Monday, August 3, 2009 Preparing the Rib Linings
The edges of the willow piece must be trued using the shooting plane prior to the final measurement and cut.
The trued willow has been planed and sanded to a thickness of 2 mm and is ready for cutting into strips.
The first strip to be cut has been measured and is being scribed to a width of 8 mm prior to hand cutting.
Ben skillfully cuts the strip using his small finger as a guide placed against the outer edge of the willow piece.
Ben trimmed the blocks to fit flush against the linings. He also wet the blocks before planing them flush with th eribs. The wet block is easier to plane and feels like "cutting a wet carrot". Below Ben is cutting a mortise in a C bout corner block. The rib lining strip will be inserted into the two opposite corner mortises to prevent it from later losing its C curve.
Photo below shows finished mortise. A custom chisel made by Ted from a knife blade blank is the required thickness and pops the wood out after initial incising by a sharp knife. Note that the lining is overcut 1 mm so it is inserted with pressure to allow for shrinkage with a change in humidity.
Below the C Bout lining after bending on the electric iron is fitted to ready for gluing. Note that the linings need to be bent as close to the shape of the ribs as possible otherwise when the linings are glued to the ribs the shape of the ribs could be distorted.
