Fretting tomorrow.

Or at least I'll cut the slots. This is so much fun!

Alder tenor, cherry piccolo

Alli's tenor has got sides glued and shaped for the domed back, the
neck is carved and bolted on, and solid linings are installed.

Jukka's little piccolo is my fastest build ever, the back is glued and
soon only fretting and bridge work remains.

Upgraded piccolo mould

Thanks to Pete Howlett, I have learnt how a mould should be. This one
is not finished yet, I'm gonna make a rebate where the roughly cut
soundboard fits. And I need better spacers to hold the sides firmly.

But I never had a better glueing experience than this! I need one of
these moulds for each size, obviously.

Good progress

This is an attempt to show you a lot in a single pic.

The alder tenor has gotten its' sides bent, blocks glued in place and
solid linings installed on the soundboard side. And I chose to build
it with a bolt-on neck since I think that gives me more control
aligning and fitting.

A new little piccolo is taking shape alongside the tenor, sides bent
and blocks and linings glued, neck almost completely carved.

But the best thing is I really upgraded my piccolo mould, I put
threaded inserts around it so I won't have to use string when glueing
the top and back. It looks almost half semi-professional I think. I am
so proud. I have to make one for my next tenor.

Crack attacker

I had a look at my friend's Ohana which had gotten a crack in its'
spruce top. It was below the bridge and my longest tiny clamp could
just reach the little caul's closest end. So I made a hinged strut
with a long handle and attached it to the caul. Mending patch was
stuck to the caul by winding tape with the sticky side out around the
caul, and the clamp was superglued to it. After getting the clamp
fastened I could push the handle to raise the strut, making it push
the patch up against the top.

The mock-up in the pic is an attempt to show it, I don't have a uke
split on the bandsaw yet.

Thickness sander mk II, cont.

Voilà! Pivoting table made from scrap and I'm almost done. Just the
drum and the dust collector to fabricate.

I could make several drums and use one for each grit.

Thickness sander mk II

I bought a nice and cheap lathe with a good low noise motor with
variable speed. I am now in the process of converting it to a sturdy
thickness sander.

It has a 25 mm groove where a piece of wood will hold the bottom
plate, then the usual arrangement with a pivoting table and a dust
collector.

The drum will be wooden discs glued together, I just remembered my dad
had a lot of those lying around since making a bunch of holes once. He
saved them for my kids to play with, so it's almost the intended use.

Markus

And here he is, keeping a straight face. Before the champagne was
opened.

Pineapple done

The shellac has dried and Markus is here to collect it!

Finishing

A few coats of shellac is on since yesterday, and I have some research
to do about how to continue.

It's beginning to look tasty though.

Alli's soundboard braced

Yes. I know you have seen almost this exact picture before. But this
is to show progress on ukes, not surprises. And we all love pics of
wood shavings and miniature planes, don't we.

Of course we do.