Sven
Well-known member
I go on and on about hand tools and planes, and I know I must bore some of of you with it. But the last couple of days I've been working on two new cherry piccolos that I'll make without using sandpaper.
It started out when I wanted to reduce some very uneven plates before sending them through my drum sander, I went at it with a hand plane and then just kept going with other planes.
NB: I'm not saying this will improve the appearance of the finished ukes in any way but I've been thinking about this for a while without following through. But I've practiced hand planing and now I'm able to get to 1.6 - 1.7 mm even thickness and beautifully smooth surfaces so I just might pull it off.
The necks will be harder. I carve my necks but usually finish them with sandpaper to ease out any carving marks.
It's great fun and since I do this as a hobby it won't cost me money in a slower production. I have an ache in my back from planing for two hours, but it's a good ache - I feel as if I worked out last night.
See the pics (and read this info again) at
http://argapa.blogspot.se/2014/02/hard-core-building.html
This is seemingly low tech but you really need a decent technique, fairly good planes and wood that isn't too difficult. I couldn't have done this a while back so I still recommend those starting out that they build, buy or borrow a drum sander for thicknessing. If you want to use hand planes you shouldn't work on small plates either, clamping them down and then working around the clamps was quite hard.
Sven
It started out when I wanted to reduce some very uneven plates before sending them through my drum sander, I went at it with a hand plane and then just kept going with other planes.
NB: I'm not saying this will improve the appearance of the finished ukes in any way but I've been thinking about this for a while without following through. But I've practiced hand planing and now I'm able to get to 1.6 - 1.7 mm even thickness and beautifully smooth surfaces so I just might pull it off.
The necks will be harder. I carve my necks but usually finish them with sandpaper to ease out any carving marks.
It's great fun and since I do this as a hobby it won't cost me money in a slower production. I have an ache in my back from planing for two hours, but it's a good ache - I feel as if I worked out last night.
See the pics (and read this info again) at
http://argapa.blogspot.se/2014/02/hard-core-building.html
This is seemingly low tech but you really need a decent technique, fairly good planes and wood that isn't too difficult. I couldn't have done this a while back so I still recommend those starting out that they build, buy or borrow a drum sander for thicknessing. If you want to use hand planes you shouldn't work on small plates either, clamping them down and then working around the clamps was quite hard.
Sven