Blackwood and Engleman

[rocket]

This is a build i started last year but as been put on the back burner while i concenrated on another build, which is almost complete, so this is back on the bench.
The b/s are blackwood from Tim Spittle, the top is Engleman spruce, i'm just scraping the recurve at the moment [BY HAND, NO CNC INVOLVED HERE !!!! ]
Cheers,,, Rod

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[Matt Bach]

Whats going on with the nifty end block there?

[Clancy]

Lovely stuff rocket.
How heavy is the blackwood?
My blackwood archie ended up quite weighty, but then it was my first build so it was left a bit thick.

[rocket]

The tail inlay is to compliment an art deco style tail piece i'll be using on this archie Matt.
Craig,, This one is quite light compared to some of my earlier efforts, a bit of experience does help in this caper, i'm getting my plates much thinner, i don't mind the blackwood, i find it quite easy to work, has a nice smell too.
Cheers,,,
Rod.

[graham mcdonald]

Do a little investigation into curtate cycloid curves. It is an approach to the shape of arched plates which might lead to some benefits

cheers

graham

[ozziebluesman]

Very nice Rod.

The blackwood is going to look spectacular as does the end graft.

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Cheers

Alan

[Mark McLean]

Beutiful stuff Rod. That combination of woods is great.

We definitely need to know a bit more about how you did the checkerboard-style end graft.............(please).

Mark

[Nick]

You are certainly getting the hang of these things now Rod, it's looking all class & I'd love to see a close up of the tail graft too! How do you find working the Englemann as opposed to Sitka?

Thanks for your comment Graham, I must look into those also, I think you are the second person I've heard mention the benefits of curtate cycloids.

[Craig]

Wow Rod .!! Incredible work . Like others, I like the look of that tail graft and look forward to seeing it with your Art Deco type tail piece . All very tasty indeed . Great work mate .
Rod don't need no stinkin CNC

[kiwigeo]

Nice work Rod.....I do love that Blackwood. Did you find the Engleman a bit furry to work with?

[Mike Thomas]

This is a very useful programme for generating curtate cycloids. It's called CCycloid, and is designed for stringed instrument makers. It will also generate catenary curves, which some makers argue is the basis for the internal shape, whilst the cycloid is the basis for the external shape.

http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~smann/ccycloid/

[rocket]

Thanks for the thumbs up you lot, Martin, the Engleman is definitely different to Sitka to work with but not in a negative way, if you were to use the word "fury" i'd say that the shavings come off a little bit fury maybe. But it planes and scrapes quite well,
Cheers,,,
Rod.

[Kim]

Beautiful work Rod, looking forward to seeing the completed instrument in full detail it should be a real beauty.

Cheers

Kim

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the thumbs up you lot, Martin, the Engleman is definitely different to Sitka to work with but not in a negative way, if you were to use the word "fury" i'd say that the shavings come off a little bit fury maybe. But it planes and scrapes quite well,
Cheers,,,
Rod.

I found french polishing Engleman a bit of a challenge.....took some time to tame some nibs that kept poking through the shellac. I ended up doing a couple of egg white sizing sessions followed by a light sand back.