Extreme Close Up Photos of the 2012 Cairns Uke Build

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BR Ukuleles

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Kevin, who was one of the Cairns Uke Build Class of 2012 works for James Cook Uni, and just so happens to have access to some electron microscopes. After the class he took some samples of all the components we used in building this years instrument so he could have a really good look at them.

He tells me that a microscope was rebuilt and needed to be tested out, so now was a perfect time to look at the samples. I find them to be totally amazing.

Brazilian-Mahogany-1.jpg
Brazilian Mahogany - Body and Neck

westernredcedar1.jpg
Western Red Cedar - Sound Board

coastalbanksia-3.jpg
Coastal Banksia - Peg Head Overlay

ironwood-2.jpg
Cooktown Ironwood - Fret Board and Bridge

bone-2.jpg
Bone - Nut and Saddle
 
Wow, this is great! Thanks for posting Allen, and if Kevin's reading this, thanks for taking and sharing them!
 
Those are really cool to see. What is the sufrface condition of them? sanded smooth? still somewhat rough? It would be interesting to see various grits of sanding, and scraper finished woods, to see tearing, rounding, and what the surface of varying levels of finished wood looks like.
 
I would love to see difft types of mahogany and also koa and acacia, etc. That is cool!!
 
Wow, interesting aswell as strange. Cant describe it lol
 
These are electron microscope photographs of cell structure - it will be the same within each specie of koa, swietenia macrophyla etc. Notice the clusters of cells in the hardwoods and layers in the cedar. Hardwood cells are clustered, short, opene ended tubes - hence the need for pore filling while the softweoods are long closed ended cells stacked together like straws - or so I remember it from college....
 
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really nice pictures, thanks

It's going to take some super fine sand paper to smooth those out, lol :)

It would be cool to see them all at the same scale, maybe at the one of the mohogany say 100um at the scale length, and also to know the orientation (Radial(2?), tangenial (1,3?), or transverse(4?), so that they could be better compared as far as any conclusions made about their structures. Its a little dificult to tell the paterns of vessel elements, rays, wood fibers, periclinal and anticlinal divisions, or other cool structural features.

Thanks again for the pictures, It's not often you get to see photos like these.
 
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Whoa. Very cool, but a little disorienting. Kind of wish the pretty girls weren't in my science classes way back when.
 
nice- thanks for these!
 
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