Hello there,

Some of you know that i am an amateur luthier.

In the course of pursuing that hobby I have acquired several luthier specific tools, and they are scattered all over the place.

So I thought it might be time to gather many of them up into their own little chest.

Not all of them, mind you. There are some that i will use in the course of building that will be more of the "messy" variety, and will require the use of all of my basic joinery tools, like saws, planes, rasps, etc. Those will not be included.

My thoughts are to gather up the tools used in "clean operations", like setup tools for nuts and saddles, and other action adjustments, as well as bracing work, rosette work, etc.

They will live in this chest on the top of my inside bench, where most of this type of work is done.

I use reclaimed wood. It is usually twisted, bowed or cracked, etc., and requires thicknessing, flattening, etc.

This wood came from a local bookstore that replaced one of their bookshelves. It was basically 1x6, stained walnut.

First step is to measure, mark, and cut to length.

So, measure

...mark....

...and cut.

Edited March 7Mar 7 by Handfoolery

Thanks! Looking forward to following along!

Time for flattening.

I start by laying the concave side face down against a planing stop. It's preference, but I find if i lay the concave side down the edges will lay still and not flop around on the bench.

To remove the hump in the middle of the convex side I work on the middle portion of the board, traversing across but not hitting either edge with the plane. If I did that the plane would ride over the hump and not remove it, but the edges would get really thin.

Speaking of thin, this is box store lumber. If I go at it with a scrub plane or fore plae, then a jack, and a smoother, there won't be anything left of it worth using. I want to remove as little wood as possible to bring it to flat .

Thanks, Lew!

Once I get the hump out and the board close to flat, I position it lengthwise against the stop and begin flattening with the grain. I tend to go at it skewed, so that I can use the flat surface of the plane sole the help span the high spots as I take the board down to flat.

Finish off with a straight ahead approach.

Once flat I mark it as the Reference Face.

After which I use that Reference Face to flatten and square a Reference Edge.

So, in the vise...

And it's on.

Reference Edge marked.

From this point on, all measurements and markings will be done by registeringthe square on either the Reference Face or the Reference Edge.

At this point we flip the board over and flatten the other side.

Then we check for wind...

By traversing diagonally from high corner to high corner, and feathering toward the middle of the board we remove any wind in the board.

I use my marking gauge to mark cut line for the other edge. My kingdom for a panel gauge. Ain't got time to stop and make one.

I marked the board as wide as I could and get it parrallel, so all I need to do is plane down to the line, flat and square.

That's it for now. Stay tuned.

Looking great Mike. Following along.

Now I need to make this board an even thickness all the way around.

To do this I will set my marking gauge to the thickness of the lowest corner on the board.

After which I'll mark a line all the way around the board.

And plane it down to the lines.

Time to joint the edges of the panels. I will spend some time trying to match them as well as I can for grain and grain direction. It's not going to be perfect, but I do the best I can. If you look at the boards they each have blue tape on them. They are labeled so that I know what goes with what, and they are stacked accordingly.

So, pop it in the vise....

...and plane them square and straight.

This is done on both pieces until they mate together perfect;y, with no light between them.

After which they are glued...

.and clamped.

All for this evening. See you again next time.

Moving along. Thanks Mike.

Thanks, Gramps!

Once all the panels that were jointed come out of clamps they need to be cleaned up at the joint of glue, and planed a bit to make certain they are good and flat again.

This process is the same as when they were first flattened the thicknessed, so we will not show that again.

The next step is to bring them to final width and depth. We start with width.

The first thing I need to do is square one end.

Mark it

Break out the bench hook, and...

Edited March 14Mar 14 by Handfoolery

Next is the shooting board....

where we shoot until it's smooth and square.

Flip the board and mark final width of the front panel.

and cut to the line.

Shoot that edge...

The back panel is done in the same fashion.

Next we mark the depth of the side or end panels...

square it and cut a knife line.