A Contemporary Guitar made with Contemporary Hand Tools

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Wow! A serious piece of kit, as they say down under!

Outstanding!

Serious piece of kit, That's a good way to describe it!

Originally Posted by srick

Mark - the Jointmaker pro looks like an amazing device! But this is a terrible thread, as TAS may be replacing my GAS. I love the concept of a hand powered table saw. Thanks for introducing me to this.

Rick

It is an amazing device and is the epitome of how hand tools didn't stop evolving after the use of electricity came to woodshops.

Originally Posted by srick

I did a search for Jointmaker Pro on eBay and the only results were for cigarette rolling machines!

HAHAHA I guess that might be the 5th advantage of a hand powered table saw. Try rolling a cigarette with a power table saw!

Originally Posted by hopdemon

I am just blown away by the beauty of your work,I only wish I had the skill so I could convince myself that I play good enough to do justice to one of those beauties. I will enjoy following this build.

Oh I bet you play just fine . Thanks for your kind words.

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Here is the top going on:



And the back:



Look how that Bloodwood just glows in the spotlight:

[Mark Hatcher]

I have the guitar body closed and have the Black Ebony binding, end graft, etc. in. Now it is time to clean all that up and since this is a tool orientated build thread here are the tools I use to get the job done:



I'll start at the top and go on around. First we have my newest acquisition an HNT Gordon curve bottomed spoke shave:



The curved bottom lets me get into curved areas like the waist and inside cutaways. It helps with the heel on necks as well. The blade can be reversed which switches it from a plane to a scraper. It has a thick blade and a nice weight to reduce chatter. It's a great tool that goes where others can't.

Then comes this Lie-Nielsen hobby palm plane:



I use this one mostly to clean up the top and back binding and purfling. It is small enough to manage around curves. This plane, like many of the quality contemporary wood planes has a thick blade which allows for nice smooth controllable cuts.

Next up is this thick scraper designed by Alan Carruth:



This is a very rigid scraper plane with a very thick blade. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Contemporary woodworking tools and some scrapers have gone the route of putting some weight behind the blades. Why? Because it works better. It turns what is normally a frustrating, tedious clean up job into well, a less frustrating tedious job.

Finally we have the spring steel Crucible scraper plane:



This is a relatively new design, although it does not have a thick blade the scrapers edge is curved (unlike a typical card scraper) This allows you to use it without having to bend the curve into it. It works both as a push or pull scraper. This is a nice fast scraper for cleaning up larger areas with out wearing your thumbs out.

So besides the ease of use part what makes these better? Well

One is they don't leave little pig tail marks in the wood like an orbital sander does.

The amount of wood you are removing is a lot more controllable than with a power sander.

The wood surface is easier to keep flat like when you are flattening the harder binding on the same plane as the softwood top. Hand sanding and power sanders tend to leave little gullies in the softer wood.

You are not smashing saw dust into the wood pores so the finished wood is cleaner and the figure is more defined.

[Carpinteria]

This great! Thanks for all the specific information on the tools and their manufacturers. Since I only build a couple guitars a year, I can take my time and enjoy the process, and having the “right” tool just magnifies the enjoyment.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

This great! Thanks for all the specific information on the tools and their manufacturers. Since I only build a couple guitars a year, I can take my time and enjoy the process, and having the “right” tool just magnifies the enjoyment.

You're welcome Carpinteria. Nobody enjoys fighting with the "wrong" tool Part of my point on this thread is there are a lot more "right" hand tools available these days and they not only enhance the pleasure of building but they can also enhance the quality of the instrument being built!

[mhw48]

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

This great! Thanks for all the specific information on the tools and their manufacturers. Since I only build a couple guitars a year, I can take my time and enjoy the process, and having the “right” tool just magnifies the enjoyment.

For those of us of a certain age:

[Nemoman]

That Bloodwood looks amazing, Mark!

And although I'm not much of a fine woodworker (being a carpenter for quite a stint), I really appreciate your dedication to hand tools and the detailed explanations you've shared thus far. I never have considered the difference between sanding and scraping and how it affects the wood fibers. But your explanations make perfect sense and I can see how it would affect the surface and the finish look of the wood.

Thanks for the education and taking us on this journey!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by mhw48

For those of us of a certain age:

That's great

Originally Posted by Nemoman

That Bloodwood looks amazing, Mark!

And although I'm not much of a fine woodworker (being a carpenter for quite a stint), I really appreciate your dedication to hand tools and the detailed explanations you've shared thus far. I never have considered the difference between sanding and scraping and how it affects the wood fibers. But your explanations make perfect sense and I can see how it would affect the surface and the finish look of the wood.

Thanks for the education and taking us on this journey!

Thanks for commenting Nemoman. I am always looking for ways to make a better guitar. This reappraisal of the tools I use and how I could do better with contemporary hand tools has proven very fruitful on several levels.

[Guitars44me]

Mr. natural knows best! I've been thinking about that reference all the way through this thread, so thanks for posting the image!

Carry on Mark

Salud

Paul

[Mark Hatcher]

Here is a quick progress picture. The arm bevel is starting to come together:



Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[BlackKeys36]

This is stunning work and I'm envious of all of your tools, Mark. Excuse my ignorance, but how did you rout for binding?

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by BlackKeys36

This is stunning work and I'm envious of all of your tools, Mark. Excuse my ignorance, but how did you rout for binding?

Thanks BlackKeys36, I currently use a router on a jig I made. I'd like to say I cut the binding by hand but, I don't. Not yet. I have a collection of various gramils but I don't know if it is the tools or the guy trying to use them. Either I have not yet found the right one or the way to confidently use them.

Here is a thread on the Build and Repair forum where I posted the router jig I made and I have updated it with improvements I made over the years:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...hlight=Hatcher

Mark