The Wait

After being so pumped up about getting my templates completed, I then found myself coming to a sudden halt. Now what do I do? I don't have any hardwood, I don't even have sufficient tools! I resorted to scouring the internet for good deals on tools and tone wood, but all that time searching really didn't do a lot of good because I didn't have the money to buy them anyway. Buying nice figured wood can get REALLY pricey. Finally, after about a month of searching, I found a piece of wood I just HAD to have. Yes, it was expensive, but I bit the bullet and bought it. (Note to all those young husbands out there...Ask your wives first before you do anything!) I bought a book-matched spalted maple drop top. SUPER pretty piece.

I'm afraid I don't have pictures of this piece unglued, sorry.

When it finally arrived from California, I took it out of the box and stared at it with a big smile. However, when I set the two halves side by side, I encountered a problem I didn't expect, perhaps I should have. I don't know. In any case, the two pieces weren't flush to each other. There was a nice big gap in the middle.

So, this is where "The Wait" comes in. I didn't really have any tool that could take care of this problem. So, in my storage room they sat. And sat. Then one day, I don't really know why, but I brought the pieces into work (I work at a college) to see if anyone on the Maintenance crew would have any ideas for me. My friend from church who also works with me, Bill, had the idea to introduce me to a guy in the wood working shop (!!!!!!!) and maybe he would show me how to use the jointer! So, after work we went down, met the guy, he showed me what to do and ....It worked! My two sides were now flush and ready to be glued!

As a side note (a very significant one), I now have access to that shop any time I want to use their equipment! SCORE! Now, I won't have to buy all my own tools right away in order to complete my project. So awesome.

Now, the gluing. Seems simple enough, right? Slap on some glue, clamp it up and forget it. Well, it was a little more complicated than that because my boards were a bit warped and needed to be flattened at the same time that they were being glued. I set up a simple solution that is better described in picture form so here it is:

I put a couple pieces of saran wrap in between the boards to keep the glue from binding to them. Once it was all set up, all that needed to be done was - more waiting. Twenty-four hours of drying just to be sure the glue was well cured. I had finished clamping at around midnight, so that of course meant that I needed to stay up till midnight the next night! :)

...and the result? Well... it was okay. Not quite as good as I had hoped. There was a lot of left over glue on both sides, and the two boards had raised portions in the middle where the boards bowed a little, but at least there was a tight bond! I asked my good friend and fellow guitar maker from TundraMan.com what I should do about the glue and the bow, and his reply was quite simple. Orbital sander. So a couple days later I went to town on the thing and when I was done this was the REAL result!

Isn't it pretty! I cannot wait to see what it will look like with a clear coat! Those curls with pop right out.

Stay tuned for more updates to come. I actually have some catching up to do with my blogging as my progress in real-time is farther along.