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Winter 2019 Build Off - The Carl Factor
- Thread starter Jisch
- Start date
Mmmmmm........walnutty Goodness. Watching your Tru-Oil process, I’m headed that way and have never done it. A little pontificating on the subject, perhaps? Wetsanding with oil? You didn’t mention any kind of pore filler.
I have never used a pore filler. Depending on the wood and the finish I'm looking for I will sometimes do a wet sand with Tru Oil. I will typically do that after the 3rd or 4th coat. I put a decent amount of Tru Oil down and sand with 600 grit until it starts getting sticky. I don't wipe anything off. When it's done it looks terrible. I let that dry, do another coat on top, then I'll wait overnight or longer and dry sand with 600 to make it flat. The next coat after that is smooth if everything went well.
Walnut has a bit of open grain, but wenge is very open. I'll take a look at it after a couple more coats and decide what to do. Right now I don't think I'll do a wet sand, but that could change.
Walnut has a bit of open grain, but wenge is very open. I'll take a look at it after a couple more coats and decide what to do. Right now I don't think I'll do a wet sand, but that could change.
This may or may not be my final design, but I started working on some knobs. I figured I should carry the walnut/wenge/paduk theme. Hmm, just realized I didn't use any maple. We'll see how these look once the glue is dry.
I'm getting itchy to start something else, but I've go a couple of sharp fret ends on that semi-hollow body and a high spot on my other five fretless, maybe I'll look at those.
First a ride is in order, very rarely we get these kinds of conditions where the snow is hard enough that you can ride on top, the world is my skatepark. Of course we're going to hit a high of 5F today, so I don't know how long I can actually ride.
I'm getting itchy to start something else, but I've go a couple of sharp fret ends on that semi-hollow body and a high spot on my other five fretless, maybe I'll look at those.
First a ride is in order, very rarely we get these kinds of conditions where the snow is hard enough that you can ride on top, the world is my skatepark. Of course we're going to hit a high of 5F today, so I don't know how long I can actually ride.
So it turns out that the snow is not quite hard enough to ride on top, it was quite a workout breaking through the hard crust.
So here's my knob process. First I figure out the center of the piece of wood and clamp a fence to the drill press table. I clamp the wood in place and drill out for the brass insert. This is actually the first time I've used those (more on that later).
Then after I've got the center drilled out I use a hole cutter with the center drill removed to cut the knob out.
This gives me circular knobs that are concentric around the center hole. I always make twice what I need so I can pick the best ones and takes stress out of failing on a knob or two.
I located the set screw on the side of the knob and drilled an access hole - once again I set up a fence so the hole is in the right place every time. After that I pressed in the brass insert, which delaminated the knob. ugh. I reglued three of them (I had to try a couple times). Maybe the glue wasn't totally dry. I'll give it another shot in the morning.
I've got five or so coats on the bass, I sanded it down with 600 and put another coat on just now. It looks pretty good, but I didn't take any pics of it.
So here's my knob process. First I figure out the center of the piece of wood and clamp a fence to the drill press table. I clamp the wood in place and drill out for the brass insert. This is actually the first time I've used those (more on that later).
Then after I've got the center drilled out I use a hole cutter with the center drill removed to cut the knob out.
This gives me circular knobs that are concentric around the center hole. I always make twice what I need so I can pick the best ones and takes stress out of failing on a knob or two.
I located the set screw on the side of the knob and drilled an access hole - once again I set up a fence so the hole is in the right place every time. After that I pressed in the brass insert, which delaminated the knob. ugh. I reglued three of them (I had to try a couple times). Maybe the glue wasn't totally dry. I'll give it another shot in the morning.
I've got five or so coats on the bass, I sanded it down with 600 and put another coat on just now. It looks pretty good, but I didn't take any pics of it.
So the reglue of the knobs didn't work, I'm not sure why the glue isn't holding against the pressure of the insert being pushed in. I guess if I had a bigger drill I'd drill out the hole so the brass insert is not a press fit then use epoxy to hold it in place. Alternatively (and what I'm going to do) is I'll make the knobs out of walnut and inlay a stripe of paduak/wenge/paduak. I test pressed an insert partially into one of these knobs and it didn't break, so I think I'll be ok.
I need to pull the body down and take into the sunlight to see how it looks.
I need to pull the body down and take into the sunlight to see how it looks.
I got the inlays inserted in the slots in the knobs. I'll let these set then see where I'm at. Having the sanding planer is awesome, I could take the laminate down a little at a time until it was perfect.
I did mine a little different but I had a small Unimat lathe to do it on. Glued up the laminates and rounded one end by hand to chuck up in the lathe then cut it into a dowel. Trim one end flush and drill the hole and relief for the nuts/washer. Then cut off that knob and bore the next. Ended up with six of these, (three on my four string) and these three extra. I don't have pics of the process as that was back in 1985. I didn't have inserts and just drill and tapped the wood for set screws. The ones on the bass have held up over the years.
I do have access to a lathe at my dad's, I should try to work with it more. Those knobs are nice! I have turned knobs at my dad's before, but getting the hole centered was always a problem. Likewise I usually just tap the wood, this is the first time using inserts, just to try them.
I pushed in the inserts and mounted them on a dowel. I chucked the dowel in my drill then spun it in the drill while I held it against the oscillating drum sander. I've got some normalization to do, but they are getting there.
I pushed in the inserts and mounted them on a dowel. I chucked the dowel in my drill then spun it in the drill while I held it against the oscillating drum sander. I've got some normalization to do, but they are getting there.
I guess it's time to put this thing together. I'll probably find a few minutes here and there to tinker, but realistically I won't have sound until tomorrow morning. I can't find a camera angle that accurately shows off the fingerboard, but it's stunning.
Couple of back side shots, as you can see I didn't do a slurry/wetsand coat here, I wanted the grain to show through. I will hit it with anti-swirl after I get the basic building stuff done and before I mount anything.
Couple of back side shots, as you can see I didn't do a slurry/wetsand coat here, I wanted the grain to show through. I will hit it with anti-swirl after I get the basic building stuff done and before I mount anything.
Pics just do not do that beautiful instrument justice. Gorgeous work!
The trick with the lathe is to start with an oversize blank, rough round one end to fit the chuck. Machine it down to close to finish size. turn it around so you have a good grip on the turned end. Birng it down to foinish size and do not remove from the chuck. It will run true. Now move the tail stock and put chuck with drill bit and drill the center hole and then use cutter to undercut the end to cover the nut and washer. Then use parting tool to cut your first knob free. With the dowel still in the chuck simply move in to cut the next knob. Keeps everything centered. You can lightly clamp each knob in afterward to clean up the end. A little hand sanding and finishing and voila. If your dad owns the lathe and is used to using it he can tell you how to do this.
Thanks! He has only turned bowls, so we were challenged with holding the piece in place and getting a hole drilled accurately in the end. I ended up cutting the knobs off and trying to get a centered hole here on my drill press, which was virtually impossible. I'll try to replicate what you describe above. I'd love to make this process easier and more accurate.
Thanks, I can't wait to get the pickup covers in and see how the padauk and wenge work with the binding.
Is it a wood lathe or a machine lathe? Either way you need a three of four jaw chuck to hold the blank and a tailstock that a drill style chuck can attach to for holding the drill or bore bit. I am using a lathe for metals.
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I think this was the issue - a friend was telling me about a jaw chuck, I don't think my dad has one of those. I looked it up last time I tried to do knobs (just remembering this now). I should look into getting one of those for my dad (for me).
