SamirCanada - 7-24-2010 at 11:54 AM
Hi everyone,
I apologize for being somewhat of a ghost these days. I am quite busy with work but I have been finding some time to start on a new project these
days.
I am putting a new video tour of my redesigned condo workshop along with some shot of the progress on a new instrument bowl.
this one is white walnut & wenge
Thanks for the wood Jameel 
here is the work shop tour. Sorry for the shaky hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M92ocJmI1tQ
All the best Mike and the mikeouds family.
SamirCanada - 7-24-2010 at 04:00 PM
Hello again fellas,
I have also launched my new oud making blog where I will be making entries about this and other projects.
http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/
corridoio - 7-24-2010 at 04:30 PM
Hi Samir
good idea the blog!
see you there
Ale
fernandraynaud - 7-24-2010 at 04:48 PM
Wow, what a workshop! And I like the unknown guy you hired to play background music, who is he? 
Good luck
Yaron Naor - 7-24-2010 at 09:32 PM
Best regards and luck... with the workshop and the new projects
Yaron.
FastForward - 7-24-2010 at 11:29 PM
Nice workshop Samir and the new project is looking good. The white walnut is quite interesting. Keep us posted.
Ibrahim...
ExtreamTarab - 7-24-2010 at 11:31 PM
mabrook samir, very nice workshop...best of luck
SamirCanada - 7-25-2010 at 06:32 AM
thanks for the nice words everyone!
it means a lot coming from you guys 
jdowning - 7-25-2010 at 08:32 AM
Nice work Samir. Good luck.
Mehran - 7-25-2010 at 12:18 PM
beauty - keep up the good work.
Jameel - 7-26-2010 at 05:15 AM
A spare bedroom as a workshop...the secret dream of every woodworker. )
Enjoy it Samir.
Completed bowl
SamirCanada - 8-14-2010 at 02:21 PM
Hi everyone,
Finally... here is the finished bowl.
Never... EVER! working with wenge again.
http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/
FastForward - 8-14-2010 at 11:37 PM
Nice work Samir.
Can you elaborate on your wenge experience. I was tempted to make the bowl out of wenge and walnut but opted otherwise after reading that it was very
irritating to the lungs.
Now comes the part where you have to scrape and scrape and scrape.
SamirCanada - 8-15-2010 at 04:57 AM
Hi Ibrahim, thank you for the nice words.
Of course I can elaborate,
Fortunately, I was not affected negatively health wise by working with the wood. I took great care to mostly use cutting tools (planes and chisels) so
I dont create much dust. The only time I had to sand a bit is for the final jointing of the ribs where I just used a flat melamine particle board with
some sand paper glued to it. This is just to remove the plane marks and make the joint smooth. Even after wearing a dust mask and going very slow I
had a couple of sneezes. Similar to what I get from sanding rosewood sometimes.
Now onto working with wenge, first it is really hard to bend and it wants to spring back quite a bit as it cools. This is probably compounded by the
fact that I was working with the white walnut in between and it a charm to work with. Wenge is also very hard and will dull your tools in no time. I
dont know how much you like to sharpen but you will have to do it often. I am not sure how it compares to rosewood in that sense but I will find out
in my next project. Finally, the biggest problem with working with wenge is the grain direction issues. It only takes well to planing in one direction
(like most woods) but then it also splinters like hell. those splinters are quite dangerous and I got stuck many times. They stay in your skin on your
hands and they are really to small to remove with tweezers, they are barely the size of a hair.
Anyways I hope this helps,
You are right now onto the scraping part. I started doing it yesterday... what a drag that is.
FastForward - 8-15-2010 at 09:41 AM
Confession: I hate sharpening too. I sharpened my plane twice for working on the bowl and I think the second time was not necessary.
The splinters can be very annoying and I reckon that especially if they are really small. They hurt and they swell and you can't do any work for a few
days because of them.
Thanks Samir.
charlie oud - 8-16-2010 at 08:43 AM
Fine work Samir, keep us posted if you have the time. Its a delight to see this in progress and your lovely workshop. Oud workshops are fascinating
little dwellings. Self contained little universe where all the ouds come from. I hope all progresses well for you.
some updates
SamirCanada - 8-29-2010 at 08:41 AM
The bowl is now scraped smooth.
and here are some of the diamond inlays I will be using as the theme for this oud.
for more details and updates visit my blog at
http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/
thank you,
Samir.
FastForward - 8-30-2010 at 10:41 AM
Nice work Samir, can't wait to see and hear the finished oud. Is that Maple/walnut inlay?
SamirCanada - 8-30-2010 at 11:20 AM
yah Maple Walnut.
I didnt decide yet but I might make some wenge and white walnut ones to keep the same wood theme.
But the raqma will be walnut so... not sure what will look best.
The face will be alskan yellow cedar... and its not really pleasant to work with either. It smells VERY strong but not like western red cedar which
smells nice.
This smells like Zaatar almost but not as delicious.
Inlaying by hand
SamirCanada - 9-1-2010 at 06:23 PM
Hi everyone,
some more updates on the oud.
the face has been planed down and I started hand inlaying the decorative pieces into the face.
check out the pictures at the link below to see how I do this by hand instead of using power tools
http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/
Sazi - 9-1-2010 at 07:58 PM
Looking good Samir, and I like the idea of music rather than power tools, but I reckon I'd be concentrating too hard to listen to it!
Looking forward to seeing and hearing this one finished.
Danielo - 9-2-2010 at 02:37 AM
Hi Samir,
this looks very nice,
Bravo 
Looking forward to see and hear the final result!
Dan
SamirCanada - 10-25-2010 at 05:09 PM
Here are some more updates folks.
http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/
paulO - 10-25-2010 at 05:38 PM
The oud's looking great Samir -- thanks for the updates - Cheers..Paul
FastForward - 10-25-2010 at 07:26 PM
Great work Samir.
Almost there. It feels great doesn't it?
SamirCanada - 10-26-2010 at 06:12 PM
Thanks Y'all.
Yes indeed looking forward to start applying the finish... Not
it isnt exactly my favorite part indeed but I am looking forward to seing how it sounds for sure !
sabbassi - 10-28-2010 at 01:17 AM
Hi Samir
I didn't know you had a blog, very nice work, I love to see the process of your work.
Applying the finish is in the contrary my favorite part,
Love to see to see more and more.
thanks again
FastForward - 10-28-2010 at 07:07 AM
Applying the finish has two parts, one that I hat and one that I like. I hate filling the grain.
If you are french polishing the oud, how do yo go about filling the grain?
SamirCanada - 10-28-2010 at 03:26 PM
Pumice is the traditional way to fill the grain I believe but... myself I like the open grain look.
check this tutorial.
this is what I follow when I do it.
http://www.milburnguitars.com/fpbannerframes.html
this time though, I am finishing the oud with polyurethane.
FastForward - 10-28-2010 at 03:30 PM
I am familiar with that website Samir. The problem with pumice is that the oud back is not flat, so the slurry you create keeps falling off the
surface and all the rubbing you do goes to waste unless you work in teeny tiny areas smaller than 2"x2".
I was filling the grain for a full week on my oud and I still didn't end up with a reasonable outcome. At that point I decided I have had it. If
anybody has a better way I would love to know.
ExtreamTarab - 10-31-2010 at 09:39 PM
Hey Samir, I see the polish has started...looking very nice
SamirCanada - 11-1-2010 at 12:37 PM
ttp://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.com/2010/11/finalyit-is-done.html
Finally ... I am done this project. A great learning experience for me this 2nd oud from scratch.
Thank you everyone for the encouragement.
ExtreamTarab - 11-1-2010 at 02:13 PM
WOW Samir, very nice...mabrook
How does it sound ??? waiting to hear a sample and maybe try it in person sometime soon
SamirCanada - 11-1-2010 at 03:04 PM
yah of course you will get to try it when I come down to mtl one of these days.
it sounds new still but mostly I am very happy with the results. I will criticize myself and say 2 things.
1 the action is a bit to low. There is no buzzing but some strings a (g on the second nylon course) is clicking a bit.
2 the g (sol) nylon strings is much weaker sounding then the rest of the strings which are quite powerfull.
thats it.
if anything I am a bit disappointed with that G string.
I am working on a sound sample.
sabbassi - 11-2-2010 at 01:22 AM
very nice Samir, congratulations.
Did you apply oil finish?
I'm very curious to the sound.
thanks
SamirCanada - 11-11-2010 at 06:35 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFFavJYwglg
here you go my friends.
a little recording with my cell phone.
sabbassi - 11-11-2010 at 11:34 AM
Very nice sound Samir, you can hear that the oud is very new.
nice playing too.
SamirCanada - 11-11-2010 at 04:06 PM
yah of course.
It will get better with time as it opens up.
I am still at the beginning of my oud making career so I still have lots to learn.
paulO - 11-12-2010 at 03:55 PM
Nice job Samir, looks great and I like the sound too -- the bass through the mids really sound good right now ! Give it 6 months of playing and do
another sound clip. Lovely wood work too, the bowl looks great, I wish I could see the grain in the wenge better, but the contrast with the white
walnut is very striking.
Regards..Paul
SamirCanada - 11-12-2010 at 05:11 PM
Thanks buddy.
I am working on getting some decent shots with a better camera. The wenge has some elegant espresso coloring in the grain.
You can only see it in person though.
Kelly - 11-13-2010 at 07:56 AM
Hi Samir
Lovely work it looks great and sounds excellent too. Maybe the g will open up a bit with more playing or try a different gauge/type of string.
what are the bowl dimensions? length/width -its a nice compact looking body but has good bass response too
All the best.
ameer - 11-24-2010 at 05:42 PM
Agreed. Perhaps try a thicker and/or looser nylon string or perhaps nylgut.