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Showing posts from July, 2014

Preservation Work on an 1860's Greek Revival House

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The [Greek Revival] style disappeared in the East before the earliest attempts at mining in Colorado, but its influence was felt nevertheless as miners came west from other areas. C. Eric Stoehr, Bonanza Victorian-Architecture and Society in Colorado Mining Towns , 1975 Those of you who follow my blog know that I work 7 months out of the year as a historic preservation carpenter for a government agency. My latest project is working on a house that was built in the 1860's and it is need of some maintenance. I am replacing the worst pieces of siding, I've removed most of the sashes so that cracked lights can be replaced and re-glazed, and then I and another worker will scrape paint and prep the building so several volunteer groups can doing most of the painting. This house is not stick built, it is really a log house! The timbers are hewed on 2 sides and joined at the corners with true dovetailed notches. The roof and attic are framed with full dimensioned lumber, the

Grooving Planes - Some Tips on How to Make Them

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An artist prepares for weeks, months, and years...but lives only for moments. Moments, then that have no sense of time. Gustave Leonhardt, harpsichordist This is not a "how-to" post. I just want to pass on some things I learned about assembling them. I hope these tips help you. I assume many of you are interested in making these neat little grooving planes, but haven't gotten around to making a pair yet. Bob Easton was the first person to bring them to my attention, be sure to check out his blog. I am grateful that Lie Nielsen has posted Matt Kenney's great article on how to make them. Click here for the article. Accidental Wood Worker also has a great post on these little planes, click here for that posting. I am making these planes so I can cut the saddle slot in a guitar's bridge without using a table saw. The skate depth is 4mm and the plane's fence is 5mm from the iron. This morning, with Mr. Kenney's article on the work be

Shopmade Cutter Gauges, Part 2

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The most significant tools for the luthier guitar maker are the bramils. Manuel Rodriguez, The Art and Craft of Making Classical Guitars , 2003 This is day 2 of being sick with a head cold, it is really tough for me to sit and be quiet which means I am a little bored, so I thought I would give an update on the "bramils" that I made last week. As you can see in the following photographs, the brass wear strips were inlaid into the arms and the cutters were shaped and sharpened. I put a very light coat of linseed oil mixed with Naptha on the walnut to bring out the wood's color a little more. These "gramils" work very well on a stock piece of wood, I look forward to using them on a guitar. It's been awhile since I made a tool for the workshop, I may have to make some more. Here's a YouTube of Scot Tennant playing a 1958 Miguel Rodriguez guitar. I might just have to try my hand at making a guitar based upon a 1976 Miguel Rodriguez th