Got Joel straightened out on the side orientation and he has the blocks glued in with no trimming of the edges yet.
I'm including the proverbial "sides in the mould" picture only for the reason that it shows off the hand tools well on Joel's shop wall. I'm sure there are many forum members (myself included) that enjoy snooping on the various luthier's tool caches (maybe even a luthier or two as well). If you're wondering what the sign on the back wall says it's -
Drive is key to
HAPPINESS
Set Goals and
ALWAYS Strive to ACHIEVE !
And a second one without the mould blocking the view
The joined and trimmed sides
The joined halves at the tail, very nice if I say so myself
And my favourite, showing off the spalted inking lines coming around the lower bout
Sigh ... what a great start to the build, looks like I'm in good hands