I'd dare say that Alan must have the hands of a surgeon if he can accomplish this job with hand tools like that. My first few were done with an Ibex cutter I made myself (which may be the reason why I think they are the Devils spawn), some chisels and sanding sticks. But it's and exercise in humility to say the least. Binding is one thing but to get accurate purfs is entirely another. And I am not talking about violin purs, I mean guitar purfs that are ledges above the binding to a depth just barely less then the top thickness around the whole perimeter.
===
I don't think it's common to do the purfling first and then the binding but I suppose there are some that would do it that way.
If you really are desperate (and I can find a few hours of time) and you want to travel 3-4 hours north to Virginia then I can help you out with the bindings. I would not want to mess with the mortise though as I am not tooled up to do that.
I still think though that you have come this far, and by the looks of those pics have done very well, so you really should be able to come up with something yourself. Or surly there is someone in the Ashville area?
|