catsittingstill: (Default)
[personal profile] catsittingstill
I had a lovely birthday.  I got several books as presents (and a countersink, and some dutch goodies from dad that were in honor of my birthday) and Kip and I went out to dinner at the Outback.

When we came home I didn't have enough oomph to make the planned brownies, so I made those the next day and had peppermint ice cream with them, and they were good.

Now I'm trying to get back on my diet again before I gain back all the weight I lost since September :-)

I'm tentatively trying a new/old idea for making instrument cases.  I have glued together enough leftover white pine and cedar strips to make a top (or perhaps a bottom) but am still thinking about how to make the curved sides, and the lip for the lid.  Also in the course of this I went through a lot of my leftover wood from various projects pile, thinking about what to discard.  I turned one bit piece of 3/4 inch plywood into 2 shelves for the back wall, which I'm hoping will help somewhat with the "stuff building up on the floor" issue.

Gluing up the top was interesting as "glue, wood and air must all be above 55 degrees F" and it's about 50 F right now in my boatshop.  Insulating the roof helped, but the walls are made of cedarblock and brick and though it shares one wall with the house, and thus presumably gets *some* of the house's warmth, it was 27 F outside last time I checked.  I had to run the space heater pretty much continuously while the glue was drying.  This may be a problem once I start putting the boat proper together, since electric heat is not very efficient.

We will see.

In other news, the roofers knocked off on Friday with about 40% of the roof done.  Hopefully the rain and snow since then won't make a problem.  And hopefully they'll get it finished pretty soon.

Date: 2010-12-06 06:53 pm (UTC)
keris: Keris with guitar (Default)
From: [personal profile] keris
Belated happy birthday!

Date: 2010-12-06 06:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boywizard.livejournal.com
From time to time I have had an ambition to build a guitar, and maybe someday I actually will attempt it, but in researching how to go about I've read several books. The general approach to bending the sides seems to be steaming the wood, then shaping it over a heated cylinder, finally putting it in a mold to cool to its final shape. I should think this technique would work fine for an instrument case; it does seem to be a bit elaborate, though.

Another slightly simpler approach would still involve a form, but would employ cold bending of very thin sheets of wood, with glue and clamps (lots of clamps). I don't know how tight the radii of your bends need to be, but obviously the tighter they are, the thinner the wood needs to be.

The last method I can think of would involve cutting many adjacent kerfs in your case side piece, leaving a very thin bit of wood holding everything together. A table saw or radial arm saw works well for this. After kerfing, put glue in the kerfs and bend the wood to shape with a simple form which doesn't have to be terribly sturdy, since there is little pressure on it). A few clamps hold it until the glue drys. If the kerfs are spaced correctly, they close up completely and make a decently strong joint. It is also possible to glue a thin veneer to the surface where the kerfs are exposed, hiding them, although if the case will be lined with fabric, this probably isn't necessary.

The lip for the lid probably ought to be steam bent to shape, or else you could saw the proper shape from a board using a bandsaw or jigsaw. This leaves you with cross grain somewhere, though, unless you find some tree limbs with the correct bend already in them. Those could be milled to shape (with considerable effort).

So, it looks like building a case could be good practice in case you ever decide to build an instrument. Many of the skills seem to be similar.

Date: 2010-12-06 08:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catsittingstill.livejournal.com
Actually, for the curved sides I'm thinking about using short pieces of bead-and-coved cedar strips.

Those other methods would certainly work, though.

Date: 2010-12-06 09:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boywizard.livejournal.com
I hadn't thought of that - kind of like a really short boat.

Date: 2010-12-06 07:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peteralway.livejournal.com
Ah, instrument cases made by a boatbuilder would be perfect for air travel: In case of an emergency water landing, case may be used as a floatation device.

Date: 2010-12-06 08:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catsittingstill.livejournal.com
Length at waterline 36 inches.
Beam at waterline, 12.5 inches.
Center depth 4.5 inches.
Displacement: 24.5 pounds.

Date: 2010-12-06 09:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boywizard.livejournal.com
And the instrument itself could be used as a paddle.

Date: 2010-12-10 01:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] weirdsister.livejournal.com
I missed your birthday! :(

Happy Belated Birthday, Cat! And many more!

Date: 2010-12-10 02:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catsittingstill.livejournal.com
*hug* It's okay. You've had other stuff going on.

And thank you for the birthday wishes. :-)

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