Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 5 Catching Up

Best selling wood projects

Oh my, where has all this time disappeared to?
So much to do around here and the ukulele build has been on the back-burner.
Our home is a large log cabin construction with a fully painted exterior.  The LOML, in her spring cleaning mode, started an outside spruce-up that turned into a full exterior house clean. A huge job!

We last painted the exterior in 1996-97..............
You can see whats coming...............  Now that it is clean lets re-paint, she said.  OK, I replied.  I really love painting .............. hahaha

 (this male king parrot landed on my painting trestle)

Soooooo ........... guess what has occupied my leisure hours of late - we have been painting, and painting and painting ...............

Oh, there was also the rehearsals for the concert by the Tele Point Ukes and Singers.......................

.............and the concert itself..................

trips to Young.................

.............. and Sydney - and my sons engagement to wonderful Edwina .............

........the party ..............

........... gardening .........

................. lots of gardening .........

...... babysitting ............... lots of babysitting ............

............ end of year parties and wrap-up dinners, as well as.........
..........school concerts .................

(......everybody was Kung-Fu fighting ......................)

.................. and woodwork........... well, bits and pieces.
I have found some time to cut and shape the gusset blocks for the ukulele body as well as lay out the fretboard and make a start on the neck.
Ill get back to that in my next post.

Soooooo ........ we are back up to speed.
 Every blessing to you and yours for this season of Xmouse.
May you find some peace...... and in doing so, add a little more joy to the world.

Best selling wood projects

Read More..

Best selling wood projects - A Damaged Plane Blade Bringing It Back to Life

Best selling wood projects

I received in the mail a much abused Turner handplane blade from Dylans newly acquired number 5 jack.
See the comments from this post
Turner Hand Planes

Here it is as he received it:

The blade is near full and shows signs that it has been sharpened in the past.

Sadly someone has abused the cutting edge over its life, so that it now looks like this:

One corner is missing and there is a chunky chip out of the edge near the other corner.  The bevel has become rounded chipped and jagged.

 It is easier to see the damage up close .........

The back shows that a previous owner tried to flatten as part of the sharpening process, but that is such a while back that rust has started to appear.

First step will be to square off the blade by grinding back the old bevel to remove all the chips and jagged points - leaving the blade straight from one corner to the other.
Bench grinder to the rescue.

Care must be taken to keep the edge cool so that the steel doesnt "burn" and lose its temper.

The edge, ground square from corner to corner.  Grinding a new bevel comes next.  Most handplane blades like this one use a bevel of 30 degrees so thats what I will use.

Once the new bevel is ground, it needs honing to remove the coarse grinding marks and to begin to form the cutting edge.

This bevel is well formed but there is a dag of wired edge on the left corner that will hone off on the oilstones as a secondary bevel appears.
This will be honed at 35 degrees along the front edge of the bevel.

Ill use coarse, then fine oilstones, and then finally a hard white arkansas stone for polishing.
This is so similar to the chisel sharpening that I showed back in April 2012 that I will use an image from there:

Just think of this chisel as the Turner plane blade OK.
Sadly, I packaged the blade up and posted it off before getting a shot of the finished bevelled and sharpened edge - rats!

When it arrives  it will go back in Dylans number 5 Turner plane just like this one:

Happy shavings to all.
Best selling wood projects

Read More..

Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 13 Nearly There

Best selling wood projects

Fretboard

I decided that the inlaid fretboard would be too busy aesthetically on this mango timber, and have opted instead for a straight plain-jane variety, with simple fret-marker inlays of mother of pearl (MOP)
Marking out the fretboard is very easy once the length of scale is known.
This wonderful online calculator is invaluable:
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

I mark mine with a scribing knife before cutting them with a narrow-kerf tenon saw.
While the piece of African blackwood is still square,  I mark the positions for the MOP markers - frets 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 in this case.
These are glued in place and left to dry before cutting the tapers on the fretboard sides to match the existing neck.

Fret-wire is simply hammered into position in the grooves cut by the tenon saw, and snipped to size with a pair of side-cutters.

This little wooden mallet works very well.

 

A square file is used to trim the overhanging fret-wire from the edges.

When flush, the top edges are filed at 45 degrees to create a chamfer on the corners of the frets themselves.

I find it easiest to do this on a sanding mat that holds the fretboard in place while I file.
There isnt a lot of room for big fingers, so any assistance is welcome.
Once this is complete, I will seat all of the fret-wires with a straight board and an iron hammer to ensure that they are all straight and parallel to each other.

Here is a trial fit with the bone nut in place to see how well everything is coming together.  I dont glue the bone nut in at this stage, as it may need adjusting in height after the bridge is added - to obtain the correct playing action for the strings.

I have selected a piece of Indian rosewood for the headstock, and this has been glued over the laminated head to add a little beauty - and to hide the strip laminations.

I add tape alongside the end of the fretboard to cover the body from excess glue squeeze-out.  It is also a handy fitting guide when the fretboard is glued in place.

Here we are with the glued fret-board held in place by spring-clamps.  Notice that the bone nut is here to establish the fretboard position - it is removed once the clamps are all secure, as I dont want stray glue fixing it in position just yet.

Here we are then - all but finished.
I will next mark out and drill the holes for the headstock tuners.
Only the bridge to add, then follow that with final sanding and finishing.
Nearly there ................
Best selling wood projects

Read More..

Best selling wood projects - Bruce Wei Ukuleles A Follow Up Review

Best selling wood projects

Bruce Wei Ukuleles - A Follow-Up Review

It is now around two years since I reviewed a range of ukuleles made in Vietnam under the Bruce Wei label.
The original review is to be found here:

Bruce Wei Ukuleles - A Small Review 

 Over the intervening period, my ukulele playing has felt most comfortable on tenor sized ukes so these are the ones that have had the most use.

I have onsold to other ukulele lovers all other sized - soprano and concert ukes - that I have owned and I am left with just two Bruce Wei tenors.

 

 

This is one tenor that has really grown on me.  It has an Indian rosewood body and a spruce soundboard together with a maple neck.

 

There were many online criticisms of Vietnamese and Taiwan-made instruments some years ago, based around some perceived lack of longevity in the construction.  Specifically some users claimed that the glue joints were prone to cracking or some such.

 

 

I have never seen any evidence of this and as can be seen from these images, the instrument is still superb in its appearance.  This uke has been played many times each week - at uke groups, workshops and concerts and it looks as good as it did when new.

Even the little details like the inlay, have not shown any signs of deterioration - something that happens on cheaper instruments over time.  

As it has aged, and with playing, it has really matured in sound producing a "rounder" and warmer tone with some growth in volume and sustain. 

My favourite instrument has grown to be the Bruce Wei 8 string tenor ukulele that I purchased around Xmas of 2012.

This one is made from solid mahogany - both body and soundboard - again with maple neck and a beautiful Indian Rosewood headstock.

Neither it nor the regular tenor came with bindings as part of the body, but I notice that some of the newer Bruce Wei instruments are now offering this feature.

The inlay details are as good as before and the finish superb.

Most importantly however, is the sound.  This instrument is such a joy to play.  No buzzing, perfect intonation and a wonderful depth of sound from those Aquila strings.

It came with a very busy fretboard inlay which at first I did not like for its complexity - I prefer simpler inlays - but now I dont notice it.  It does attract a lot of comment from other ukers and audience members of course.

I thought that after some years these comparatively cheap (to buy) instruments would start to show some limitations and failings.

I could not have been more wrong.

These are high quality ukuleles built to an excellent standard.

They are sounding truly wonderful, and as a value for money instrument cannot be surpassed in my humble opinion.

Best selling wood projects

Read More..

Best selling wood projects - Serving up a 40th birthday celebration

Best selling wood projects

On a recent Sunday I had a very enjoyable gig to do. Sonia, a customer, had turned 40 recently. To celebrate this milestone, she organised a venue, the Victoria Park Arts Centre, and 11 of her very good friends to spend the day with her. My task was to facilitate a woodworking activity for the day. We designed and carved wooden spoons. It was a great day!

Prior to the participants arriving, I had set up my portable benches and gear. We used only traditional hand tools: carving gouges, carving mallets, curved scrapers, bowsaws and coping saws, spokeshaves and rasps. Many had never done stuff like this before. There were nine different timbers on hand for people to chose from. During the course of the day (either sides of a beautiful meal together), each person designed and made a beautiful and functional wooden spoon. After the tool work, it was just a final light sand and a coat of Orange Oil to finish them off. Twelve people each with a very different spoon with which they were justifiably proud.

Many participants expressed how therapeutic it was to be creative and physical, not things found very often in their busy lives these days. Some had done things they would never have thought possible.  Others just enjoyed using their hands.
Such an interesting variety of spoons were created. So much fun and happy chatter through the day...

I love the process... everyone is on a journey together but each at the same time is on their own journey as they interact with the tools and their chosen piece of wood. Design ideas often change along the way through a number of factors, but ultimately each spoon reflects something of the personality of its maker. Fascinating stuff goes on in the creation of such a simple implement!

The spoon making workshop is my favourite activity of all the different stuff that I do with people.
Happy 40th birthday, Sonia. You and your delightful group of friends each have warm memories and a unique momento of the occaision to remember you by.

Oh, yes, I love these gigs!
Best selling wood projects

Read More..