Today Mike picked out some nice Ziricote for the backs and sides. I really like this nice dark highly-patterned wood. It’s going to be especially dramatic with the lighter sapwood running down the center. Dido for the sides, he picked out some nice Ziricote sides with the same sapwood that will be at the tail-end of the uke. I saw one of Mike’s uke’s on his gallery page and was especially attracted to an uke he had made (#034, if you go to his web page, http://ukemaker.com/), it is Ziricote back and sides and is teamed up with a salvaged fir top. I prefer this nice warm color to go with the dark Ziricote instead of say maybe a Spruce top.
Book match tops and backs then run through a jointer. Two matching halves are lined up together and set into a shooting board where they are hand-planed to get that nice tight seam. No light should show through the seam. They are then ready to glue up.
Halves are laid side by side with one side angled up. Binding tape is used to put across pieces. This tape stretches so when the glue is applied you can snap down the sides flat and that is all the clamping that is needed to hold these two halves together. Mike likes to use epoxy glue for this center seam. I love this trick! I was doing it a much harder way with less than desired results. Don’t forget to put a strip of wax paper under the seam before gluing and one on top after gluing. After that add plenty of weight and you are good to go. This glue fully cures in 24 hours. So, we will let this sit and move onto bending the sides.
I already had my own side bender so we are using it since it corresponds to my pattern shape. Recently, I was trying to bend some Koa and was not watching and burnt one of the sides! Mike showed me how to read the temperature of the heat blanket with a laser thermometer. I had never seen one of these. You just point it at whatever you need to know what the temperature is and voila! You have it. The temperature of the blanket should not go over about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. He also told me I need to get a controller hooked up in line with my blanket so you have full control of the temperature and can simply raise or lower it by turning a knob. Previously, I was just plugging it in and hope for the best. He also mentioned that the way I was doing it is definitely a fire hazard if one accidentally forgot to turn off the blanket! Good point. He also has a controller in line with his blanket that will automatically shut off after so many minutes.
Both sides, with good side up are placed on top of the bender sandwiched between sheets of 22-24 gauge stainless steel. The metal distributes the heat evenly to the sides while bending. First the waist is bent, then the upper bout and lastly the lower bout. The sides will be left in the bender overnight.
Book match tops and backs then run through a jointer. Two matching halves are lined up together and set into a shooting board where they are hand-planed to get that nice tight seam. No light should show through the seam. They are then ready to glue up.
Halves are laid side by side with one side angled up. Binding tape is used to put across pieces. This tape stretches so when the glue is applied you can snap down the sides flat and that is all the clamping that is needed to hold these two halves together. Mike likes to use epoxy glue for this center seam. I love this trick! I was doing it a much harder way with less than desired results. Don’t forget to put a strip of wax paper under the seam before gluing and one on top after gluing. After that add plenty of weight and you are good to go. This glue fully cures in 24 hours. So, we will let this sit and move onto bending the sides.
I already had my own side bender so we are using it since it corresponds to my pattern shape. Recently, I was trying to bend some Koa and was not watching and burnt one of the sides! Mike showed me how to read the temperature of the heat blanket with a laser thermometer. I had never seen one of these. You just point it at whatever you need to know what the temperature is and voila! You have it. The temperature of the blanket should not go over about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. He also told me I need to get a controller hooked up in line with my blanket so you have full control of the temperature and can simply raise or lower it by turning a knob. Previously, I was just plugging it in and hope for the best. He also mentioned that the way I was doing it is definitely a fire hazard if one accidentally forgot to turn off the blanket! Good point. He also has a controller in line with his blanket that will automatically shut off after so many minutes.
Both sides, with good side up are placed on top of the bender sandwiched between sheets of 22-24 gauge stainless steel. The metal distributes the heat evenly to the sides while bending. First the waist is bent, then the upper bout and lastly the lower bout. The sides will be left in the bender overnight.
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