Interesting weekend, Martin Luther King day today. I did a major cookathon this weekend. Started with broccoli and cheese soup, then cooked a chicken in water for broth and shredded meat. Oh, and a fake Boursin garlic herb cream cheese. Next day was chicken bone soup and a bean with bacon soup from scratch dried beans, wow that’s good, two quart buckets full. Up today for skimming the fat off the gelled soup. Made a huge batch of chicken enchiladas, with a small non dairy set for Alan. Pork chops were a deal at $2, so I boiled and shredded them for a sloppy Joe pulled pork sandwich. Finished with a chicken bone veggie and rice soup. That’s a lot of food.
Picked up some tools at Sally’s, pliers, files and a cold chisel.
I spent the rest of the time working on my ukulele. I built a jig to hold the neck and body sides together. I used the Spanish heel method of joining the parts by sawing slots in the neck to hold the sides to the neck. It’s what the Kamaka uses, can’t be bad. Last night I carved down the neck using a small spoke shave, the small drill drum sander, a scraper and sandpaper. There are wood shavings in my computer room I’ll need to vacuum. It’s really smooth and comfortable, but still flat back to secure the fret board.
Today I marked and drilled the tuning head using a 1/4″ forstner bit, stopping as the pin came through and finishing the other side, then deburring with a countersink. It works well. I set up the neck and sides in the jig, then used the 220 watt hot pipe to bend the kerfing. I had a bit of trouble with the pieces breaking, but I got enough to make a good kerf to glue the parts in. Everything is just dry fit for now, but it’s ready.
Next process is to glue it all up. I think I’ll use the solid frame to hold the sides perfect shape and glue the kerfing to the marked inner lines with clothespins. This should form the sides right. Next I’ll mount the neck and sides in the jig and glue that together using small wedges I’ve cut to hold the sides to the outer neck joint. Join the bottom sides and top with bracing. I’m thinking I may need to modify the fret board with a step to fit over the top plate using the table saw and a lot of light cuts. That’s the plan. But a lot got done. A good long weekend.
8shotoflove8 