Learning Ukulele 50 Sites Top 50 Ukulele Sites Argapa Ukuleles - one size louder: Carving a neck

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Carving a neck

Once more, I'll rant about neck carving. It is (I think) my favourite stage in a build. I've gotten a bit too fast for my own liking though - it's over almost as soon as it's begun. 

So tonight I worked really slowly and tried to make it last. [It took 25 minutes in the end, hardly a success.]

What I had was the rough sawn neck blank with the tapered sides. I used these tools:
- double handled draw knife
- small contour plane
- sloyd / whittling knife
- 1 1/2 inch chisel
- low angle apron plane
- small finger plane


But doing it slowly paid off. The mahogany had some rather difficult reversing grain that I could control by angling the contour plane carefully to match it. 

And look at these pics of the result. It damn well shines! It is totally untouched by any abrasive tools or sand paper. I'll tell you my secret at the bottom of the post, after the pics. 



The secret of my success tonight, then. Sharp tools. 

Sharp. Tools. 

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