I'm sure it's like the other 99.9% of the modern human brain and doesn't get used.
Might as well remove it, like an appendix.
Might as well remove it, like an appendix.
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Winter Build-Off 2022: Bamboo EUB
- Thread starter Max Bogosity
- Start date
Well of course, it’s the part of the brain that controls the body’s Dendro production. I thought that was obvious…
Well, there's also the fact that the maple part is what guitar players would consider unbelievably thick. And thickness (or depth of beam) relates to stiffness at a cubed ratio, as best I recall.
My particular fingerboard is reputed to be (and I have no reason to doubt it) black-dyed maple anyway. The 50/1 is "1/50th as good as the best" if I understand the Lidl model number system correctly.
Uprights do not normally have truss rods. Due to the dimensions of the neck, I doubt it bends much at all under tension.
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I obsessed about this for a long time and finally decided I would just go ahead with the bamboo. As several of you pointed out the fingerboard will contribute a lot of stiffness, plus the neck is extremely thick anyway, so the bamboo's low stiffness is probably not a big problem. Then I started cutting into the bamboo planks and they started bending in all directions. I had noticed this earlier when I cut the pieces for the bending test and hoped it was just that one plank, but no, they all want to bend once you start cutting them.
In glorious hindsight, this shouldn't be surprising. If I had to guess, the bamboo strips are none too flat as they are cut from the stalk, then the flooring manufacturer just trims them square and forces them flat when gluing up planks that are close to the final dimensions. Then there's only a little material removed when they clean up the surfaces and machine the tongues and grooves, so it doesn't have much reason to move. Until I come along and start sawing it apart again, then it all goes wild.
So, this neck will now have a maple spine down the centre to add some strength and stability so it hopefully won't end up shaped like a ski. Speaking of skis, it was so cold in my shop this morning that my coffee started to freeze.
I don't have a piece of maple as thick as I'd like, so step one will be gluing two pieces together with a piece of veneer between them for contrast/disguising the glue line. But I also don't have a long enough piece of veneer, so step zero is stretching the veneer to fit.
Don't know why I didn't cut it corner-to-corner, but that should still be OK. I wanted to join the two pieces edge-to-edge to prevent a gap from opening when I do the glue-up, so then how do you joint the edges of something that thin? There's probably some more elegant way, but I just clamped them between a couple pieces of scrap and had at it with a plane.
That worked better than it had any right to. Then I taped the pieces together edge-to-edge, glued, and clamped. (Back in the house, where neither the glue nor my fingers freeze.) I know you guys like glue and clamp pictures, so here you go.
That came out pretty nice for a trick I've never tried before. The joint will be nearly invisible when sanded. Not that it matters considering it will be buried inside the neck, but it's the principle of the thing and practice for some future project where I might need to do that somewhere visible.
Nearly a month into the build-off and I've successfully glued two pieces of veneer together. Just screaming along!
It's been so long since I've done any woodworking, I'm spending most of my shop time finding things, cleaning things, putting things away, removing rust, sharpening, troubleshooting things that don't work right, replacing broken things, etc. Hopefully this will pick up speed soon.
In glorious hindsight, this shouldn't be surprising. If I had to guess, the bamboo strips are none too flat as they are cut from the stalk, then the flooring manufacturer just trims them square and forces them flat when gluing up planks that are close to the final dimensions. Then there's only a little material removed when they clean up the surfaces and machine the tongues and grooves, so it doesn't have much reason to move. Until I come along and start sawing it apart again, then it all goes wild.
So, this neck will now have a maple spine down the centre to add some strength and stability so it hopefully won't end up shaped like a ski. Speaking of skis, it was so cold in my shop this morning that my coffee started to freeze.
I don't have a piece of maple as thick as I'd like, so step one will be gluing two pieces together with a piece of veneer between them for contrast/disguising the glue line. But I also don't have a long enough piece of veneer, so step zero is stretching the veneer to fit.
Don't know why I didn't cut it corner-to-corner, but that should still be OK. I wanted to join the two pieces edge-to-edge to prevent a gap from opening when I do the glue-up, so then how do you joint the edges of something that thin? There's probably some more elegant way, but I just clamped them between a couple pieces of scrap and had at it with a plane.
That worked better than it had any right to. Then I taped the pieces together edge-to-edge, glued, and clamped. (Back in the house, where neither the glue nor my fingers freeze.) I know you guys like glue and clamp pictures, so here you go.
That came out pretty nice for a trick I've never tried before. The joint will be nearly invisible when sanded. Not that it matters considering it will be buried inside the neck, but it's the principle of the thing and practice for some future project where I might need to do that somewhere visible.
Nearly a month into the build-off and I've successfully glued two pieces of veneer together. Just screaming along!
It's been so long since I've done any woodworking, I'm spending most of my shop time finding things, cleaning things, putting things away, removing rust, sharpening, troubleshooting things that don't work right, replacing broken things, etc. Hopefully this will pick up speed soon.
Working conditions out in the shop were a bit inhospitable today.
So I stayed in and glued the broken-off corner of the fingerboard back together.
It came out ... OK. With any luck further sanding will grind some dust into the cracks and help hide them. And if not, well that's the side I'll never see anyway.
So I stayed in and glued the broken-off corner of the fingerboard back together.
It came out ... OK. With any luck further sanding will grind some dust into the cracks and help hide them. And if not, well that's the side I'll never see anyway.
That's a great looking repair, if you showed the second photo with no explanation I would buy it as a prominent grain line.
Nothing to see here. It's just a prominent grain line. Move along.
The Prominent Grain Lines would be a good band name.
Got my routing templates drawn up, went to stick them down and discovered the nozzle of my spray glue is clogged up solid. Went out the next morning to get some new spray glue, got the paper glued on, and got my kids to help me cut out the template. We spent more time talking about power tool safety than actually cutting anything, but hey.
Prepped the maple board for the spine of the neck, with some extra sanding because the blades in my jointer have some notches in them. Another thing on the to do list. Normally I hate hand sanding, but when it's this cold the exercise is kind of welcome. Also had another go at the dull blades in my planer with a can of PB Blaster and got one nut out of 14 loose. Yay.
Got the maple spine of the neck glued up. Obligatory clamp and glue shot:
Went back out to the barn this morning to sand the neck template. It's a brisk -15C/5F in there. Here's a nice artistic shot of the smoke rising in the morning light after I turned the sander on. So there's one more thing to try to fix.
Prepped the maple board for the spine of the neck, with some extra sanding because the blades in my jointer have some notches in them. Another thing on the to do list. Normally I hate hand sanding, but when it's this cold the exercise is kind of welcome. Also had another go at the dull blades in my planer with a can of PB Blaster and got one nut out of 14 loose. Yay.
Got the maple spine of the neck glued up. Obligatory clamp and glue shot:
Went back out to the barn this morning to sand the neck template. It's a brisk -15C/5F in there. Here's a nice artistic shot of the smoke rising in the morning light after I turned the sander on. So there's one more thing to try to fix.
Yep, everything runs on magic smoke.
Once you let it out, it won't work.
Once you let it out, it won't work.
Consumer-grade import tool - spend more than it's worth - or - go buy another and junque the one now lacking magical smoke. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find a way to cobble another motor onto it, but not the most likely scenario.
Trying to start tools in the deep cold without pre-warming them is prone to this happening. I used to throw a hunk of papermaking felt over the shopsmith and put a lightbulb below the motor for an hour before starting it in the shed in the winter. If they don't spin up in a second or two, turn them off and warm them up more.
Trying to start tools in the deep cold without pre-warming them is prone to this happening. I used to throw a hunk of papermaking felt over the shopsmith and put a lightbulb below the motor for an hour before starting it in the shed in the winter. If they don't spin up in a second or two, turn them off and warm them up more.
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Fortunately, the smoke turned out to be the far less magical variety that comes from a mouse nest getting gently scorched. But I would definitely be wise to let it warm up before starting next time.
I dunno, I don't think mice qualify as "tasty"
Depends on how you cook 'em.I dunno, I don't think mice qualify as "tasty"
Quote from a food science professor: "Americans will eat anything if it's breaded and deep-fried"
He also said "Texans will bread and deep fry anything", so there's that.
I live in Oklahoma, and can attest to the truth of that statement.
