Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
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Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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Wood source
Can anyone recommend a vendor for pre-cut wood for the ribs for the oud. I would like the pieces taken down to the finished thickness also?
I would like to get started on building my oud but I do not have a way for slicing the ribs.
Thanks,
Elie
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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I assume you have your wood, Elie.
Take your board to a custom cabinet shop or furniture maker. I'm not talking about some place where they make only kitchen cabinets, or crafty
furniture. Find a local craftsman who makes nice furniture/cabinetry and he should be able to slice the wood with a re-saw bandsaw. (or a regular
bandsaw for that matter). You'll probably gain a friend too. Woodworkers are generally quite open with other woodworkers. Try to find someone too
with a thickness sander to take the ribs down to thickness. This is important is the wood has any figure. If it is plain, you can get by running it
through a planer to about 3mm if the guy is careful. The planer will eat the figured wood. Since you don't have access to these tools, you should
have twice as many ribs cut as the oud needs. Trust me. Some will crack, you'll goof up some, etc. Worst thing you'll have some extra ribs
at the end. You could also have them cut and plane them yourself to thickness with a hand plane, a jack plane would be a good choice. The ribs
don't have to be dead perfect in thickness when you bend them since you won't glue them up perfectly anyway, and you'll be scraping
them flush in and out. How equipped are you tool-wise?
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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Hi Jameel,
I do not have the lumber yet. I was hoping that I could purchase it already planed down to thickness.
The tools that I have are a low quality bench top bandsaw, a cheap bench top tablesaw and for planing I bought a Stanley contarcotr's bench
plane. The problem is that I haven't had any luck with planing befor but that may also be because I was using one of those cheap Wall-Mart
palnes. With this Stanley plane I got discouraged since the blade needs sharpend right out of the box and sharpening and planing are aquired skills.
My past planing experience has been putting a lot of effort and force and end up with kind of chopped up looking finish, so I am guessing a dull
blade. I do not think I am using the proper planing technique since the plane wasn't removing material smothly and effortly. Any advice on
improving my sharpening and planing from such a skilled and seasoned woodworker as yourself would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Elie
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
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Jameel's advice is right on. I met Arafati in Tehran and he used a drill motor, some chisels, sandpaper and a jack plane clamped blade up only to
shape the edge of the ribs. He purchased all his wood precut to thickness. If you are looking for a regular source of pre-cut hardwoods, Gilmer Harwoods can accomodate you. They sell and cut wood for luthiers in the Northwest and have done so for years. If you want just 1 or 2 sets
I have some aged (20-30 years) pre-cut ribs I am planning to kit out. If you send me some size specs I will see if I have some to fit your project.
Some of these were cut for Turkish and others for Arabic sized ouds. You can safely sand the ribs to thickness with a coarse grit (60-80) garnet
sandpaper and a long sanding block. (8-9in). samples:
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Jameel
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Elie,
Ditto Richard's advice. And Gilmer has some awesome wood. However, I can't emphasize enough how important it is that you get yourself setup
for sharpening (leevalley.com is a good source) and learn how to sharpen. I can shave with my tools. You also should spend some time at your library
and look in the woodworking section. Taunton press has excellent publications and you will be able to find many articles on how to fettle (set up) a
hand plane. When I was starting out like you after high school, I had the same experience. I picked up an old hand plane of my grandfather's and
threw it down in frustration. Then I took a few evenings to tune it up and sharpen it. It's not difficult. I almost had a religious experience.
I'm not kidding. I was taking shavings that I could see through and that left an absolutely polished surface on the wood that any sandpaper would
make worse! You should get yourself a good set of chisels, a low-angle block plane, and a jack plane. You'll be able to do an enormous amount
with just those tools and your bench top saws. I find that a good mix of power and hand tools is the key. Power for doing the grunt work like
resawing, hand tools for joinery. Don't start on your oud before you have mastered your sharpening technique (there are many). You won't
regret it. A great book for sharpening is "The Complete Guide to Sharpening" by Leonard Lee. This book also tells you how to set up your
plane. You might also try Barnes and Noble or the like. Let us know how it goes.
Couple links for you:
http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/index.html
http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM I've tried this (although I now use waterstones) and was amazed at the results.
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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Thanks guys for the encouragemnet and the offer for help.
Jameel post has talked me into sawing and planing the ribs myself. If that doesn't work, Dr. Oud will hopefully have prefabed wood to sell.
Jameel, do you use a honing jig or just follow the procedures in the first link. The second link is entertaining and informative at the same time. I
think I'll try the sanding paper method (my understanding is that most of the sharpening work is done on flatening back of the blade with the
final honing done on the front to creat the secondary bevel!).
Thanks again,
Elie Riachi
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1672
Registered: 12-5-2002
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I use a jig most of the time, it's the LeeValley jig. But you can find a cheap one at the Home Depot or hardware store that works too. It's
the one in this article:http://www.hocktools.com/sharpen2.htm
Yes, you have to make the back of the blade dead flat and polish it up to a mirror finish. This is laborious, but you only have to do it once as long
as you polish it back far enough to last for many honings. When you sharpen (hone) you'll only touch the back with your finest stone (grit) to
remove the burr. The link above is really a great how-to article.
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
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Mood: better than before
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I have a couple of extra bowls if you're interested....
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Elie Riachi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 582
Registered: 4-9-2004
Location: Kansas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gebran Tueni Lives For Ever, 12-12-05.
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I am getting tempted now. What is the wood? Nice bowls Doc.
Regards,
Elie
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: better than before
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Elie Riachi
... What is the wood?... |
The 2-tone is Claro Walnut and Hondouras Mahogany, 13 ribs; 19-1/8L x 14-1/2w x 8dp. It's sanded outside and scraped inside.
The other is Hondouras Rosewood with Ash seperator strips, 21 ribs; 20-1/8L x 14-1/2W x 7dp. It's in the rough state after glue-up.
I am planning to offer some oud build kits in either rough cut materials, Shaped and formed, or assembled components for you to glue together and
finish. Prices would depend on the options. If you are interested we should work out the details in an email, ok?
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