Best selling wood projects - Ukes Are Go

Best selling wood projects

............... yep, just like the Thunderbirds ..............

One of the greatest aspects of living in a small community is .... well ...... living in a small community.  Telegraph Point is tiny, but has a vibrant community culture.

Apart from Book Group, our own local library, Singing Group, community dinners and BBQs, fitness group, and pub karaoke, there is the Wednesday night Ukulele Group.

A more zany bunch of pluckers, you are unlikely to meet - from diverse backgrounds, but with a passion for that oxymoron - Ukulele Music.

My stupid camera has a flash delay - thats why everyone looks like a deer in the headlights - but you get the idea.  Of course - the empty wine glasses might also account for that.

One of our inspirations is The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Oh that we might emulate them one day!
Their rendition of the old Talking Heads song Psycho Killer is mind-blowingly great.  It is one song that we love murdering whenever we can.

Ukes come in all shapes and sizes, the most common, in our group anyway, are the tenor sized ukes. That little maroon one (above) is a soprano - and I play a concert.

Anatomy of a Ukulele

Here is my concert ukulele - a Kanani - beside the LOMLs  Lanikai which is a tenor. The body of the tenor is longer and deeper, and it has a longer neck.

Building a Ukulele
Tonewoods are something that have  taken my interest since I decided to build a Ukulele. Now this is totally new woodworking territory for me, so I am in the process of researching methods and materials. I think that I will build a tenor ukulele, as it is the largest with standard uke stringing.

There is a larger baritone uke, but it requires different chord sets, and that may be a bridge and nut too far at this stage.

My Kanani is made of solid Koa - both body and soundboard, and the Lanikai has a spruce soundboard and mahogany body.  Both have rosewood fret-boards.

The roundup of materials will now begin.  I have some African blackwood that will make a good fretboard, and I am going to try western red cedar as the soundboard.

This western red cedar came from panels from my brother in laws kitchen demolition.  Under the paint was some lovely straight grain.

Other ukulele soundboard tonewood timbers that I have a little of, and am considering, are:

• mango
• blackwood
• huon pine
• black heart sassafras
• Australian cedar
• Queensland maple
• Tasmanian myrtle

I am still mulling over timber for the body, but am thinking maybe blackwood...... hmmmm ...

This task will take some time I think.

In the meantime, here is the song that I took to Uke group last night ..... a blast from the past ..........
Lets just say that - while I love it, ......... ...............
.....................................................it is growing on the others ....................

Happy uke-ing .....
.... and happy woodworking to all ...............








Best selling wood projects

Read More..

Best selling wood projects - Used and Abused

Best selling wood projects

I have been working with my son for the last five days, demolishing, repairing and re-building his bathroom.  That is another story, but during the re-build, we needed a rough-house chisel, and mine wasnt handy so he produced one from his shed.  We only needed a beater, and what he found filled the bill nicely.

When hed finished, he passed this chisel to me.

Oh my sainted aunt!

The handle was the first clue - birch - and the shape - definitely Swedish.  One look at the blade told me it was something special.  That same bevelled edged shape has been used by Jernbolaget, Kronan and Erik Anton Berg.
I was ready to weep.

Here it is next to a Berg handle - fresh from the market.
Closer inspection showed it for what it is:

Swedish Toledos are excellent chisels and make fine parers.  They are to be cared for, honed and used for the purpose for which they were manufactured - paring, with a razor sharp edge.
Lets check that edge:

Holy opened paint tins Batman!
Its a super-dull maxi-fat-edge chisel, of the non-cut variety.
This looks like a job for the dynamic duo - wire wheel, grinder, oilstones and arkansas stone.  (OK quartet!)

A quick cleanup revealed the problems ahead.  No serious pitting thank goodness.

................The back needed re-flattening, and the bevel - (what bevel?!!!!!!!!) -  needed re-grinding after the edge was squared to the sides.

That poor old handle had been belted so much that it had lost a full half-inch of its length.  Furthermore, it was cracked all the way through both sides. Only the ferrules were holding it together.

Time for a new one.
 I remove old handles by gripping the blade between scrap leather in my Carter vice, and tapping a suitably sized open ended spanner against the handle.  If the handle is worth keeping, I pad the spanner as well - not in this case however.

With an inch of blade already gone, this chisel begged for a longer handle in the Japanese paring chisel style.  Ill try to stay true to its Swedish origins with the profile, but there will be no top ferrule.  This chisel will never again be struck.

I have chosen a piece of black wattle from my wood-cave for this handle.  Black wattle grows wild around here, and is a plentiful, renewable resource.  It has some pleasing grain and will serve very nicely.  As before, with the Sorby chisel, I have accentuated the length in this handle, as I enjoy the added control that this imparts to the chisel when paring.

A coat of beeswax and a quick polish with a handful of shavings, and the handle is complete.
Here is the finished article: one Toledo Steel - Made in Sweden - Bevelled Edge Paring Chisel!

Once again, a good test of the keen-ness of the blade, is how well it pares end grain.

Not too shabby at all!

Now that is a real feel-good ugly duckling story.

Ill have to find another beater of a chisel for my son to return to his shed.  Something with a plastic handle this time.  Hee hee!  This one can become his going out chisel, only to be used on Sundays.......

May all your uglies turn into swans, and all your problems be small ones ...............

....... and happy woodworking to all ...............


Best selling wood projects

Read More..