Hi Laurence,
Since I live in a small city in the Midwestern US, the internet is a
godsend for me. I buy my soundboards and most of my specialized
lutherie tools from either Stewart-Macdonald (www.stewmac.com) or
Luthers Mercantile (www.lmii.com) in the US. Stewart-MacDonald is
actually within driving distance for me, but I buy online rather than
taking the time to drive across the state. There are probably
European online lutherie sources as well.
Buying soundboards from a luthier supply source means that you will
be getting wood that is appropriate to lutherie needs and
approximately thicknessed, although it will be closer to what a
guitar builder wants and you will still have to thin it down. Also,
It will be graded by someone who has experience doing it and you
won't be left to figure it out on your own. The better places will
explain their grading system.
I look for basic hand tools at flea markets and what passes in the
Midwest as antique stores. In the Midwest, anything older than 50
years seems to be called an antique, which means that I'm one as
well. The larger hand planes, in particular, were abandoned by
cabinetmakers in the US when electric tools like planers and routers
became common, and are sitting in Grandpa's basement waiting for his
kids to get rid of them when he dies or moves into a nursing home. I
can find old ones in decent condition at a fraction of what a new one
would cost. They often need cleaning up and sharpening, but it's
worth the trouble since the steel of the blades is often superior to
what's in the new ones. Some of the members of this forum who live
on the East Coast of the US have said that they can't find old tools
at reasonable prices anymore because collectors buy them, but where I
live I can easily buy a fore plane for about 30 dollars US and a
jointer plane for about 50 dollars, where new ones would be well over
100 and 200 dollars respectively. So it might be worth your time to
check flea markets.
I noticed that Dana mentioned sharpening. Everyone has their
favorite method and mentioning mine puts me at risk of starting a
flame war :-) , but I use the Scary Sharp method, which is pretty
much explained here (http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/PurpLev/blog/
4976). It has the advantage of using cheap and relatively easy to
find materials. I buy the finer grades of wet-dry sandpaper in auto
supply stores, since they are used for final sanding of auto paint.
By the time you have finished honing with 2000 grit wet-dry
sandpaper, your cutting edge has a mirror finish. If the sandpaper
loads up with steel particles, just toss it and use another. Some
descriptions of the method use a thick piece of float glass as the
support for the sandpaper, but I use a piece of marble tile left over
from a bathroom renovation project. If you use either glass or a
marble tile, you can sprinkle water on the surface to hold the
sandpaper down. That way you don't have to glue sandpaper to your
support. Then put more water on the sandpaper as a lubricant. After
than, the process is pretty much like using a water stone. I use a
honing guide, which probably marks me as a wuss in this company. But
sharp tools are a must, however you do it. Dull tools are
frustrating and dangerous and can ruin your work.
Tim
On Mar 8, 2009, at 7:03 AM, Laurence Hall wrote:
Hello Din, Richard,, Timothy and Jon,
thank you all very much for your help everyone, I'm quite
overwhelmed.
The internet is really quite something, and the goodness of peoples
hearts even more. It's actually quite a relief to realize that I
have
been approaching things incorrectly, and your advice has given
me the
confidence to have a go. First I'll try to get some good blades,
then I
can practice on my piece of picea, it's now much too thick,
nearly 4
mm, I didn't plane it down yet because my plane was damaged
(lending it
out) and is being repaired. The wood has some knots, which is
why I got
it very cheap, it's only worthy for practice. Once I get the
technique
down, I'll buy a proper piece. Sometimes it's confusing here in
Holland, I'm originally English myself, but names of wood and
tools are
not always clearly translated, or even translatable. Swiss pine,
which
David van Edwards recommends, is called Fichte here, but the Fichte
I've seen here (at the specialist lumber yard) looks kind of
different
to what I see in the photos of completed instruments. I have to add
that I'm also wrestling with a lack of knowledge of wood in
general.
May be it's a good idea (as one of you suggested) to buy a board
via
the internet from someone specializing in wood for lutes and
instruments.
Any way, thanks all again for you help, I'm most impressed and very
grateful,
bye for now,
Laurence Hall
Amsterdam
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