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Dave,
About 17 minutes into this video - you can see what Greenfield does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAeXskZHC2o

You'll need spring steel. I use a 0.008" thick spring steel slat for tight contours and a 0.020" thick slat for gentle curves like the tail block. You might need to cut to size - also make sure you round over the edges and corners as the slats can slice up your hands quite easily if you don't. I use the 3M stik-it paper.

This is one of those things that I don't think I would have come up with on my own but I find it phenomenally useful.

I also use spring steel. What I have is blued and 0.010" thick, essentially the same. I find the steel needs a bit of preparation. I round the corners slightly and then use 220 and my ROS lightly to take the sharpness off of the edges of the steel. Also using 3M Stikit.

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Sorry toonces but where is the video? Dave

I'm not Toonces, but here it is: https://laughingsquid.com/luthier-michael-greenfield-shows-how-he-creates-magnificent-guitars-from-simple-slices-of-wood/

Nice documentary in general. Lots of good ideas here.

Dave

Good to know, Chris. Aside from the slight runout, the rest of the tool was very well done - if I recall correctly, I believe you gave me a refund on the spindle. I also have a couple other things from you that were perfectly machined and designed !!!

How long ago was that? I got mine in May of this year.

Pat

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Pat

Thanks Dave, I had watched that video a few times but hadn't appreciated just what he was doing at that point.

Dave M

I use a pneumatic rolling pin and count it as one of my most valuable tools. It makes leveling and soothing sides much, much easier. In fact, I wish I had more sleeves for it (reminder to self).

What grit are y’all rockin’?

80 too much?

80’s what came with mine, but I got a few of the finer drums, too. Since the outer layer of my sides is thin to begin with, I’ll probably use a finer grit next time. I didn’t remove a ton of material, but just to be safe.


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Lam sides?

I use my pneumatic roll sander with lam sides.

Flattening the sides isn't needed, but getting the bindings flush is. I've never been able to cut the binding channel so precisely that my sides and bindings were truly flush without sanding. So, with lam sides, I cut a slightly shallow channel, assuring that the binding is proud -- then a light touch of the roll sander and it's good.

80 sounds too coarse. I think I used 150.

Pat

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Pat

I/ve scraped an sanded for many years. I noticed folks mentioned different types of rolling pin sanders . electric , air powered drill powered etc. Can someone recommend a good one for leveling sides for ukes guitars etc. Also would want to know why you chose that model ??? thank you in advance

Pat raises a good point here. When I level sand the sides by hand, a lot of sanding dust accumulates on the sides and on the floor below the bench side vice that holds the guitar body. I have to vacuum it up several times per side. A rolling pin sander would put most of that into the air. How are those of you using them handling the sanding dust?

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This exactly why I won't own one. Card scrapers for me are pretty quick. I hate any sawdust in my shop if I can help it.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

When I used mine, I used a floor stand dust collection gizmo like this:



Worked pretty well.

Dave

Has anyone tried an actual rolling pin? I have an old fashioned one whose handles are fixed rather than allowing the body to roll independently. There are three others gathering dust, so I could spirit one away without too much trouble.
In place of the spring steel some have suggested you can use Formica (HPL) scraps. It might even be a little easier to hang on to.

I use one of those Rockler hose holder deals screwed into the side of the troji.

It’s messy but manageable.

https://www.rockler.com/dust-right-4-spring-clips

https://www.rockler.com/mini-gulp-dust-hood

Brad


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Exactly. The outer layer on one of the current guitars is .04”, so I’m being paranoid level careful! I usually like .06”.


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It was thankfully a fairly dense dust and tended to clump up in small piles. I stopped every few minutes to vacuum it up.


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One would think that with laminated sides you would avoid much of the unevenness, no?

Pat

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Pat

One thing I do when laminating sides is laminate against smooth surfaces and leave the sides clamped in the mold for a week to allow the epoxy to more fully cure. This seems to help them stay flatter and retain there shape better. The other thing I do is laminate sequence matched sheets in fairly good registration so any "thin spots" from sanding have matching grain under them.

Yes, but they still require some clean up.