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Thanks guys! Let's hope it comes together Dean!

Already I've been having some fun. Since I'm not smart enough to leave good looking spruce alone, I've been playing with toning the top. I've been having some telegraphing of my bracing thru the tops lately and I'm thinking that maybe it's actually being caused by sanding after bracing as opposed to actually showing thru from stress. So I sanded the top down thru 320 grit, and then I started my staining. Rub some water over the surface first so the stain doesn't grab to quick, then rub in the first transtint dye, honey amber, then reddish brown in kind of a sunburst pattern, then golden brown around the edges. When it dried it showed a double stripe across the top from sanding down the rosette in my sander. Futzed with it with some hand sanding and it seemed to go away, but when I rubbed on a coat of shellac it was back, subtle but irritating, kind of like a sanding burn.

So sanded it down with my orbital sander.



Then the amber rub.


Golden brown.


And the reddish brown. I hope you like an arched top Dean!

After it dried out and re-flattened itself, I did a little more color balancing, let it dry again and then lightly rubbed it down with some 400 grit which brings out the figure. Wiped it down and then rubbed on a shellac coat to protect it.


And this is how she's looking now, the sander stripes are gone.




Rosette and figure detail.

It's kind of strange doing finish work at this early stage and I'm not sure what kind of unseen blind alleys I'll run into down the line, but as always, it's an adventure!

Thanks for watching,
Joe

You can't do that, that's not allowed!

It looks good, let's hope you can retain the look all the way through its construction. Trimming the shape, levelling the bindings etc will be a challenge, but if you are careful it should be doable... Brave man, good for you!

I know Arnt, what can I say, it seemed like a good idea at the time, we'll see.

Bent the claro on my iron, sure bends nice, and left it in the mold to settle in.

Note my tidy work area!

Got the end blocks glued in.


And got to try out my new kerfing clamps I got from John at CNC guitar parts when he sold off his stock of extrusions.

Not sure they work any better than what I used before, but my don't they look nice!

That's all,
Joe

TOTALLY COOL, Joe!

not only that you're doin' it, but that you're swappin' with the Deanster!

Urb

Thanks Urb and Dennis yes, I love the bling comparison! Just what my shop needed, a little bling.

Joe

ps--- now that I think of it, I could use a little bling myself, where can I get a set of those?
pps--- I like your knew sig. line E, been there, done that!

Wow....those things don't emit gamma rays or anything do they?

Well it was time to make a new batch of kerfing, and following Dave's example I had salvaged the wood from an old table that had gotten wet and delaminated. Unfortunately my table top isn't vintage mahogany but under the veneer it is fine grained and knot free, I'm guessing poplar. And looks like it ought to at least make some good kerfing.


So I ripped some up, ran it through the sander and then radiused one edge on the router table.


I normally make a reverse kerfing, so this is the shape before bringing out the kerfing sled. But then somewhere I read about someone that glued on their kerfing, then came back and glued a strip on top of that making stiffer rims.


So I cut my kerfs on the opposite side from the way you make reverse kerfing. It's like regular kerfing except with a radiused edge rather than an angled edge. And cut some thin strips to overlay.

You glue on the kerfing first, then after that's dry I soaked the thin strips in water so they would bend and then glued them on.

Winds up looking like this.


And it does make a very stiff rim set.


And looks pretty cool also.

Joe