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Old 10-24-2011, 07:51 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Under the heading of trying to be helpful, I have a few suggestions that might make things a little easier.

I realize that there is no right or wrong method of doing things and each ought to use what works best for them.

If you are using a truly spherical dish to shape your braces, the surface curvature will be the same everywhere on the dish - there is no need to shape certain braces in certain locations.

You may find it easier to cut the center strip using of a sharp knife, such as an Xacto, rather than a saw. It eliminates the potential of scoring the back as you move the saw back and forth. It also allows you to hold the brace in place and score the exact width of the brace onto the center strip, reducing the chances of making the removed section too large.

Your go bars are probably longer than needed, the result of which is that they bend considerably, applying increased lateral forces. (The purpose of the go bars is, of course, to provide downward forces.) With less bend in the bars, the need for "clamps" to prevent lateral movement of the brace being clamped becomes unnecessary. Things being clamped generally stay where clamped.

I learned from Grit Laskin a method for cleaning up the squeeze-out from braces. Take a convenient size and shape of wood, say 1/4" wide, by 6" or so long, by 3/4" high, and use a chisel to create a scalloped end that finishes in a sharp edge. Essentially, you've make a wooden chisel. The "chisel" can then be run along the brace to remove the glue after the glue has semi-hardened. As necessary, use a chisel to pare-back the wooden chisel, giving it a new "sharpened" edge. You can use a soft-wood "chisel" for work on soft woods, or a harder wood "chisel" for work on harder woods. Being not very sharp, the "chisel" won't gouge the surfaces being cleaned the way a real chisel can, but is still effective at removing the squeeze-out.

Anyway, not trying to be critical, just thought these suggestions might be helpful. Keep up the good work.
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