Aakoo Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 (edited) So it begins ,..The instrument building workshops for this winter. I got very inspired of ScottR's Mandolin thread and decided I could try to give a shot for f-style mandolin. I've never really played mandolin, or know that much about it's properties, but I've built one acoustic guitar, and a few electric ones and I trust I get support from the workshop leader and other attendees, and also from you guys, so that I will get it right. I look forward for building this instrument more as a woodworking experiment, and perhaps on the side I will find a inspiration to learn to play a new instrument. I thought it would be nice to document the build, so you can expect updates on this thread from me once a week, if I've been attending the workshop. I started by looking for plans from internet, and found some pretty decent looking from eBay, the measures are in inches, so need to do some calculation to get any sense on them, but that shouln't be a problem. I found an flame birch plank, which I have had stored around 10 years, so it should definetly be dry and good to use. I am going to use it for most of the instrument; top, bottom, sides and neck. The masur birch strips I have on the photo, I might use for binding fret board. Some mahogany I have lying around to be used inside the instrument, rest of the wood, and other material, I will find on the fly while the build progress. Edited September 1, 2016 by Aakoo content was repetitive.. Try to format it a bit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 I'm looking forward to watching this one progress. I will be paying attention to how you tackle the many challenges an F-style throws at you. Cheers! -Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted September 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 18 hours ago, ScottR said: I'm looking forward to watching this one progress. I will be paying attention to how you tackle the many challenges an F-style throws at you. I can feel the pressure As I know my self it will be lot of trial and errors.. Fail and Fix / work around. I will have to work against my nature and go slow on this one.. Rather not do anything if I don't know exactly what to do or if I don't have the exactly the right tool at hand at that moment. I try to be honest and post pictures also of the fails and fixes The workshop should start next week, and I am thinking to start with building the template/frame for the body and also cutting the wood to smaller blocks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted September 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2016 First session yesterday. Turned out there were a lot of knots in the birch, which I tried to avoid as much as possible. I found decent places where to cut and here is the results. I still have wood left for the neck or sides, but not both. Currently my gut feeling is that I use the left overs for the sides of the body and get some thermo-treated birch for the neck, I can get it from local woodworking shop. Since the thremot-reated wood, as far as I know, does not bend well, I rather use it for the neck. As you can see from the photo, the direction of the "flame" will be different on top and bottom. That is a shame, but otherwise I would not have been able to make both top and bottom of the plank, so I just have to to live with it. ... So next week, glue the top and bottom together, and start working with the mold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 11, 2016 Report Share Posted September 11, 2016 Let me know if you need anything sending up from here in Pori, Ari. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted September 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2016 Thanks for the offer @Prostheta, I will keep it in mind when I proceed with the build. Some progress yesterday. I glued the top and bottom, rough cut them in size, so that would be less wood to carry around. I also cut first half of the becoming mold. Also I bought a set of chissels, so I am all ready to start carving the shapes out of the wood! I think the birch shows very nice figure. Left one in the photo will be top, and right one will be the bottom. I cut the first half of the mold. As you can see from the mold, I made some adjustments on the bottom end shape of the mandolin. Reason for that was that when I cut the log for smaller blocks, I was busy avoiding knots and accidentally made one of the blocks 5mm too short. I guess no-one would notice if I didn't say it aloud Next week I will have to do some small adjustments on the mold shape, and make the another part. Also should need too make the neck- and tail blocks. Then It is time to start thinking about the sides. Cut them out from the left over birch bloc, make the thickness right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 14, 2016 Report Share Posted September 14, 2016 1 hour ago, Aakoo said: I guess no-one would notice if I didn't say it aloud No, we won't know this unless you tell us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Worked with the mold and the "horns" yesterday, and cut the side strips from same birch stock the top and bottom are made of. There still are quite a few knots, but I think I can find suitable parts for use.. The mold is made of 2 pcs of 1,5 mm thick plywood shaped exactly the same. The pieces are attached to each other with wooden dowels. When bending and glueing the sides I will use both plywood molds, adjusting the molds height somewhat the same as the height of the sides, that way the sides will become straight (hopefully) ,When attaching the kerfed lining, I will drop another half off, to give space for the lining. The "horns" will be attached to the mold with just a drop of superglue, In between the mold and the horn, I will put a very thin layer of cardboard, so that when the mold will be detached, the cardboard will break instead of needing to break the wood. The attachment blocks inside the instrument, will be shaped after the top is glued on, or bottom, depending which I put first. The horn pieces and neck block are made of mahogany, most likely sapele. The blocks are cut across the wood, so that the grain stands vertically. I had to glue the neck block of two pieces to get it thick enough. Next week I am not able to attend the class, so there will be a short break on the progress. I am planning to continue to work with the mold and shaping the neck block. When the mold is ready, I will start thicknessing the sides. I hope the bandsaw blade is as sharp as it was yesterday, I've never before experienced the saw cutting the wood like butter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Agreed about the bandsaw blade. I learnt to sharpen and re-weld blades, and a lot of it comes down to how well that's done. Sharper is always better of course, however if the blade dances left to right from being poorly-welded or warped....yeah.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 There are an amazing number of steps involved to producing these little guys. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Last week I was on a trip and this weeks workshop hours I really didn't get that much done. So very slow progress lately I cut the neck block, cut the scroll only so, that I will be able to glue the sides, will finalize the scroll after the sides are in place, so i can saw it accuretely matching the sides..This was suggested by the course leader, I would have preferred to finalize the cut right now, but I decided to listen to the more experienced guy. I Glued the mahogany body blocks to the mold. In between the mold and mahgogany I placed a 0,5mm thick card board strips, so that when I want to remove the mold, the cardboard will break, instead of the mahogany blocks or the mold. At the end, I planed the sides to 2,4mm thickness. The planner did not really do that good work, as there were some small knots on the side woodstrips, but I was left with enough wood to get the instrument done. I sanded off some more thickness from the scroll end, so it would bend more easier. I left the scroll to a bit more than 1,5 mm. I started th the scroll, and realized that birch is not that bad. it bends quite well,. as long as there is enough moisture. Next time, I will make a template for bending the scroll, and letting the side to dry and cool off on the template, then I wish it will keep the shape better. Yesterday when I got home, the stroll had straightened quite a bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Good hearing from you, Ari. Has this awful cough and illness that's going around reached Kokkola yet? I've got a semi-permanent headache and am completely out of energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 On 10/5/2016 at 5:39 PM, Prostheta said: Good hearing from you, Ari. Has this awful cough and illness that's going around reached Kokkola yet? I've got a semi-permanent headache and am completely out of energy. I've been lucky not getting the cold, actually everybody in my family have been very healthy lately, I hope it stays that way.. I think I had my share of flus a couple of years back, when I got the swine flu.. I was coughing for around few months then.. Take a cup of hot rum or if that doesn't help, then some Koskenkorva and sauna... If that won't do the trick, you're dying Get well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 It seems on that basis that I am dying then! Diagnosed pneumonia on Monday, coughing up blood last night and I think I cracked some ribs. Consider me well and truly out of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Sorry to hear about the peumonia @Prostheta, I hope it's healed by now. I've been very busy with things lately and haven't found the time to even open my laptop, so I haven't posted the updates.. Also the progress has been pretty slow, We had a week off from the course, and I've had to share the bending iron with other people, so been a lot of waiting.. So here is the status today: Sides have been bent and glued on, Only one side left to glue in to the neck block. I'had some strange issues with titebond today. The lower side, that is to be glued and clamped here in the picture, did not fasten with titebond at the first try.. After one hour, I released the clamp from the back horn, and the glue was not yet set, but let the side loose. I added some more glue and reclamped and left the clamps on until tomorrow evening. The back of the horn was kind of interesting piece to set in. I really did not get a good clamping no matter how I tried. I wanted the clamp to pull the birch block also towards the center of the instrument, where I had made a notch for it, so that the joint of sides would be tight. I had made a block that should enable the clamping, but the clamp did not really pull the birch stripe as I wanted. The course leader suggested to put some sand paper on the clamping block side, which goes against the birch stripe. This way the stripe went into the notch, as planned when clamping. Meanwhile waiting my turn to use the binding iron, I cut some 6x6mm kerfed lining strips from mahogany. Didn't take any picture of these, Next week glue in the last side piece, and then fine tune the height, and hopefully attaching the kerfed linings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted October 26, 2016 Report Share Posted October 26, 2016 That looks good There are some tight turns there. Did you get any splitting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2016 Yes, there was some minor splitting, but the splits are located on areas that will be sanded off when I'll adjust the height of sides. I was surprised how easy the birch bent, even if there were some small knots on the edges of the strips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 2, 2016 Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 Koivu (Birch for all you non-Finnish speakers!) is difficult to bend cold, especially if it's loimu (flamed) or the grain is not perfectly straight. Birch doesn't grow large and cleanly like Maple does, so it can be a challenge sometimes. In general Birch is an easy wood to bend as long as it's not dry and has enough heat. I'm wondering whether I should laminate my acoustic build rather than make solid sides, or perhaps do both to compare. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Happy New Year 2017! It's been a long pause since I've been last really building the instrument, the course has been on holidays break, and will continue next week. It's been even longer time since I last posted about the progress here. I could probably explain and give million excuses why I haven't been posting, but let's just say I've been lazy. Meanwhile I've not been building the mandoline, I've been travelling to Dubai, been at home with our son (yes, I was 3 months on parental leave, coming back to work is like vacation!), building office space / place to play guitar to our outhouse, and spent some time with my family on x-mas, so I've been very very lazy In November I glued rest of the sides to the body, and also the kerfed linings on bottom of the body. I first planned to complete the bottom of the instrument, but it turned out to be a bad decision, it will be easier to work with the neck when the top is done first, and bottom inserted at the very end. So, I will continue working on the top instead. Next I started carving the top. I really have zero experience on working with chisels, so I was slightly stressed on this. But turned out, it is very relaxing work. At home I am lacking a good stable table I could clamp the top on to, so I will have to wait until the building course will start again. From here, I will continue carving the top, and plan is to insert the kerfed linings also on top of the body. I also have a electric guitar project, that has been hanging around, so I might continue working with that, fretting and shaping the neck. I put the mandoline on first priority, and if I don't find the motivation on working with the mahdoline, I could do the guitar in the mean time. I think the guitar will become very nice, if I just will ever be able to finnish it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 6 hours ago, Aakoo said: Next I started carving the top. I really have zero experience on working with chisels, so I was slightly stressed on this. But turned out, it is very relaxing work Isn't it though. I learned that mandolins have quite a few stressful fiddly bits. Get your relaxation in where you can. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hey Ari - good hearing from you! Nice that you're keeping yourself busy. How cold is it up there? We hit -21°C today, which was fun unloading Koivu from some miserable Satakuntalaisen lato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted January 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 19 hours ago, Prostheta said: Hey Ari - good hearing from you! Nice that you're keeping yourself busy. How cold is it up there? We hit -21°C today, which was fun unloading Koivu from some miserable Satakuntalaisen lato. We had around the same degrees when it was at its coldest. Now it's only -12. I've been carrying firewood in a lot. Our house is old, from 16th century, so it doesn't fully meet the nowadays isolation standards. We have been using 3 fireplaces at our house now, when it's been cold and soon I Need to get more firewood from my sisters place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Wow, now that's going to get pretty cold.... My days during winter have mostly been about loading in wood (Koivu, Mänty) for work plus plenty of plywood and generally heating the workshop's furnace. It's a new building so it's not so cold overnight! Our home is an 80s riivari with kaukolämpö, so pretty nice and warm whether we like it or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 Been working on the top. Very slow progress, but now it's taking the form. I still think I need to strip off some 1 mm from the edges before starting to work on the inside of the top. In the picture under the top, can see a very professionally made chiseling base, to which I will put the top laying when I start the under side. I also made a mold for the body from the excess plywood I had as leftover from the schisseling mold. I still need ti finalize it, by locking the halves toghether with a wood strips, or something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 This is looking good. Making that scroll is a special challenge! Have you a method yet of measuring the varying thicknesses required for the top? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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