orgmorg Posted June 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2012 Unfortunately, I had to sell the sawmill a couple years ago. I started having bad shoulder problems from operating the clutch lever, and was in danger of tearing a rotator cuff. I still owed a good deal of money on it and couldn't justify making payments on a machine I couldn't use without injuring myself. A kiln would be nice, but once you have several stacks of lumber air drying at various stages of dryness, there is always something ready to use. I still buy logs from time to time and have them sawn up by another local sawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted December 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 Change of plans... I decided I was not happy about how the top was turning out. My idea had been to give it a hand carved look with the shallow gouges, which I have seen beautiful examples of in furniture, but it ended up not looking right on the poplar. Maybe I will try it again someday in walnut. So, off with it! The body is clamped to a workboard on the pin router here, first using a 1/2" downshear bit around the edges to prevent blowout around some areas of funky grain, then switching to a 1.25" bit to hog out the middle of it, leaving a nice flat surface. As much as I hate wasting wood and work, I was not satisfied at all about how this was turning out, and it would probably just end up on a shelf forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted December 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 Here is what will be the new top, it is actually a board from the barn pictured earlier. It is beech, about 15" wide, with a considerable bow in the middle. I will be leaving the bowed/warped shape of this surface as is, and flattening the bottom. To do this, I place it on a flat surface, with a good flat piece of plywood on top, and run screws through the plywood into the corners of the top, with wedges to take up the space at the edges. Then it gets flipped over, and surfaced much like the body in my previous entry. As you can see, the inside of this board is a mess, riddled with bug holes, including some fairly large galleys packed with dust and bug poo. Not the best gluing surface, so I mixed up some epoxy and spread it over the whole thing, using sawdust to fill in larger voids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Best build thread ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ran the back of the top thru the drum sander, still screwed to the plywood Much better~ Now trimmed to about 1/4" oversize, and 3/4" holes drilled in back and top. I will put oak dowels in these to align the two pieces. I place them where the strap buttons screw in, so they have something better than poplar endgrain to bite into. Now all glued up and sitting in the vacuum press: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Holy crap.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 that top will look savage with just a load o clear put onto it. I sometimes use scaffold board for drop tops on tele's. cut real thin & the face just barley cleaned up. Leav most of the dirt & filth & rot & bits of concrete & rusty bits of nails & all sorts still in there. Looks great under a massivly polished clear coat. this thing is gona look excellent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 that top will look savage with just a load o clear put onto it. Savage salvage.. Sometimes with the grey weathered barnwood like this, I leave it completely unfinished. It is a very cool look. Not sure what I will do with this one yet. I sometimes use scaffold board for drop tops on tele's. cut real thin & the face just barley cleaned up. Leav most of the dirt & filth & rot & bits of concrete & rusty bits of nails & all sorts still in there. Looks great under a massivly polished clear coat. I would love to see one of those. Holy crap.... Crappy holes really... And as you can imagine, the edges of the board were not much better, so more epoxy, this time tinted brown.. And sanded down. You can see in this last pic where glue oozed out through the wormholes in the top while in the vacuum press. This was another reason for filling the holes on the gluing surface. A little always finds its way through however. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelvock Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Rough n ready. Not enough guitars about that look like this, really like it, nice and different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Indeed. It must be difficult blending in the cleaning work associated with milling and utilising the rough weathered appearances. One can easily spoil the other I guess. You seem to have it down to an art, maintaining the aged rough look where it is needed and looks best. If I had a hat on, it would be off to you as always orgmorg :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 You are an amazing artist George, and everything in the world is your pallette........as long as it was tossed out at least 50 years ago! Can't wait to see more. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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