I’ve been wanting a small vise when working on guitar nuts and saddles. Lee Valley sells a small vise they call a Toolmaker’s Vise. Here’s a link to it. https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/workbenches/vises/110469-toolmakers-vise?item=70G1115 I thought I’d try it and see what I think as it’s not expensive. It comes like this with removable jaws. They … Continue reading A Nut and Saddle Vise
I haven’t posted much about my first guitar. Here it is almost finished. I still have some adjustments to make but I’m well into guitar number 2 so I need to clear out the backlog of images. The top is Western Red Cedar. z The back and sides are Black Walnut. The neck … Continue reading Guitar Number 1
The back is ready to be glued to the rims. This was a fun step. I enjoyed shaping the braces a lot. This shows the small notches that I cut in the side linings. I used these tools to cut the notches. From left to right: a good pencil, a 1/8" chisel, a 1/12" chisel, … Continue reading The Back is Ready
I cut the Sitka Spruce braces, thinned them to 6mm, and shaped the ends. I also radiused the bottom of each braces with my 15 foot radius dish. The channels were cut so there is a tight fit. You can see the radius in the braces here, the centers are on the back and the … Continue reading Preparing The Back Braces
I'm adding the center strip cleat to the back. I first cut the back to its rough shape. The center strip is Sitka Spruce with the grain running perpendicular to the length of the strip. I need three small piece to make the strip. I'm using some of the cam clamps I made a few … Continue reading Adding The Center Strip
I'm working on the back to my first guitar. This is my tapered jointing board and my Veritas Jack Rabbet plane. I've added a fence to the side so I can use it for things like this. This is another view of the jointing board. It's designed to be used for jointing small parts. The … Continue reading Jointing and Gluing the Back
I made an electric 5-string viola for my daughter.
My last post about my Shaker-style side table included a reference to drawer slips. Here's more about them as they are not common in the USA. Here's the side table for reference. Drawer slips are small rails that are glued to the inside of drawer sides. They have a groove for the drawer instead of … Continue reading More About Drawer Slips
Once my workbench was finished I wanted to make an actual piece of furniture. This is what I did. It's a Shaker-style side table with a cherry top and a walnut base. The sides of the drawers are also cherry. I used three techniques new to me in this build: A curved drawer front.Cock beading … Continue reading Shaker Side Table
In 2019 I built a woodworking workbench. This will probably be my last bench so I wanted to make a good one and document the build. Here's the bench and an index. Part 1 - The Beginning Part 2 - Starting The Top Part 3 - Jointing And Gluing The Top Part 4 - The … Continue reading Workbench Build — 2019 Index
Eric J. Knapp 