I fret dulcimers after the instrument is completely assembled. Some dulcimer makers fret the fingerboard before gluing it to the soundboard and have good results but I prefer to true up the fingerboard once I know the fretboard won’t move or warp during the construction process.
I use a long sanding block to sand the [...]
Category Archive for 'Tools'
No, this is not about sanding hands. It’s about using your hands to sand.
There isn’t much new to say about hand sanding. The basics of sanding are very simple. Each progressively finer grit leaves scratches finer than it’s predecessor. Finer grits are used until the scratches left are no longer noticeable. In general one [...]
I have received more inquiries about my shop made thickness sander than I have for any other post! Go figure!
Though a thickness sander saves time I must admit that I love thicknessing thin stock the old fashioned way. I use a toothing plane, a number of bench planes and a scraper. It works well, it [...]
I have read that scrapers may be one of the earliest tools used by early humans. Though scrapers are very simple tools they are still in use today.
The basic cabinet scraper is a rectangle of steel hard enough to hold an edge but soft enough to be easily sharpened. Most scrapers are made of [...]
The reinforcement strip and back braces are being shaped with chisels and scrapers. The chisel in the center is a crank necked paring chisel. The cranked neck of the chisel keeps my hand clear of the work.
The sides are dampened with water and sandwiched with a flexible thermal blanket between two sheets of flexible steel. [...]
Here are a few photos of what I’ve been up to in the shop.
The peg head is sawn to rough shape with a Japanese style saw. Japanese saws cut on the pull stroke so they are easy to control. They also cut with great precision and leave the surface of the wood relatively smooth.
Once the [...]
Lumber starts out as a tree, usually a big tree if it is harvested for woodworking or instrument making.
The sawmill will yield boards from the log of reasonable and workable size.
Once the wood has been dried the craftsperson will resaw the wood to the dimensions needed for the work at hand.
These days this is most [...]
I love to thickness tops, backs and sides with hand planes. It’s quiet, challenging and a good physical workout. If all goes well the surface of the wood will be just about ready for finishing.
That being said, to produce instruments for sale in a reasonable amount of time most luthiers will use a thickness sander [...]
I’m currently working on a dulcimer in Cherry but I thought I’d get started on the next in line. That one will have Walnut for the back and sides and a Cedar top.
Here is some of the wood that has been up in the attic. This was resawn about a year ago.
I take what I [...]
Sharpening
Posted in Tools on Sep 12th, 2007
Woodworking tools are useless unless they are sharp. Learning to sharpen is an ongoing process; I have tried a number of methods and find that my technique and the materials I choose to use continually evolve.
There is not a right or wrong way to sharpen tools. If the tool gets “sharp enough to shave with” [...]
