Day 173: Pulling Out the Big Gun

I've gotten quite a lot accomplished since my last post; unfortunately, most of it has been related to climbing the learning curve on some CAD/CAM design software I'll be presenting in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I ended up finishing the eight foot bridge. I did not use a band saw, which I know would have been quicker, but I really did enjoy the process I chose: Drawknife and spokeshave work. Initially, I started with the spokeshave.

I quickly realized I would need to take off more meat with every stroke, so I pulled out the Big Gun.

With a little support from Mssr. Roubo.

Things went swimmingly until...

I was done.

Just look at that hook.

While I found cherry much harder to work with than beech, I can see how it might help produce a more pleasant, ringing tone. The physics behind tonewoods and how they can amplify (or dampen!) the acoustical output of an instrument are well know, so I won't belabor them here. Suffice it to say, a wood that's more "plastic" without some brittleness (for lack of a better term) might not be the best choice for a soundboard. In this case, cherry is the better choice for the bridges.

While working on the eight-footer, I managed to also mostly complete the four foot hitchpin rail, just need to finish sanding the sides to even things up a bit.

This piece will be glued to the reverse as opposed to the obverse, which will get the bridges, of the soundboard, as will the cutoff bar and ribs. I'm preparing the blanks for those in the photos below and will continue to work on them throughout the week.

Until next time...