Day 170: Bending, Rebending and Joining

The bridge saga continues. After I had recut and rebent the 8' and 4' bridges and matched them up to the plans, I realized they would need another steaming session. I finally ended up with a nice Owen-approved curve, but not until steaming and bending them twice. I've been told woods will not take to bending once they've been bent because something magical (which always goes unspecified) happens to the lignin (the complex organic polymer in all woods) once it's been heated and bent. I can say with complete confidence that this is untrue. So, I bent the bridges twice until I got the curves I felt I deserved.

I shot Owen a quick email with the last photo above and he responded with encouragement, so I decided it was time to get the hook tacked onto the bass end of the 8-footer. I went with a half-lap joint because I've used them with some success in the past. Rather than scrape and spokeshave the hook to death, I used the Ridgid oscillating spindle sander to smooth the band saw cut marks down in record time.

I then cut the lap joints on the table and band saws and took to gluing it up late last night.

I should have a stable joint in the next couple of days. Then, I'll cut the bevels (on the correct side this time) and, as Owen would say, "Bob's your uncle." I really have no idea what that means, but it sounds really cool.

Until next time...