Day 103: Still Gluing the Case Bottom

Well, I'm still in the process of gluing up the case bottom. One of the best pieces of advice I've received regarding this step came from Owen Daly of Owen Daly Early Keyboard Instruments: "Don't overthink it." I paraphrase, but I'm allowed - it's my blog. Over the last few days, I've glued up five boards.

I've been using Garret Wade Gap Filling Glue on recommendation from luthier Mark Roberts of Mark Roberts Guitars and Ukuleles. I met Mark a while back when I sold a little Delta benchtop jointer on Craigslist and he just happened to walk through the door of Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters to finalize the purchase. It was a complete coincidence that he builds some of the nicest acoustic instruments in the world. When Mark recommends something, I listen.

Fortunately, the glue is quite easy to clean from wood after it has dried. For this, I use a 100 year-old Stanley Bailey #4 hand plane with a corrugated bottom that has the blade set to shave a fraction of a millimeter from the board. Of course, I also use it to even out any misalignments between boards, should there be any, which there never is (uh huh).

My wife, Tonya, and I picked up this little puppy at one of our favorite places, Astoria Vintage Hardware, in Astoria, Oregon for $35 during one of our monthly pilgrimages to that fair city. I hope it's around for another 100 years in the shop.

The final step will be gluing up the remaining 18" board, smoothing it out with the plane and card scraper, and then gluing the completed product to the piece that will hold the keyframe. Once that's done, I'll need to return to Mr. Miller's eBook Most Excellent, mainly because I have no idea what he will have me doing next.

Until next time...