Weekend Work

The weekend went by pretty quick, but I managed to get some work done. The temperatures got up to 98 this weekend and the lows barely made it below 80. I had to start work about 6:00 in the a.m. so I could get stuff done before the shed got too hot. That was about 9:00 because the sun beams right down on it first thing in the morning and of course it isn't air conditioned and a fan only moves wood dust around. I was able to glue the kerfed lining in on both sides on Saturday morning and then sanded it down Sunday morning. I first glued the one side in and then after two hours, I removed the clothespins, flipped it over and did the same thing again. I left the lining about 1/16" above the sides so I could sand them flush later. The clothespins are modified so that the mouth of the clothespin meets the contours of the side and kerfed lining and then a rubber band is added to give the jaws more clamping power.




After the glue had set overnight, I sanded the linings down flush with sides. To do this, I used a pencil and marked the sides black all around the sides. I then took a flat board the length of the mandolin and stuck a piece of 80 grit sand paper to the end with spray adhesive. With one end of the board on one side of the mandolin, I used the other side with the sandpaper to sand the opposite side of the mandolin. This is done to ensure that the linings are sanded flat so the top and back will have a good glue connection. I kept an eye on the pencil markings on the side of the mandolin and when I had sanded them away, I knew that the linings were now sanded flush with the sides. I continued sanding around the mandolin in this fashion until all of the pencil markings were gone. I then repeated this process on the other side. Below is the finished rim assembly ready to accept the back and top. My next step is to carve the top and back plates.

Cut kerfed lining

This afternoon during my lunch break, I cut another piece of kerfed lining that is going to be glued to the inside of my rim set. I bolted a board onto the miter fence on the band saw. I then clamped a rail into the miter slot to stop the miter fence just before it made contact with the blade. Yesterday I cut the wood to be used for the lining. It is 3/8"x3/8"x24" with a 45 degree down the length of it. I marked it every 1/4" so I would know where to make the cut. I put the piece of wood against the miter fence and pushed the fence forward. It cut into the lining and stopped just before going through the other side. I slid the fence back and moved the lining down 1/4" and repeated the process until I had made a cut at each mark. Doing this makes the lining very flexible so that it can bend around the curves of the inside of the instrument. Here is a picture of the bandsaw setup I used.

Rim set almost complete!

Well, I have been off for quite a while now. I got my new band saw from Uncle Dave and have been using it a lot. I have a couple of Christmas gifts in mind this year and the band saw is going to help me out a lot. I finally got around to gluing in the blocks and now my rim set is almost done. The blocks didn't make a perfect fit in the points and the head block so I had to sand them to fit better. You want as much surface contact between the sides and the blocks so you get a good glue connection. To get a good fit, I used a block of white pastel and rubbed it on the side where I was going to glue the block. Once I had the side coated in pastel, I rubbed the block against it to transfer the pastel onto the block. Then I could see what parts of the block were making contact with the side. I took some sand paper and sanded the areas that were making contact with the side to remove the chalk and then repeated the process. Each time I would sand the chalk off of the block, I would get a better fit and more and more chalk would be on the block the next time. Once the block was completely covered with chalk transferred from the side, I knew I was getting a perfect fit. I did this to all sides of each block and then glued them in place. I only have to glue in some kerfed lining and the rim set will be finished. The kerfed lining is a 3/8" x 3/8" piece of mahogany that is cut and glued along the top and bottom of the rim set. This will give the top and back piece of the mandolin a larger surface for gluing while not adding a lot of bulk to the instrument. As you can see in the picture, mine is starting to look like the one on the cover of the book. On the cover, the author is gluing in the kerfed lining and that is my next step.

Hungry!

My veggies continue to grow. I am gettting flowers on my Tomato plants, beans are starting to sprout on my bush beans, I ate a radish yesterday, jalepeno's, anaheim, and bell peppers are all forming and I made pesto last night with my basil. On a side note, I have begun working on the mandolin again. I split a piece of mahogany that will be for another back.

Garden Update (No mandolin content)

Well as my mandolin building is still at a stand still, my garden is starting to really come along. I have finished all of the construction and everything that has been planted is up. I have some flowers on my pepper plants and can see one little anaheim pepper beginning to form. I get to pull a couple of radishes later today. Anyway, here are a couple of pics.

New hobbies

Well my OCD has taken over again with a new hobby. Hopefully it is just something to keep me busy while I wait on a bandsaw to get delivered from Uncle Dave. Then I’ll be able to get back to work on the mandolins. I checked out a book from the local library called “All New Square Foot Gardening” and the pictures are the result. All in all in 2 4’X6’ raised beds, I will have the following:

2 Heirloom tomato plants
2 Big Boy tomato plants
2 Roma tomato plants
2 Sweet 100 Cherry tomato plants
1 Anaheim Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Jalepeno Pepper
16 Carrots
4 Bush Beans
16 Onions
9 Beets
16 Radishes
1 Rosemary
4 Basil
9 Flat Leaf Parsley
1 Thyme
9 Cilantro
4 Tarragon
1 Sage
4 Chives
8 Cucumber
14 Pole Beans
4 Cantaloupe
1 Eggplant
4 Squash
4 Zucchini

The bed on the right is covered because we were expecting severe thunderstorms and large hail today.

And all of that will be protected by my three attack dogs that watch for garden pests.

All work and no play . . .

Well I have to admit that I was really rolling along there for a while but it seems that I my work in progress has come to a screeching halt. I tried cutting the mahogany blocks for the points and the head and tail block but they just don't fit right. I don't want to waste any more mahogany so I am going to have to go to a friends house to cut them out on a band saw. Hopefully when I get that done, I can glue them to the sides and then the rim will be complete. Once the rim is complete, I'll be able to continue working on the top and then I'll get it glued to the rim. Then it should look really good! In my spare time, I've been working in the yard and working on getting my garden started. I'll have to post pictures of all of my seeds growing before too long.