Hi Troy, In further response to your original posting re: minimum requirements, here is a list of the tools I acquired/made in order to make my first lute from scratch (mostly following David van Edwards's CDROM of instructions). Hopefully this will give you a better idea of how much (or little) you actually need to get started. Some of the items are specific to the methods used - other people have already mentioned alternative approaches.
Workbench: a collection of old tables and desks in the garage, some with an old door or discarded kitchen worktop overlaid. To two of these I fitted a vice: it was useful having two while making the bowl as one was occupied full time with the universal joint carrying the mould (see below under Home-made tools). Power tools: - drill press and cordless drill/driver, but you can get away with a hand drill - small bandsaw: I managed to cut rosewood ribs from a turner's blank with this. Generally useful for other cutting tasks (e.g. the sectional slices for the mould), but possibly not essential if you buy pre-cut rib sets (available from various suppliers - David lists a number of these, including some Stateside). - disc sander: again not essential, but very useful again for tasks such as fine adjustment of the mould slice outlines. - belt sander: this was a desperation buy in response to an inability to plane/scrape rosewood ribs down to thickness cleanly and accurately - I made an adjustable sanding jig to hold the sander over a rib at just the right height. Obviously not needed if you don't have this problem, or use other solutions such the Luthier's Friend! - dust extractor, with a hose that can be fitted into the bandsaw, both sanders, as well as an old vacuum cleaner hose suspended above the main work area by an elastic cord. Again this is not essential, but highly recommended! Hand tools: - smoothing plane (Stanley No 4) - block plane (Stanley No 9 1/2): useful for all sorts of tasks, including a tour of duty upside-down in the planing desk (See below). - saws - my collection of Japanese saws grew to 4 by the end of the build, although you really only need one, plus a coping saw. - chisels - two Japanese chisels (wide-ish and narrow-ish), and a large gouge for carving the neck block. - scrapers - rectangular and curved. I also tried making small curved scrapers from bits cut off cast-off Japanese saw blades, but still haven't discovered the knack of sharpening scrapers, let alone curved ones! Still I managed with an off-the-shelf gooseneck scraper for the tasks that needed this. - reamer; 1 in 30 taper from a specialist supplier - knives - specialist luthier's knife used for carving the rose and parts of the bridge, amongst other tasks. - steel rules: 6", 12" and 24". Also a flexible steel rule is useful. - adjustable bevel gauge - G-clamps - "you can never have enough clamps!" - domestic iron - very useful tool for adjusting/undoing glue joints! I happened to have a small traveling iron which was actually acquired for waxing skis, but I suspect a full-blown domestic iron would be more effective in some situations. - waterstones; 3 different grades - honing guide: I ended up with the Veritas MkII, which give good repeatability on the bevel angle, but still requires care on getting the edge square. - glass plate: used both for lapping (with wet-and-dry paper) blade backs and flattening waterstones, and as a flat surface for checking flatness. Home-made or modified tools: - mini-chisel made from a modelling knife by grinding down a narrow blade (using an angle grinder and frequent dipping in water, as I was too mean to invest in a wetstone grinder!) - this was outlined by David as one of the possible approaches to cutting out the holes in the rose. - universal joint, made from MDF, to facilitate working on the mould at different stages of the process. I have actually seen a picture of someone using a heavy-duty camera or telescope tripod instead! - cutters for the rebate on soundboard edge for the half-binding (I nearly didn't bother with the half-binding at all, but after seeing the state of the edge after trimming, decided it was worth the extra effort, even on a first instrument!). David gives instructions for making a cutter for the vertical cut, but says to use a knife freehand to make the horizontal cut. I didn't feel brave enough to do this, so made another similar cutter to make the horizontal cut. I also attempted to make a small rebate plane for this job, but it was not very successful - I'd be interested to hear from Rob as to how he made his! - bending iron - you can obviously buy these, but I made mine using an upturned stainless steel biscuit tin with a 250-watt bulb inside. David shows examples of other approaches to this. - glue pot - a kettle on a small single-ring electric hob with a thermostatic control provides the boiling water, the glue sits in a plastic pudding basin that fits into the kettle, and is covered by the kettle lid which helps avoid a crust forming. - calipers for measuring soundboard thickness - basically a very accurate gauge mounted on a very stiff pair of arms: again can be bought ready-made, but I based mine on a design outlined by David: obviously the actual gauge you need to buy! - wedge clamps - David's method for gluing the end-clasp and endliner involves using up to 30 of these which are easy to make from any sort of hardwood. - peg sharpener - needed for peg fitting, this was made from a blade from an old scraper plane fixed to a hardwood block with a hole cut using the reamer. Again this is outlined by David. Incidentally, I outsourced the pegs this time, but may invest in a little lathe next time round... - planing desk - needed for David's method for rib-fitting. There are various ways of making this; mine involved cutting a hole in a sheet of melamine-faced chipboard, and devising a jig to hold the block place securely upside-down in the hole, with the ability to adjust the position to get the place sole perfectly level with the rest of the sheet. As I may have mentioned before, I also added another piece of chipboard perpendicularly above the plane as a fence, which allowed me to use it as shooting plane to prepare the soundboard edges for jointing. - go-bars - David recommends these for clamping the soundboard bars and bridge during gluing. You can buy these from some specialist suppliers, but I made mine by slicing up some hardwood skirting from a DIY store. Rather than building a frame, I fixed a board faced with sandpaper under the rafters of the garage roof, and cut the bars to fit the distance to the board. There are pictures of some of these items on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/din_luthery/sets/72157603178239623/ The thing that struck me when I started was the amount of time spent making tools and jigs, but I came to realize that it is part of what I enjoyed about the whole process, especially where I needed to improvise, adapt or invent! I've also learnt a lot about using and "fettling" (now there's a good word - I'm not sure if it translates across the pond!) the various sorts of tools, although there's still plenty to learn. But the main lesson was that, with a few (sharp and well-adjusted) tools you can get started with relatively little in your armoury. As you progress, you will acquire and/or make additional items, either because of some specialized requirement, or because it will save you some elbow grease! There will of course be the temptation to acquire things you don't really need - this is a danger inherent in browsing tool catalogues! However the key thing is to get started - the learning curve is not too steep, but definitely enjoyable! Best wishes Din > -----Original Message----- > From: Rob Dorsey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 08 December 2007 20:06 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Lute construction > > 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 > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -----Original Message----- > From: Troy Wheeler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 05 December 2007 12:17 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Lute construction > > > So gentleman, > > if there is a minimum regarding tools needed to get started > such as: > > work bench (any particular size?) > carving tools > measuring tools > planes > > what would that minimum be? > > Best Regards > > TW > _________________________________________________________________ > Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.Download today it's > FREE! > http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_sharelife_11200 > 7 > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
