Day 172: Getting the Eight-Footer Locked Down

The four foot bridge has been steamed, bent, spokeshaved, and otherwise prepared for installation (still need to cut to length, but I'm not a detail guy). The eight foot is another matter entirely. When comparing it against the plan, the angle was not as acute as it needed to be. As I was testing it against the form, I heard a loud CRACK and you'll never guess what happened. Yep, this:

Just a scratch, right? So, it was back to the drawing, or steaming, board as it were. One thing I should call out is how to read wood. In this case, I had bent the thing with the flat sawn part of the piece on top. This created an akward bend that resulted in the break. Granted, I probably could have made it work, but I paid closer attention on the second bend and faced the quarter sawn side face up. Though I did this, I still didn't achieve the angle required by the plan, so it was back into the steamer and form. Again.

Only this time, I used the four foot part of the bending form because it would allow me to overbend the stick to account for springback, something that's pretty common when bending wood, especially material that's been kiln dried; it just wants to go back to its original shape when removed from the form.

As you can see, the bend is sharper. A little TOO sharp, perhaps?

Nope, it fit the plan spectacularly well. Time for a celebratory adult beverage. Oh, wait, what's that? Why, it's a pitch pocket in the worst possible location.

Given the fact this side will get a small bevel, I knew I would be spokeshaving most, if not all, of the pocket away, but decided to check with master builder Owen Daly just to be sure. Fortunately, Owen said it's not a show-stopper and that there are a couple of ways to handle it if and when necessary. Based on this information, two things then occurred: 1) Happy dance and 2) Preparation for tacking on the bass hook I had cut a little earlier.

I taped the pieces together, drew a slanted line, and cut them on the band saw. When I checked the joint, it was good enough for government work, so I glued it up.

And now we wait until tomorrow to trim things down. In the meantime, I turn my attention to the four foot hitchpin rail that will be mounted to the underside of the soundboard. This one is made from poplar and will be cut to size - no bending involved (thank the Good Lord Above).

Until next time...