Archive of the Category 'Building'

Santa Fe #2

Wednesday, day 2. January 2008

I’ve been quite busy lately, and though I’ve said that I will be getting back into building psalteries, I still really haven’t re-established a normal routine yet coming off from the holidays. The last two weeks feel like about 3 months have gone by.
Anyhow, I did manage to do one thing: take a picture of […]

Building | 0 Comments »

A Burled Walnut Ring

Tuesday, day 18. December 2007

I used a nifty new tool today to cut a burled walnut rosette ring. It is very similar to a standard circle cutter for a drill press, but instead of one cutter, it has two - one on each side.
By using two cutters, I can cut out both the inner and outer diameters of the […]

Tools and Equipment, Building | 1 Comment »

Crop Circle Rosette

Friday, day 14. December 2007

I’ve always been fascinated by the patterns of crop circles. I think that some of them are incredibly beautiful and complex patterns.
Naturally, I began to think of ways to somehow apply this to bowed psalteries. I just wanted to have a little fun with it. So, I inlaid a giant purpleheart disc in the middle […]

Building, Experimental | 0 Comments »

A Black Walnut Beauty

Monday, day 10. December 2007

Here is a picture of a recently completed psaltery with a bookmatched black walnut back. I think the hard maple binding does a good job of framing this wood’s beauty.
And, for those curious, here is a picture of the top of the psaltery, with a sitka spruce top.

Building | 0 Comments »

A Mother-of-Pearl Rosette Strip

Friday, day 7. December 2007

I was busy gluing together strips of mother-of-pearl (MOP) to form a rosette, and thought I’d take a picture of the process:
You can see from the picture that MOP obviously does not come in giant pre-manufactured rolls because it is harvested from the shells of small mollusks - so it’s more like 1″ long strips […]

Building, How-To | 0 Comments »

Kerry’s “Santa Fe” reproduction

Wednesday, day 5. December 2007

In the attached picture you can see the progress on a psaltery made of Padauk. I made a very similar psaltery a few months back that I had named “Santa Fe,” and this psaltery will end up looking very similar to the original.
As of right now, the frame is assembled, and all of the side […]

Building | 0 Comments »

A Rear Soundhole Rosette

Saturday, day 1. December 2007

Here is a picture of the back of a psaltery I am working on for Tim.
What is seen is a curly maple back, with a rear soundhole and an inlaid ring of Cocobolo around the rim. Since it is freshly sanded the Cocobolo looks light brown with streaks of yellowish orange, but it will […]

Building | 1 Comment »

Gluing on the Binding

Wednesday, day 28. November 2007

Here you can see how the trim that borders the top and bottom of the psaltery (also called the “binding”) gets attached.
The psaltery in the picture is a spruce top, with walnut back and sides, and hard maple binding.
You can clearly see the blue masking tape contrasting with the wood. Pulled tight in both directions, […]

Building, How-To | 0 Comments »

An Inlaid Rosette

Friday, day 23. November 2007

Well, there’s not all too many exciting things going on in the shop right now, so no finished products to display as of yet. Instead, I’ll share an in-between picture of a work in progress:
This is a Western Red Cedar top with an inlaid 10mm width rosette. This is the same top that can […]

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Grapejuice Dragonfly

Friday, day 16. November 2007

All done.
Well, in case you can’t see from the pictures, this psaltery was made with both Purpleheart sides and trim - which reminded me of grape juice. The rose is a laser-cut plywood circle in the shape of a dragonfly.

This was my first time buffing Purpleheart up to a high gloss, and I […]

Building | 2 Comments »

Lois & Jerry’s Psaltery

Thursday, day 15. November 2007

Here is another psaltery I am working on, with the back and sides made of black walnut.
The bookmatched Walnut looks great, with a lot of character. The hard maple binding has not yet been added, but you can still see that this will be a handsome psaltery.
So far I just have the frame and […]

Building | 0 Comments »

Sharon’s Psaltery

Wednesday, day 14. November 2007

Here’s a quick update on one of the psalteries I’m working on.
It is made of cherry for the back and sides, and a western red cedar top (still unattached) can be seen sitting next to the frame.
I tried to find the darkest, reddest cedar I could find to match the cherry. Cherry will darken […]

Building | 1 Comment »

Tim’s Psaltery

Wednesday, day 7. November 2007

Since I forgot to update this blog on Monday, I guess I’ll make up for it today by making two posts!
I finally got my thin-kerf bandsaw blade in the mail today, and I was finally able to saw up the curly maple board I had wanted to use for the back of this psaltery. Since […]

Tools and Equipment, Building | 0 Comments »

Becky’s Psaltery Pt. 2

Wednesday, day 7. November 2007

I thought I’d give one last update before I finish this psaltery.
Basically, all the building is done and all that’s left is the finishing, buffing, and stringing. (This usually takes between 7 and 10 days.)
Here’s a shot of the quilted maple back, with a centerstrip of purpleheart.
Hopefully, if there are no hiccups, the psaltery should […]

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