Saw, Ribs and Sander

Lots to add, it has been a while since my last post and some awesome stuff has happened.

First of all I got a scroll saw! This is such a useful tool.

I will be able to use this for all my cutting out needs, on my side panels back piece and the ribs of my gurdy.


This is my saw:

It is a bottom of the line scroll saw, but it will do exactly what I need it to do.

This is the first piece made on it, turned out well. It is rib A.

In addition to that first rib I have cut out ribs B and C. Here are the three of them shown together. They all need more work sanding them to get them down to the correct size and so they have the correct curvatures and are smooth. They are neat now, but can only get better.

I have saved the coolest part for last. After looking at the tools I have and what I need to do I have come to the realization that need a spindle sander. The only problem is that they are expensive, or I would have to travel to another persons shop to use them. So instead of getting another tool I decided to try using my drill press. Lo and behold it works. My original test involved taping a piece of sand paper to a pencil. It worked ok, but I will probably be getting a set of sanding drums that are made exactly for this sort of thing.

This is what my drill press sanding setup looked like.

Some work shaping the back piece.

I could not sleep and was quite awake. So I put on some music, grabbed a hammer and chisel and went to town on the back of my the instrument. It now is starting to take its shape.

There is still much shaping and finishing to do, but I chipped away lots of material this morning.

Photos of the "destruction".

Reference Photos

Here are two reference photos from the book Making and Playing Musical Instruments

This is an image of the gurdy taht was build by Herman Dewit, my finished one will look similar to this.

This is an exploded view showing all the parts that go into making this instrument.

Progress

Today I made what feels like a huge jump forward in work on The Dewit. Though I realize that much of the work is still to come.

Today I went to the lumber yard again, and got African Mahogany for the back and walnut for the base and ribs.

I also got to work in the shop of Mike Smith, the luthier who is helping me out. So I was able to get my base pieces cut to approximate thickness, my back rough cut and the upper panel of the tuning pin box roughly cut out.

With this amount of progress I am able to see what (very roughly) what the instrument will look like.

Below are a few pictures of working on the wood and what the pieces look like when they are leaned against each other. The first is of my transport to and from the lumber yard.