NEW BUILD: ENGLEMANN/ ZIRICOTE OM CUTAWAY ##FINISHED!!!

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by TEK

I got the rims together, the kerfing in and and the side reinforcements glued up.



To give you an idea of the look under finish

Not to back track too much but I just noticed the sound port and had to look back to see "inside the box" as it were. I count luthier Tim McKnight as both a good friend and an inspiration for my own tinkerings. I first saw sound ports in his creations but I've only recently taken interest in doing a sound port in my next build but he now uses "double sides" (2 layers of solid wood epoxied together) which are very split resistant. OTOH I am a rank amateur and after just two build am 4 for 6 on splitting sides. I noticed the patch on your build here and was curious: what type of wood is it and what direction is the grain oriented? How do you go about cutting the sound port? Saw or sander?

[TEK]

Neil,
No problem with the back track. The reinforcement I used was a piece of Mahogany. The grain on this one is running the same as the sides, horizontally. The reason I did not run it the opposite way is because I had to bend it and I did not think it would bend without cracking with the grain.
I use a two part epoxy to glue it in which makes it very crack resistant.

I cut several small holes with a brad point bit in a circle pattern to start the sound hole and then I just used a round sided file to bring the edge up to where I wanted it. You don't want to use anything too large to drill the hole in fear of it catching and either cracking the sides or getting a large amount of tear out.
Hope this answers your question.
Travis

[TEK]

Disregard this post.

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by TEK

Neil,
No problem with the back track. The reinforcement I used was a piece of Mahogany. The grain on this one is running the same as the sides, horizontally. The reason I did not run it the opposite way is because I had to bend it and I did not think it would bend without cracking with the grain.
I use a two part epoxy to glue it in which makes it very crack resistant.

I cut several small holes with a brad point bit in a circle pattern to start the sound hole and then I just used a round sided file to bring the edge up to where I wanted it. You don't want to use anything too large to drill the hole in fear of it catching and either cracking the sides or getting a large amount of tear out.
Hope this answers your question.
Travis

Thanks, Travis. That technique is actually pretty sound. I've heard that certain fitness-oriented folks here use whatever they have on hand to install sound ports. I guess you'd have to be; installing a sound port is not for the faint of heart!

[TEK]

It always make me a little nervous to cut into that just assembled box for binding but here we go..



I got just a little bit of tearout on the cocobolo cross grain right at the point. Nothing that can not be replaced. I tried doing this a little different this time. First I glued in the maple/black purfling stripe and then the coco which I left a little wide. Then I rerouted off the edge of the coco for the binding. My thinking was that I might get a cleaner edge next to the binding. We will see soon.



I am going with ebony binding with a narrow bit of cross grain cocobolo and a strip of maple and black purfling.

Everything taped up and snugged up, waiting for the big reveal.

[Neil K Walk]

Nice work! Laminate trimmers and routers make me nervous as well. I've been doing a lot of practice on pine with another project for my home. I see by your clamp selection that you shop at Harbor Freight as well. I wouldn't recommend their 1/4" shank laminate trimmer. So far I haven't lost any fingers. That's about all I can say nice about it.

[TEK]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

Nice work! Laminate trimmers and routers make me nervous as well. I've been doing a lot of practice on pine with another project for my home. I see by your clamp selection that you shop at Harbor Freight as well. I wouldn't recommend their 1/4" shank laminate trimmer. So far I haven't lost any fingers. That's about all I can say nice about it.

Thanks Neil,
I usually steer clear of anything from HF if it has a motor or is run by electricity. But for things I use once in a while I will pick up there.

[TEK]

The tape is off and all is good Here are a few shots of it.

[invguy921]

Looking great Travis! I still marvel at how you run the large business that you own and still find time to do work at this pace...about three weeks from nothing to a pretty well completed box! Great looking stuff, thanks for sharing it

[TEK]

I had to spend a little time reposting pictures because I also got hit with the "pay up or else" by photobucket. Oh well, I was getting pretty tired of all those pop up ads anyway.

I have been working on the neck and while doing that I have also been doing some pore filler on the back and sides of the body. I use West systems epoxy because it is very clear and does not seem to add any "color" but boy does it bring out the grain. Check this out






Ha! that last picture kind of looks for a ad for Craftsman doesn't it. Sorry for the background, I did not want to take it out of the vice because of the wet epoxy.

[Mark Lew]

Looking great, Travis! That contrasting maple really makes it pop. The body has a very nice, complementary "balance" to it, IMHO. Great work.

[Neil K Walk]

Wow! Look at that cross grain texture on the side! Is that considered to be silking?

[TEK]

Originally Posted by Mark Lew

Looking great, Travis! That contrasting maple really makes it pop. The body has a very nice, complementary "balance" to it, IMHO. Great work.

Thanks Mark !

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

Wow! Look at that cross grain texture on the side! Is that considered to be silking?

Neil, Not sure I would call it silking but I do call it Cool

[TEK]

The work on the neck has progressed. I went with a solid one piece Mahogany neck for this build.




Then after cutting it out I decided to add a couple of Pieces of Walnut in the middle. I added a cool Ziricote face plate to the front and a piece of Ziricote from the cut off of the back. A ebony bound ebony fretboard with a maple purfling was added.



Although carving the neck is a very enjoyable part of the build it is not much to watch or try to document with pictures. I use rasps and files and cut until it feels right. Here are a few of the after pictures.




After adding a little stain to the wood I ended up with what I thought was a pretty good look with the body.


Thanks for checking in...

[TEK]

duplicate post deleted