Day 163: They Call Me Captain Hook

The bridges came off the bending form some time ago, but I've been busy with other things, as well as engaging in my annual Winter Maintenance work, so I'm just now getting around to finishing them up. One remark I received from one of the Master Builders on Facebook regarding soaking and bending the bridges was that he wouldn't like all the nails in his bridges. Of course he wouldn't, and neither do I, but it needed to get done and this is the method suggested by Mr. Miller in his eBook Most Excellent*.

The detritis in the photo above is composed of the remnant pieces of 1/4" plywood pads I used for cushions against the brad heads. Part of the reason I'm not crazy about the soaking method is due to nailing the bridges to the form while they were still wet. This resulted in the brads leaving dark stains on the bridges at each contact point - not my preferred level of quality. And, yeah, using stainless brads was probably the key here. My bad. If I build another Ruckers, I'll bend the bridges in a completely different manner (to be disclosed at a later date).

The 4' bridge is ready to glue up. The 8', on the other hand, requires a "hook" to be joined to its larger, "far end". This hook curls the string contact points away from the bend and requires me to cut one from a smaller piece of beech and then stitch it onto the bridge at the correct point. As you can see below, I traced the hook onto some parchment paper so I could draw it onto the smaller piece.

I then took it to the band saw, the table of which I set at a cool 30-degrees, and went to work - until the blade snapped. Granted it was a tiny blade, but it was still scary. I neglected to purchase a new blade last payday and the tiny blade was the sharpest in the shop. Suffice it to say, it made the work a lot more interesting.

I made it through most of the cut before the break.

I then mounted an older blade onto the saw and went to work, resulting in this:

It turns out the smell of burning beech is actually kinda pleasant. The burns notwithstanding, I pulled out the oscillating spindle sander and went to town cleaning things up.

As you can see, it cleaned up nicely, though I'll do some final polish with a spokeshave once I get the hook joined to the bridge. I'm planning on using a half-lap joint, which I've had some success with in the past. Before I can do this, I'll need to get another printout of the plan - I mangled it pretty badly getting the bridge templates onto the bending form. This is not a big deal because I'll have it printed at the local FedEx Office up the street for a few bucks. The lady there is now referring to me as "the harpsichord guy." I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

On a completely unrelated note, my wife and I travel to the Oregon Coast every Christmas season, sometimes staying there for Christmas day (a beach with 10 people is a good thing, even when it's chilly outside). This year, we found ourselves in Lincoln City where we stopped at an antique store and I discovered the Holy Grail of 6" rulers.

I've been looking for a 6-incher to keep stowed in my shop apron and this one is special because it's not only sturdy, it offers both U.S. and metric measurements, as well as decimal equivalents for numerous measurements on its reverse. This was definitely the best $5 we've spent in a very long while.

Until next time...

*Mr. Miller has significantly updated his eBook Most Excellent, the Harpsichord Project eBook 4.0. It now has more content with multiple ways of accomplishing several tasks, as well as upgrades to several of the sections. If you're looking to dive into building a harpsichord as a first-timer, I highly recommend this book - it's a bargain.