Before this session, I manage to tour the Kelantan Lane once again.
Guess what I managed to find this time?
Marples (Irwin) chisel for SGD 9!
Well though now Marples chisel are no longer manufactured in England, (Now made in China as with many other products), they still use the Sheffield steel.
The chisel is coated with a layer to protect it from rust.
Note that this layer will clogged the sanding stone when sharpening the chisel.
I also bought a carbide sharpening stone for SGD 6.
However, I noticed that the same stone selling for SGD 2.25 at HomeFix...
So not all things in Kelantan lane are cheap.
Another tool was a wooden palm plane by MuJingFang (tw).
It reputated to have very hard blade.
Also I bought a Bahco 1" gouge from HomeFix.
It turned out that it wasn't that useful as I thought it is...
The cutting was really that good; the smaller Japanese gouge for wood carving was easier to handle.
Wasted SGD40...
Finally I ordered from more tools from Amazon.
This time round I ordered via VPostUSA instead of Amazon delivering directly to me.
This is because some of the tools cannot be shipped outside US directly.
The VPost service is quite lousy; they mixed up the processing resulting in one undelivered packaged and had to go for next round (higher cost as they charged another round of base charges) and they take very long to reply to my queries.
I had wanted them to waive the base charge but knowing their service standard, I must say it'll probably take eons before they give a no reply...
So in the end I just order some more chisel to make the next round more cost effective.
I bought a Stanley spokeshave, Takumi douzuki saw (pull saw), Grizzly 1 cm thickness dial gauge.
These are mainly in preparation for my next build.
Here is the picture of the new tools.
Preparing the caul
The caul was half done previously.
This time round I tried to use the Bahco gouge but it didn't work out either.
In the end I tried the Marples chisel and (Wow!) they are real sharp.
They cut the MDF like butter.
I managed to clean up the channels for the brace.
Cleaning up the channels
All cleaned up
Fitted caul
Harmonic brace kerfed lining extension
After seeing David LaPlante's post in the OLF about a replica of a Torres' guitar, I decide to follow suit with these:
A kerfed lining extension above the harmonic brace.
Well it look more authentic.
Tiny kerfed lining extension above the harmonic brace.
Sound port
Finally after weeks of design I settled on this design for the sound port.
It was kind of inspired by the Chinese Eight Trigram (Pak Kua).
But if you look carefully there is an S in the centre, representing Sen. :)
I first drilled small hole all around the design using my B&D RTX.
Then I use fret saw to cut through the holes.
Fitting the fret saw through the hole can be a tricky task, to generate enough tension for the blades.
Finally after sawing I use files to file the excess portion to size.
Fitting the fret saw blade
Filed to shape
Another view
Looking through the port
Shaving the brace, top patch
Well after having good experience with the Marples chisel, I decide to try it on the braces.
One of the brace was having a notch in it due to a blunt chisel.
The Marples cut through like hot knife through melted butter.
As I remove more and more, I realise the profile of the brace was changed.
So I decided to carry on more and make it into triangular profile instead.
The for outer 2 braces due to space constraint I decide leave it as it is.
Well I wished that the chisel were a abit shorter in this case :)
Triangular profile
Another view
Also I added another patch of spruce to reinforce the top part of the sound board.
It is said that this will improve the treble response.
Fleta had the entire upper bout coverd with hard maple.
Aguado? extended the neck beneath the top board for the entire length of the finger board.
Hauser reinforced with another traverse strut.
I never had a strut and so I reinforce with a pad instead.
Top reinforcement pad
After that I held the caul in place using tape.
Now the guitar is all set for back assembly.
Holding the caul in place
Another view
Closing the box, Back assembly
I am clamping the back using just F-clamps.
I have 4 big ones and 10 small ones: this should be just sufficient for the assembly.
Originally I thought of reinforcing further using strings, but noting that the back overhang is pretty long and strings might cause the back to uplift from the lining (with the edge as the fulcrum point)
The wooden blocks which I bought at Daiso was very useful.
I used them on several occassions.
In the end I found a better solution using those wooden blocks are caul.
They served to protect the back and apply a more even pressure.
As I use yellow glue (PVA) for the assembly I had to work fast.
The four main clamps were used for the heel, tail and 2 waist section.
The rest of the clamps were spaced out in between those 4 big clamps.
Applying the glue.
Various views of clamping the back.
The closed box
The next few days I remove the clamps.
So far so good the assembly.
I tap the top for the tap tone and it sounded with a bassy thud in the bridge region.
Then I realised there is a caul underneath the bridge region so it wont give an accurate tap tone.
So the next step? purfling and finger board headplate and french polish and finally setup.
Front view
Back view
Side view
Oblique back view
Another back view
Another end view the back curve can be seen.
The sound port. The middle portion is supposed to look like an 'S', but my good music pal commented that it didn't look like one. Seems like I need to remove more material in the middle part to make it looked more like one.
Looking through the sound port
You can see the strut pattern here.
The back struts
The caul in place.
Tools shopping spree
Well I think I was bitten by the tools shopping bug.
I went shopping for tools again: both online and Kelantan Lane.
Due to the mess-up by VPost, who failed to deliver one of my package and they are going to charge me the last (lost) package another base charge, I decide to make use of the opportunity to buy some more tools.
This time time I order a chisel set from Diefenbacher Tools instead.
Well their packaging is just nice: the correct sized box for the tools.
One caution about the free shipping for Amazon, they tend to use overly size boxes.
This might be ok for continental US shipping since it is free, but when it comes to VPost shipper, which goes by weight, the shipping charges is expensive.
This is the lesson which I learnt.
Anyway I tried out the Diefenbacher chisel, they were great!
They much better than the disappoint 2 Cherries paring chisel which I got from Amazon.
If I had know better, I would have gotten the paring chisel from Diefenbacher too.
I managed to tour my favourite hunt, Kelantan lane and this time round managed to acquire a Maktec (Makita) Laminate Trimmer(SGD 78) and 1.5" Marples Blue chip chisel (SGD17).
Maktec is the Makita's subsisdary in China which manufactures the trimmer.
Though it is stated that it accepts 6mm bit or 1/2" bit (6.35mm), in actualy fact, the 6mm bits are just too loose.
If I on the power, I'll probably be facing some shuriken(手裏剣) (Ninja darts) flying from the trimmer.
The 1/4" bit which comes with the trimmer fits exactly without any problem.
Now I am all set to cut the binding rebate.
The tools acquired recently (includes those from previous batch of shipping)
The Maktec laminate trimmer - comes with an edge guide, so I need not build one.
Another view
