'Bare essentials' tool list for first build??

UK Paulie

UK Paulie

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Hi all, I need to compile a list of tools needed for a first ukulele build. Money is tight so I thought I'd ask, what do you guys see as the bare minimum tools necessary for someone's first build. I'll be using sets, probably mahogany. Thanks in advance. Oh and I have tried to research this first and haven't turned up much. Any advice appreciated.
 
Check out Kathy Matsushita's website. She has a couple of tool lists and a bunch of really well done build logs.

Steve
 
I built my first from-scratch uke without any power tools, except a funky power drill that caused more problems that it solved, and I used the chainsaw to harvest the wood. Here's a shot of my tool collection. The only tool specific to lutherie was my fret cutting mitre. Since then I bought a dremel and a band saw.

tools.jpg
 
I've built 15 or 16 now, using primarily hand tools. If you're prepared to do stuff the slow way, you could get away with the following:

A tenon saw for most of your sawing, or a Japanese pull saw.

A thin-kerf saw for fret slots - you could thin down a hacksaw blade, but the Zona *thick kerf* dovetail saw (around .23 kerf) is worth the £12 or so it costs and is good for fine work like cutting the bridge blank.

A card scraper and burnisher - you can thickness with this, though it is slow work. Learning to sharpen it takes time.

A chisel - probably half inch.

A drill for the tuner holes

Quite a few clamps (say 6 x 3 inch G clamps), and the spring clamps sold on UK markets at £1 a dozen are useful as well.

Sandpaper in various grades and scrap wood (B&Q pine would do) to make sanding blocks. A bit of broom handle warpped in sandpaper is good for curves.

Sharpening stuff - diamond stones work, or wet and dry paper attached to a flat surface such as a piece of MDF.

MDF to make moulds and jigs.

Screws and screwdriver (or nuts, bolts and spanner) to hold moulds and jigs together.

A half-round file - this does frets, and can be used for neck shaping.

At some point you will want a knife, though you could get by without one.

With this lot, I built my first couple of ukes.

Then I bought planes, more chisels, more clamps, more saws, and ... you get the idea.
 
This is a topic that comes up now and then. One very important thing to consider is, what tools can you use skillfully? All tools take some practice to use them effectively. Often, the ones that can do the job the fastest, require the most skill to use and are capable of ruining good wood in a heartbeat. Some people I know are very adept at using power saws, and are disasters with hand saws, others are the opposite. So your tool choice should be based largely on what you can use as well as what you can afford.

Brad
 
Rarely do I ever see mention of blade tools and the absolute necessity of having them ridiculously sharp in order for them to be effective. So to any list of tools that include blades, you have the required sharpening stones and skill to sharpen them. A dull blade is a dangerous blade. Not only to the job, but to yourself as well.
 
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Thank you so much to everyone who has replied to this. Its all been really helpful, Brad and Allen's advice were both things I hadn't really considered. I can use most of those tools well enough to start. No doubt, I'll still be buying ukes for myself for a few yeatrs to come yet and it'll probably be a few more until I build something worthy of actually selling but some of the best advice I've gotten has been here, from all you guys and one piece was that the best way to learn this stuff in addition to researching in various ways is to DO IT!! and be prepared to make alot of mistakes! So I heeded. Thank you everyone.
 
What tools do you already have? that is an important factor. If you have nothing, and want to build, you need to be more creative.. If you already have some basic tools, this would determine what tools might be most beneficial. A winning lottery ticket, that would be a great place to start! Buy the best made tools available for what your needs are, good tools hold their value, and are a pleasure. For chisels, decent Japanese chisels are a treat, well worth it. I would buy fewer, but higher quality. The Tasai (chisel maker) professional chisels are my favorites so far, but expensive. 1 good chisel is much better than 3 poor chisels. 1/2" is a good place to start. 1/4" and 3/4" are also good. Good sharpening stones are a life tool, lots of things to sharpen. Naniwa super ceramic are good in 1000, 2000, 5000, 8000 grit. This will set you back a bit, but they cut more quickly than any other stone I have used, and time is ...... it counts! Card scrapers are indespensible. I am happy I went with a table saw fretting setup, templates from LMI. This works well. I bought a Dragon rasp, and like it, much better than the hardware store variety. The cast orange Pony bar clamps are decent. A go bar deck is cool, I built mine from 2 pieces of 25mm Baltic Birch ply, 12" allthread, wingnuts and washers. Buying the fiberglass bars from a kite shop, with the rubber end caps saved more than half from what the luthier places sell them for, same quality. An inexpensive glue pot. A Starrett 24" rule/ straight edge. Actually the Starrett 12" combination square is one of the most used tools in my shop, I use it every day, get the Starrett. Also a good set of calipers, like a set od 8" Yauasa dial calipers, those are decent, or Mitutoyu for a bit more$. If you are going to build more than a few, a decent bandsaw, like a European style 16" at least, with good blades. Too much to list... Cheers!
 
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You may want to google to see if there is a community woodshop in your area. There is one near where I live and they have many of the larger tools I can't afford or don't have any room for in my rather small house. That is the route I'm going for my first build just to see if it is something I am really interested in doing and spending the money on.
 
ProfChris said:
I've built 15 or 16 now, using primarily hand tools. If you're prepared to do stuff the slow way, you could get away with the following:

A tenon saw for most of your sawing, or a Japanese pull saw.

A thin-kerf saw for fret slots - you could thin down a hacksaw blade, but the Zona *thick kerf* dovetail saw (around .23 kerf) is worth the £12 or so it costs and is good for fine work like cutting the bridge blank.

A card scraper and burnisher - you can thickness with this, though it is slow work. Learning to sharpen it takes time.

A chisel - probably half inch.

A drill for the tuner holes

Quite a few clamps (say 6 x 3 inch G clamps), and the spring clamps sold on UK markets at £1 a dozen are useful as well.

Sandpaper in various grades and scrap wood (B&Q pine would do) to make sanding blocks. A bit of broom handle warpped in sandpaper is good for curves.

Sharpening stuff - diamond stones work, or wet and dry paper attached to a flat surface such as a piece of MDF.

MDF to make moulds and jigs.

Screws and screwdriver (or nuts, bolts and spanner) to hold moulds and jigs together.

A half-round file - this does frets, and can be used for neck shaping.

At some point you will want a knife, though you could get by without one.

With this lot, I built my first couple of ukes.

Then I bought planes, more chisels, more clamps, more saws, and ... you get the idea.
Click to expand...

What about bending the sides Chris? I dont know if I'm being dumb here (probably) but wont I need something more than this if I need to bend my own sides?
 
Silly me!

Bit of pipe (ask your local garage for a scrap from an exhaust, about 2 inch diameter) and a blowtorch will do for side bending (practice on scrap because you'll scorch and break the first bits). There are quite a lot of videos on YouTube to help you. If you have a local model-making shop it might sell 1.5mm (1/16) plywood - this bends quite easily, and you have no time investment in thicknessing it, so you could bend some practice sides from it.

And of course you need somewhere to work which has a vice (or some way of improvising a vice-like thing with clamps). I started with a folding workbench, and have just invested in a real one because it's clear I'm not going to stop doing this building thing. The folding workbench works but because it's springy it absorbs much of the energy you are putting in, so things go much slower (and it wobbles which makes accuracy harder). I was resawing some sides by hand yesterday, and it took less than half the time it did on the folding workbench. But a folding workbench will do as a start.
 
And another thing - you might want to start with a pineapple body shape. The waist curves on a figure 8 are tricky.
 
ProfChris said:
And another thing - you might want to start with a pineapple body shape. The waist curves on a figure 8 are tricky.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris. Yes I was actually considering whether a pineapple might be easier for my first build and as it'll be a keeper by its very nature its a good thing that I LOVE pineapples!! lol Cheers.
 
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