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 [...]
Category Archive for 'Tools'
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” [...]
Tools - part 1
Posted in Tools on Sep 8th, 2007
I was cleaning up the shop today in preparation for getting some work done and I thought I’d take a few pictures of some of the tools I commonly use.
I enjoy working with hand tools and prefer using them instead of power tools whenever it is reasonable to do so. There are many aspects of [...]
