What's happening in your shed?

[tonyturley]

Many years ago my wife and I undertook a major remodeling of our house, doing much of the work ourselves. I purchased a miter saw and a folding portable stand for the hardwood flooring I was installing all over the house. Since that project ended, neither the miter saw nor the stand has received much use. I figured it was time for the stand to earn its keep and stop taking up space and gathering dust in the garage.

 

[lauburu]

You're right. Show them who's boss, Tony. We shall stand back and admire your achievements.
Miguel

 

[tonyturley]

You're right. Show them who's boss, Tony. We shall stand back and admire your achievements.
Miguel

LOL . . . don't be too caught up in my achievements. I'm perfectly capable of making some really dumb mistakes at times.

 

[Timbuck]

Serious Soprano build in progress to day...with a reward at the end

04473788-ADBE-4D6E-95A4-25062FB35220 by Ken Timms,

 

[tonyturley]

I spent today's shop time making a batch of ukulele size reverse kerf linings from a couple of Yellow Poplar planks. In the past I've used Mahogany or Spanish Cedar for this task, but I'm using 100% locally grown woods on one of my instruments, hence the Poplar. The larger lining piece in images 1 & 3 is guitar size, made from Basswood. No libations at the end except for a glass of cold water. It's hot out there!

 

[tonyturley]

I decided I needed some updated shop jigs. Here's a new sled I made for cutting slots in fretboards, inspired by one I saw on Brian Griffin's site. The fretboard will ride out front with a template attached on top.. I made some shallow cuts in a scrap of plywood to ensure the cuts are square. Actual fret slots will be cut by a SM narrow kerf blade.

 

[printer2]

I decided I needed some updated shop jigs. Here's a new sled I made for cutting slots in fretboards, inspired by one I saw on Brian Griffin's site. The fretboard will ride out front with a template attached on top.. I made some shallow cuts in a scrap of plywood to ensure the cuts are square. Actual fret slots will be cut by a SM narrow kerf blade.

View attachment 135622

On first sight I thought you were using real jumbo frets.

 

[tonyturley]

On first sight I thought you were using real jumbo frets.

LOL

 

[tonyturley]

The weather was so mild here today, I threw open the garage and spent the entire day working on ukulele projects (our garage is usually sweltering this time of the year). I used the dust collector as much as I could, but I've never found a good way to capture the output from the router table. First pic shows stack cutting the blanks for a tenor ukulele mold on my 66 year old Shopsmith. Last image shows the completed tenor uke mold and spreader bars, as well as a rough baritone ukulele neck cut from 100+ year old wormy American Chestnut. I plan to use the nail stains as a feature in the neck. The off-cut from the baritone neck is large enough to use for a future tenor ukulele neck.

 

[Vespa Bob]

My shed has morphed from its original place AKA the Garage to inside the house AKA the guest bedroom! Now I have a clean, air conditioned, well lit room! Guests? There's a motel nearby!

 

[lauburu]

Guests? There's a motel nearby!

Yep. It's all about priorities
Miguel

 

[tonyturley]

Using a hand plane to clean up the saw marks from the peghead of a tenor ukulele neck. The 100+ year old wormy American Chestnut is a delight to carve. The tenor uke neck is the off-cut from the baritone uke neck on the right.

 

[tonyturley]

Lots of cutting and sanding today. The baritone peghead overlay is from quartersawn Sycamore, and the logo that will be embedded is from a piece of Black Walnut scrap. The dark split saddle Ebony bridge is for the kiku project. The two bridges to the right are for a tenor ukulele and Kasha baritone ukulele, both from Osage Orange. The fretboard is also Osage Orange, but it’s had several months to oxidize and darken from UV exposure, and the bridges were freshly sanded today. Starting today, all 3 O.O. pieces are under an indoor Full Spectrum Grow Bulb to help speed up their change. The bone saddles in the bridges still need to be cut down; this was just to see how well they fit the saddle slots.

 

[sequoia]

Is it an illusion or does the spacing between the 16 and 17 fret look too wide?

 

[Timbuck]

Yup! something out there at the 15th

 

[John Colter]

There must be something amiss with the camera lens. The fret positions look generally wonky.

John Colter

 

[Timbuck]

There must be something amiss with the camera lens. The fret positions look generally wonky.

John Colter

The bridge holes look ok.

 

[tonyturley]

Tough crowd. I see what you mean about the 15th fret. I went downstairs and compared it against the plan and I used the wrong line on the plan to mark the 15th. It's off by 1mm. Dang. I never play up that high, and all the other frets are fine, but that's gonna bug me.

 

[tonyturley]

Well, this little oops has led me to order a fret spacing rule from Lee Valley Tools. I've been mulling this over for a while, and I've tried about half a dozen ways of marking frets. I made a lexan template for cutting frets, but it had the same error, and had to be pitched. Guess I'm off to work on a new fretboard now.

 

[BradDonaldson]

The fret spacing rule is a good idea. I would never rely on a paper plan for fret spacing. If your plan includes the actual measurements, as it should, you may want to check how accurate the drawings are.