Linings

Yesterday I bent solid basswood linings for the first of the pair I'm
building. It went very smoothly, the basswood got all rubbery on the
bending pipe. In the pic the linings are held in place, but they're
not glued yet.

Now I'm actually off to play a sort of gig. With audience. I'm nervous.

Sides and blocks

After work I managed to sand the sides to the final thickness, bend
them both with good results and then cut them to length and glue in
the blocks. Whew. At least it is so much easier after the first one.

I tend not to count the tenors I made, sopranos are very different to
me. And the tenors I built with a spanish neck, so things were in
another order.

But I'm very pleased with the tenors as well, I will build more of
those.

Thickness sander 3

And guess what. It works! I put on 120-grit paper and sent a side
through, a piece that was impossible to plane due to grain direction.
And after a few passes it's smooth as a middle aged man's chin and
almost thin enough to bend. This is the best machine I've ever built.

Thickness sander up and running!

So my assistant controls the make-shift motor, and we have been able
to true the drum. Now we have to put sandpaper on the drum. Haven't
solved exactly how yet.

Thickness sander continued

The pivoting table is in place, going smoothly enough between the side
blocks. I'll true the rolling pin against sandpaper fed on the table.

The dust hood is almost done as well.

First bookmatch, second neck

I've had some issues with the old mahogany wood, which is brittle and
rather unpredictable. So I chose to glue top and back halves a bit
thicker than last time, and will take them down to proper thickness
when I get the drum sander running.

And the three-piece necks have been glued. I'm sure I'll have to add
'ears' so the headstocks won't be excactly as mine.

Thanks for looking, hope you've noticed my attempt at labeling the
posts!

Thickness sander

Hey, I said it would be good for a few laughs! But I think it will be
fine. Looking for a motor, but I will try it out with an old power
drill. Shop vac is sorted so at least that bit should be alright.

Wood finally (sort of...) resawn!

So I need a small bandsaw at home. It's become obvious. But anyway,
here's sides, tops, backs and necks for my dear friends Robert Hultman
and Ronald (Skullbone)! Next is some planing or sanding. I'll sand if
I manage to build my thickness sander. Will post about that very soon.

My son's build

My six year old son made this Legolele, I helped with the strings.

Resawing wood for two sopranos

Things have been said about the capacity of my small Proxxon machines. Of course they're small - but they're very handy for resawing in the downstairs living room. This was a 50 year old piece of Honduran mahogany measuring 35x12 centimeters, 12 mm thick. And after cutting the last bit with a japanese hand saw it will become tops and backs for two ukuleles!

Wood supply refined

Spent a couple of days in the bigger workshop resawing and planing
wood. Now very much is prepared, and a few ukes will practically build
themselves! Well not, actually. But in the pile is ash, maple, walnut,
cherry, mahogany, spruce and cedar. Also rosewood, ebony, jatoba and
something that was called African walnut.

A lot of it is from Sweden, some even from dad's own land.