Friday, March 24, 2017

Dangerous Curves!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Titebond it is Pete!

Pete, my Aussie luthier friend asked which adhesive I would be using with the Rocklite Ebano fretboard. My adhesive of choice for wood has always been Titbond original, so I glued the fretboard to the maple neck using that.
So, does it work? Well of course! Once the glue set, the fretboard was sanded to give it a compound radius, position markers inlaid and fretted. Then the neck shaped. If a glue joint survives all that vigorous work, it will be fine.

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Monday, March 13, 2017

Safe in Portugal

 Paulo’s walnut Standard mandolin is now residing happily in Portugal with its new owner. Below are some photos for you……….

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Friday, March 03, 2017

Random Stuff

Thought that you’d like to ponder this photo………..
 
You’ll recall the various planes that I’ve restored recently? I thought that I should treat my faithful Stanley No.5 plane to an “upgrade”. It was given to me about 40 years ago, before I started at the LCF and the varnish on the handles was cracked, chipped and generally manky. So, the old varnish was stripped off and the handles re-finished with Tru-oil and wax. They feel so, so good to use now; well worth the effort!
   
I also had a go at my old (again 40 years!) Tyzack dovetail saw. The handle was refinished in the same way and after much searching around I found a place to send it off for its first proper sharpening in years; works as good as new!
 A few posts back I mentioned using aluminium as an alternative inlay material. On that same instrument, I thought that I’d try a Rocklite Ebano fretboard.  In the photo below you can see the rocklite fretboard on the left and a prime ebony one for Andrew’s twin point on the right.

No problem’s in cutting the fret slots or planning the taper on the rocklite one. So far so good…

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