Double Bass Progress pic: 1/2 the ribs are glued up

[Bob Branstetter]

Thanks for the link, clink (I'm on the brink of a blink I think...sorry, I use to be a songwriter). That one only has a 6" throat. If I get one I want to be able to resaw ribs and backs, so the Rikon, with a 13" capacity would work better for me. The Jet at Woodcraft has a more powerful motor, but I think only a 10" throat. I read on a guitar building forum that the Rikon 14 Deluxe worked well for resawing in that particular person's opinion, and guitar backs (1/2) would be about as wide as ribs.

I have a 14" Delta with the extension block. In theory, you can cut something around 12 to 13" using something like a 3/4" skip tooth blade. However, I found it really isn't practical for resawing ribs since the blade wanders too much and is VERY, VERY slow cutting. If you don't go very slow, you put a strain on the 1 hp motor and probably burn up your blade. IMO, if you want to resaw ribs or backs, you need something a lot bigger than a 14" bandsaw. An 18" resaw bandsaw would probably be the minimum size for this kind of work.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

My hands were working faster than my mind on that one. Kinda like my playing about half the time .

 

[Don Harris]

<<An 18" resaw bandsaw would probably be the minimum size for this kind of work.>>

Thanks Bob. That's what I need to know.

This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. Should I buy bigger and more expensive? Should I just have somebody cut the ribs and back for me for the small number of basses I could potentially make? Same with a drum sander? Problem is, on my current ribs, the guy who cut them didn't feed very smoothly and didn't keep the wood flat against the fence always, and I just bit my tongue and kept quiet. Then I had a local lumber company drum sand a couple boards for me and they sanded in a horrendous twist which I had to hand plane out! I hate expecting others to do fine quality work and then be dissappointed. But on the other hand, I could end up buying very specialized and expensive tools to do a tiny bit of work.

There is a tonewood guy in Denver named Simeon Chambers that I want to try for resawing. I'm guessing he will be great. I need to resaw my back wood ASAP. If he does that, I may just mooch off of friends to bandsaw the neck this time around.

 

[Bob Branstetter]

Have you talked to Bob Ross about possibly letting you use or having him do the thicknessing your ribs to size on his Performax thickness sander. I know Bob has the same model that I do and it does a great job smoothing and thicknessing bass ribs and even on bass flat back wood. A thickness sander is a great tool to own, but you need to do a lot of ribs to make it pay for itself. The same applies to a large band-saw for resawing.

 

[Don Harris]

Good idea, Bob. I've spoken with Bob Ross and he's offered to help me if I need it. I didn't know he had a Performax.

 

[Matthew Tucker]

Don, here's the blade I use on my 14" bandsaw for resawing.

Link Removed

The blad is an inch wide and its, like, totally scary. I can cut up to about 7" but I have to go s l o w l y and use a really solid fence. And goggles and gloves and earmuffs and bulletproof vest ...

There's a heap of useful bandsaw info here:

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/forumdisplay.php?f=27

and on other forums on the same site they cover other tools.

On guy is trying to make a thickness sander from a surplus treadmill!

 

[Don Harris]

Good links. Thanks Matthew.

 

[Don Harris]

I just glued the butt joint. I've been sweating that for a while, hoping I'd be able to get it tight with everything slipping around on the hot glue. It went really well. I had used a shooting board to get the ends really straight and the tape trick to pull it tight. The tape thing is where you overlap the ends by about a 32nd, put tape across the joint, put on the glue and then set end on end and the tape pulls it together as you fold the piece over onto the mold, then clamp. One last corner to glue and I'm on to willow linings. I'm loving this.

I'm leaning toward not trying to do my own resawing after getting your all's advice.