your mandolin project with interest keep us up to date with lots of pictures. There are other instrument builders on the WB forum,please feel free to add your pictures and comments here.

[Gary Davis]

I got a local luthier to set up and string the ukulele for me. He and a friend that played it a bit say it sounds good and its loud. I'm just happy it can be properly tuned. I ship it off to my granddaughter in Colorado tomorrow. Who knows what it will look like when I see it again.

I got the neck roughed out for the mandolin today and installed an oak spline rather than deal with a truss rod. So far so good but I've got a long ways to go.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]


[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

The ghost in the lower image is me.

[Gary Davis]

Looks like the neck or the sound hole or both are a bit off.

[cathouse willy]

Nice work, the neck/soundhole issue may be an illusion due to the photo? My uke is moving along, I haven't made any of the same mistakes I made with the first one but I've made a couple of new ones,thank you hide glue.

[Jay Greer]

Nice Work! I am all ears in anticipating the sound!
Jay

[Jay Greer]

Nice Work! I am all ears in anticipating the sound!
Jay

[cathouse willy]

Moving slowly along,I really like the figure of the Espave sides and I think the walnut binding contrasts well. I'm approaching one of those "pucker" steps, one where a slip can ruin the whole thing. Once the back is glued on the shelf for the binding will be routed.That will be the last of the pucker steps for awhile
.

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[Gary Davis]

Looks very nice. Slow progress on the mandolin. A few jigs/molds to fabricate.

Vice works great.

[cathouse willy]

Looks very nice. Slow progress on the mandolin. A few jigs/molds to fabricate.

Vice works great.

Thanks Gary.Take pictures....lots of them.

[Gary Davis]

I don't normally take a lot of photos - just when I feel like I've made some progress for my client (my son). Here is the rough shape of the neck before glueing on the headstock ears.
[I
MG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is the neck block i worked on yesterday. Its all hidden between top and back pieces except for the inside of the scroll. That area doesn't get covered by the sides and has to be "finished." Ordered some very small violin files to get at the scroll.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]


This is a mantle clock I'm just finishing for my niece's wedding in early February. Almost there.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

Don't hold your breath for regular updates. Life gets in the way sometimes.

Gary

[Hugh MacD]

Spectacular! I always enjoy your updates whenever you can get to them Thanks!

[Gary Davis]

I milled some rim (side) material yesterday. 0.11" figured cherry. Had to use the drum sander for all of the thicknessing as the planer really chewed up the figure in the first offering. Hopefully I have enough material here to be able to work around the small checks and sap pits.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

I wiped on some alcohol to get a sense of the figure.

[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far so good. There will be a break in the action for a couple of weeks to attend my niece's wedding.