Bending the C Bout Ribs
The electric bending iron must be heated to the point that water droplets will dance on the surface literally exploding. This may take up to an hour.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the time final truing of the rib edges is done using the shooting board and plane.
Prior to the final selection and cutting of the rib pieces for the CBout ribs the thickness is checked down to the tenth of a millimeter with the micro thickness calipers.
The piece selected is from a section with clear flaming rather than the area where the flaming fades away. The bottom of the strip and side out is marked lightly with a penciled arrow. After the final measurements the cutting line is scribed and cut nearly through the wood then snapped apart.
The rib pieces must be wet during the bending process. They could be dipped in water or in this case sprayed with water using a mister bottle. The wood strip is placed between the hot bending iron surface and a flexible metal or fabric strip that can be easily manipulated. The bending irons are shaped with curve surfaces similar to curves on the luthier's instruments. When bending repeted touch up may be needed to ensure the bend is correct and the strip is flat vertically.
When C bout is shaped the ends of the strip may need to be shortened and adjustments made to the angle of the planes on trapezoidal step blocks. This is to ensure that the rib does not break or chip once the clamps are applied.
Here the fitting is done of the clamp, rib and step block. The C bout ribs will be allowed to dry for several hours prior to gluing.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Gluing the C Bout Ribs
Below is a view of the clamping fter glue has been applied to the C Bout corner blocks and ribs. Occasionally, in addition to the Step blocks being clamped to apply uniform pressure to the entire rib piece an additional small clamp may be applied to the corner joint.
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