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 ...............








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Best selling wood projects - Woodwork in Southern China Old and New Part 1

Best selling wood projects

The love of my life (LOML) and I have had the good fortune to have spent some weeks of holiday in Southern China.  What a remarkable country, with beautiful people and stunning scenery.  Among the thousands of memories that we brought home with us are some images showing a glimpse of traditional and modern woodworking in its many forms - Chinese style.

 Southern China is not on the mainstream western tourist trail, and includes numerous groups of people from Chinas ethnic minorities.  In this sense it may not be totally representative of Chinese culture as a whole, but it is all the more interesting because of that.

So - just to be clear - we did not see any of the following:

• Great Wall of China
• Terra-cotta Warriors of Xian
• Yangtse River Cruise
• Bejing
• Shanghai

What we did see and experience, was the warmth and hospitality of  beautiful people, who love their families, friends and their country - and love life above all.


Everywhere we went, there was a hive of construction activity ranging from national infrastructure - roads, highways, high speed train lines etc, down to house building and restorations of existing buildings.  Here is a snapshot.

Freedom of religious expression in China has led to the re-building of those temples and churches damaged during the Cultural Revolution - and the attention to detail is breathtaking.

Anyone who is a woodworker will appreciate, the skill and dedication needed to re-produce fine work on such a large scale.

In every town and city,  old buildings are being restored and preserved. Here are two on opposite corners in the city of Kunming.

On the left, a restored building - while on the right an original doctors surgery and pharmacy first established in 1857.  Inside, there are consulting rooms and an on-the-spot herbal pharmacy.  Note the wall of herb cupboards and drawers in the background.

Out in the countryside, there are many combinations of traditional design and contemporary practice - with very pleasing results.

The tools and techniques would be very much at home in any woodworkers workshop.  The quick fix fence on the jointer is held in place with two nails.

I saw no evidence of A2 or M2 steels in the tools used, no cryo-treated blades, no high end big name manufacturers tool labels, and spartan toolkits that make those of western home hobbyists, look palatial by comparison.  Yet the results speak for themselves.

 Look carefully at this picture and you will see three tools from everyday use - chain saw, tape measure and bow saw.  Somewhere out of shot there is a bandsaw, which slabs the timbers for lumber, and the evidence of volumes of work lies on the ground around about.

For simpler buildings these are all that seem to be needed.

Here is an animal shelter - completely weatherproof, with a bark roof held in place with tree-nails - we might call them wooden dowels.

I have so much more to share from this trip, but this will do for the moment.  Woodworking is so universal, that it can be found wherever we look. Southern China is no exception.

 It is great to be back sharing my own peculiar outlook on all that is wood - and other perspectives .....
.........and happy woodworking to all ................

Best selling wood projects

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