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carpenter
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More slow-but-sure - #4
Here are pix of the roses. I'm going for the additional tweeter-holes this time. My Big Idea is to use Northwest/Oregon woods; I have on hand some
figured fir, figured madrone, Port Orford cedar, alder, yew, bigleaf maple, holly ... not enough of anything to make a whole oud from, but it should
prove interesting, and the only guy I have to please is me.
The roses are Port Orford cedar, nice, creamy, tight grain. I like the faceted carved quality. The easy part's over now; better go cut some ribs.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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... and the tweeters.
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carpenter
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Also, the "Northwest" part is so I can get away with the Alaska red cedar top. Otherwise, local stuff.
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jdowning
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Nice work Jim - how did you colour the ravens - by burning or with wood stains?
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carpenter
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That's flat black enamel over shellac, steel-wooled, fine-wet-sanded and burnished with wool. I had this great crows-in-trees idea, but then I really
didn't like all the unrelieved black - there wasn't much contrast between the birds and the black void of the hole in the bowl. I started sanding it
off, and liked the old/worn/distressed look when I was partly done; quit while I was ahead.
The color in the trees is Minwax 'Special Walnut' spritzed on with a toothbrush over shellac.
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SamirCanada
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ooohh nice.
cant wait to see it come about.
very nice roses.
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Mike
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A true artist at work. No doubt I'll be looking forward to follwing the progress of this oud project Jim.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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I'm still pondering the crows ... Meanwhile, some real progress. I got the neck and pegbox pretty much finished. The wood is figured madrone; nice
wood, but impossible to take a picture of the figure to my liking. Originally a piece of firewood some fifteen years back, it finally finds a
respectable home. Wish I had more, and not already cut to stove length.
I intend to do a light/dark bowl, and didn't have quite enough madrone for the whole neck; the extra lamination is alder. A pretty red and orange
thing going on there, I think it will work visually. The wood was busy enough that I just put a bevel on the corners to pick up some light. No need to
go nuts this time.
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carpenter
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Bowl time. I had a little (just enough) bit of this figured fir, and it seemed a shame not to use it. I intend to use a yew rib, not really having
enough of it either, then two of these fir ribs herringboned, a yew rib, and so on. (Fir?! You never know.)
This is a pic of an experiment - the thickness is 3mm, and a much tighter bending radius than a rib - if it will do this, then I guess it'll work at
2mm. There's a check on one end of the stick, so I have to mind that; also needs a soft touch with the planes and scrapers. Nice, wiggly figure, more
red-and-orange intent, with three coats of Tru-Oil, just to see. I like it so far.
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paulO
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That rib sample looks very cool, very unique and interesting grain pattern. Thanks for the updates, much appreciated.
Regards..Paul
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jdowning
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Did you manage to get a smooth bend with the fir Jim? Softwoods can be prone to 'wrinkling' or creasing across the grain on the inside curve when
being hot bent, even at 3mm thickness. Not sure the best way to avoid this - soaking wood beforehand, using flat sawn rather than quarter sawn ribs,
higher bending temperatures etc? What did you do?
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carpenter
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I think I got lucky! I used a copper pipe and 200w light bulb bending iron, not hot enough to scorch, sprayed the iron side of the rib with a little
water, and used a block of maple to press down on the rib, sort of rocking it around the bend. Slow going. If that hadn't worked, I would have gone
with the metal backing strap approach.
The wood's as quarter-sawn as it can be, fairly close-grained, and it's smooth on the inside of the bend. I've had wrinkling on the inside happen
before, and thought then that flatsawn wood might not do it as much, but never got any farther than thinking. I do get a nice surface on ribs before I
bend them - no bandsaw marks, consistent thickness and so on - maybe that helps spread stress. No idea.
My biggest worry is that the little bits of figure will pop out during the process. So far, so good, but it's certainly not over yet.
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Jameel
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I've always wanted to make a softwood bowl to see how it affects sound. I was thinking Spanish Cedar. This will be an interesting oud Jim.
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veyselmaster
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very nice rossetes
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carpenter
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<< This will be an interesting oud Jim. >>
I do have my theories ... and "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" gets me up in the mornings.
<< very nice rosettes >>
Thank you! I'm still not entirely certain about them; maybe they're a little too "real." I'm drawing some others that are more symmetrical, abstract,
flatter. I'll dummy up a soundhole and see how things look "in place."
I was doing two things at once, and possibly got bad reception on my mental radio. The crows and trees did end up in this (still rough) logo
for a music venue: the rosette crows may have been the right thing in the wrong place. We'll see.
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carpenter
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Speaking of drawings: "Most Likely to Succeed," bats and clouds. Less is more. I'm still thinking, and paper's cheap.
Okay, sometimes Less is less, but I'm liking this one so far.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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There, now, that's better. Figured madrone - same as the neck and pegbox - with a little shellac and burnishing. I like it, plus I have a soft spot
for bats; probably between my ears ...
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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... and the little guys. I sure hope this oud will be as cool as I'm imagining.
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Jameel
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Holy roses, Batman!
This is going to be one unique oud, Jim. Excellent workmanship.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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Thank you. I like all the air in the big one.
And they're strong, too - you can park a truck on 'em:
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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A little progress - I got the fir ribs ripped and planed on one side. Again, I'll say how great planing is; I pity the poor sanders. As curly as this
wood is, I got a practically mirror surface - a couple of passes with a freshly-sharpened scraper takes care of the remaining microscopic chips in the
figure. It's well worthwhile to get a decent old plane and learn how to sharpen and tune it up.
You can see one of my favorite high-mileage workhorses - a Bailey #3 corrugated sole. It has a non-factory 100+ year old Barton laminated tapered
iron; close to 3/16" thick at the business end, no chatter. I sharpen to 600 grit on a granite surface plate, and work up to polishing on a 8000 grit
water stone for a mirror edge - that helps.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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And that yew didn't work out as I'd hoped, so I looked at some walnut I'd been kicking out of the way for a while. It wasn't quite wide enough as was;
I figured out this ripping jig, and got a near quarter cut at the right width. It turned out to have a subtle figure that I didn't see through the
rough surface, so I'm pretty happy.
On to the final thickness.
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GeorgeK
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The pattern in that Yew (2 slides up, right under the truck picture) looks absolutely beautiful. What was it that "didnt work out".
Nice jig (on the previous slide). I was trying to dream up a good method for cutting the ribs to the right thickness. Thanks for sharing.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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<< The pattern in that Yew (2 slides up, right under the truck picture) looks absolutely beautiful. What was it that "didn't work out".
>>
That's the fir; it's a keeper. The yew took an unexpected short-grain turn into where a limb used to be - two inches longer on the straight end, and
I've had it made. Thus the walnut solution.
<< Nice jig (on the previous slide). I was trying to dream up a good method for cutting the ribs to the right thickness. Thanks for
sharing.>>
It takes longer to set up than to do the cuts. Luckily, 45 degrees worked perfectly in this case, and I had a 45 metal block for setup. Otherwise, I'd
cut a wood block at the correct angle for the job to set up the angled fence/table. It also makes gravity my friend in helping keep the stock against
the thickness fence, but close attention is still a good thing.
I use a piece of 1/4"square stock and a small machinist's clamp to reference the distance from the rip fence to the miter slot; once I get it right,
future rib thicknesses are easily duplicated, which is great, as long as I don't need that clamp ...
Hope it works out for you.
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SamirCanada
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beautyfull stuff sir.
thanks for sharing with us.
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