Hi all,
Although I am not nearly in Rob's class as a builder, I too build in
a small workshop (9X9 feet) next to the laundry area in my basement.
I've accumulated power tools mainly for renovating my house, but they
are mostly benchtop sized. I have a cheap Taiwanese 14 inch bandsaw
that I bought used in the garage with a 3/4 inch blade on it for
resawing. It doesn't have a dust port on it, so it stays out in the
garage where the dust won't get on the clothes in the laundry area.
I built myself a thickness sander capable of handling soundboards up
to 15 inches wide. It too lives in the garage, as does a cheapie
Delta benchtop table saw. That doesn't get used much in lutherie,
but I found that blade stabilizers made a big difference in its
performance. The Taiwanese saw also started performing better once I
put a Timber Wolf blade on it. It now cuts much more efficiently; it
was like increasing the size of the motor.
Indoors I have a 9 inch Delta bandsaw, a tabletop drill press and a
tabletop mini lathe that is sold for hobbyists making wooden pens. I
used to use it to make pegs, but I've found an Indian company that
sells them at a reasonable price. I may still make pegs for my own
lutes; I have certainly accumulated enough apple wood for that. I
have a Luthier's Friend that goes on the drill press; I use that for
thicknessing ribs and for a lot of other things. I usually prep the
soundboards out in the garage on the bigger thickness sander in
batches and work on the ribs on the Luthier's Friend in the basement
as I have time. There is an old radial arm saw in the basement that
I bought used for work on the house; it doesn't get used much in
lutherie, though.
Like Rob, I look for old hand tools. I use a block plane that
belonged to my grandfather that passed to me when my father died. I
like to remember him when I use it. You can find nice planes in
"antique" stores for about $25 or $30 (but check the blades for deep
nicks). I have a nice fore plane that cost me $30 that I use all the
time. Many of the old hand tools were given up when power tool
equivalents became common for cabinetmakers and finish carpenters, so
the old ones go pretty cheap. You can make jigs and things like
shooting boards yourself as you need them. Good scrapers are a must;
the ones I can get in local hardware stores don't have hard enough
steel, so I buy from either Woodcraft or lutherie supply stores. I
broke down and bought a violin maker's thumb plane when I had to do
some remedial work to lower the action on a lute; it's also great for
shaving down bracing. I have a set of small mushroom-handled chisels
sold for woodblock printmakers which are perfect for fine work.
If you are starting out, you can often get things done for you by the
lutherie supply houses. LMI will glue up a soundboard and thickness
sand it for you for a reasonable charge. The first lutes I built had
ribs made from thin wood from a hobby supply store. At 24 inches, it
was just barely long enough for a G lute. And you can get creative.
Rather than invest in a luthier's bending iron at first, I made a
bending form and used a steam iron to bend the wood to conform to the
form. Don't plan on using the steam iron for clothes again; I had an
old one. You can find old irons in thrift shops.
If you have a Craig's List web page for your area, you can watch it
for used tools. Often people will sell an entire workshop of tools
that belonged to a deceased parent which they have no use for. The
tools might be 50 years old, but if they are in good condition and
the price is favorable, go for it.
For sharpening I am quite iconoclastic; I use emery wet-dry sandpaper
on a marble tile. You can find grits up to 2000 in the auto repair
section of a DIY store; it's used between coats when repainting
cars. With a 2000 grit sandpaper you can get an edge so smooth it
looks like it was polished. Just put a little water on the tile and
put the paper on top of it; the paper will stick and once you wet the
sandpaper you can use it for sharpening. If the sandpaper loads up,
just toss it and get a new sheet. I also cheat and use a honing
guide. I didn't bother much with sharpening when I was younger and
doing home repair work, but once I got interested in lutherie I
realized what a difference it made.
The power tools I would hate to do without are the little band saw
and the benchtop drill press. With those in your shop and some basic
hand tools, you can do almost anything needed in lutherie. I have
even resawed ribs with the little band saw, although it was a slow
process because it is very under-powered. If you are going to resaw
on one of these, get a Timberwolf blade. The benchtop lathe is handy
too, but as I said above, at first you can buy pegs made by others.
I splurged and got a duplicator attachment so my pegs are reasonably
uniform.
You really don't want to go the New Yankee Workshop route and buy
thousands of dollars worth of tools just to see if you like
lutherie. Start small and modest and buy good quality tools as you
develop your skills and can foresee a continued need for them.
If you go to Larry Brown's web site, you can see that he is working
out of a pleasant room in his basement, and he's made something like
1200 instruments. So you don't need a big fancy shop to do quality
work.
Tim
On Dec 8, 2007, at 3:06 PM, Rob Dorsey wrote:
Hi Dana and All,
With all respect for Dana's woodworking skills, which must be vast
to build
pipe organs, I must disagree on the tools necessary to build lutes,
even in
some quantity. My shop is currently a corner of our basement and
measures
10'x8'. The only power tools I use are, a Delta 14" band saw (for
general
sawing and re-sawing with a 1/2" wide blade), a table top drill
press, a
corded and cordless drill, a disk sander and a dremmel tool. The
one other
big power item is a Jet mini wood lathe for pegs. Everything else
is done
with hand tools. I prefer to get my chisels from eBay since I can find
vintage socket chisels which make it easy to replace the handles. I
sharpen
with Japanese water stones. I have a collection of small planes,
several of
which I made for a specific task such as cutting the shelf for a
binding on
a lute top. My most expensive hand tools are a couple from Lie
Nielsen, a
small scraper plane and a low angle smoothing plane. Otherwise it's
Stanley
all the way.
I built me first lute on a drafting table in my apartment in
Portland. While
I did some of the work at Bob Lundeberg's shop I did most of it at
home,
even carving the mould, making huge mess.
It's not so much the amount of equipment you can gather that makes
the lute.
It's having the fire in your belly to do it and the guts to get
about it.
Best,
Rob Dorsey
http://RobDorsey.com
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 1:57 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Lute construction
Sorry all, I should have waited to reply, my previous posting was
incomplete
because of time constraints.
To build from plans and use wood bought from commercial sources
(rather than
as a kit) you will want access to a general woodworking shop -
resawing
bandsaw, ordinary bandsaw, table saw, jointer, planer. Many large
cities
have woodworking clubs. I build pipe organs for a living, and have
permission to use the shops tools for small home projects (I pay
rent when
doing work for sale). Sometimes you can find a medium or small size
cabinet/millwork shop that resells excess wood and does small-scale
millwork
for a reasonable fee, or one that allows employees to earn tips for
small
amounts of ad-hoc millwork on provided wood. Do you and the shop
the favor
of providing a sketch showing precisely what you want done; also,
be careful
not to impose, friday at closing is not the best time, tho a half hour
earlier may have been ideal.
For soundboard tuning you want cabinet scrapers and small planes,
spokeshaves, and gouges, look to the ample violin making literature
for
details on use.
Sharpening equipment for all your tools, and a reference book for
sharpening
angles (in metals) which you will augment for the woods you use. A
plate of
glass plus wet/dry paper (scary-sharp system), traditional european
oil
stones, traditional japanese water stones, each of these systems
has some
advantage, and there are machines one can invest in to help with
precision
and speed. Dont assume any tool fresh from the store is ready for
use,
plane soles are ground flat, but may have sprung, and usually are
only sorta
flat; frogs need adjustment if not reshaping; irons and cap irons need
resharpening and honeing, then bedding.
The proper cutting angle for a chisel/gouge varys according to the
nature of
the wood to be worked. Woods with diffuse small pores can tolerate a
stronger angled edge which will last longer (Maple, Apple..)
Softer woods
with larger pores (diffuse or not) will be more air than cellulose
and need
a more acute cutting angle which is more fragile (pine, spruce..).
Woods which are hard in places but also have rings of large pores
(Jatoba,
Oak, Ash) are a compromise, some cuts will need one tool, others a
different
one. Ideally you should have double sets of tools, but that is
costly.
Sometimes you must work with a tool not ideal but which will do the
job with
care.
Manufacturors will give you a compromise angle which may not suit
the work
you intend.
Minimal kit is a concept that is difficult to establish, so much
depends on
personal preference. Plan to spend time at yard and estate sales,
tools are
not always present, but when they are its often a good buy if only
for the
steel. Careful with complex pieces like a plain, often the sole
will be
worn out or split (wooden body), perhaps the iron is not original
and wrong,
perhaps a steeltipped iron has been oversharpened, perhaps a steel-
bodied
plane is warped, dented, or badly rusted beyond redemption. Still,
old
Stanleys, Records, and Baileys are worth $15-20 for you to
experiment on
tuning the plane up. Wooden bodied planes are easy to fabricate,
if you
have a usable iron, so even if the iron was wrong for the plane you
have,
you can make something to use that iron.
A forge with anvils hammers and tongs is the ultimate tool,
assuming you
have a country place, tolerant neighbors and firecode. Most
carvers with
serious collections of tools at least make the handles, if not the
blades.
Used to be a store on 18th st in NYC that sold unhandled swiss
tools (a
Sculpting school was nearby), I hope someone still does that retail,
hopefully online.
Oh, some of the items used by jewlers are useful - gravers, jewlers
saw
blades, reamers, needle files (in grades, #2 has alternatives, #0,
#4 for
example).
A lifetime of various hobbies has built my tool collection, last
time I
moved it filled my car, leaving just a small amount of room for the
driver
(no lunch, no room to consult a map, luckily the car was towed
behind a full
rented truck). Dont know how I will move next time, I have of
course added
to the collection, including a south bend lathe.
Oh, Yes, you need some way to make pegs. You dont need a lathe for
that,
you can carve the heads and shave the tapered shanks, but, lathe-
turned
heads are prefereable.
Dont worry about the size of your tool chest, plan on having
several of
them.
--
Dana Emery
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