A new hat

It was time to mount a new head to try to get the tension hoop to ride a little lower.

Here's a Harbor Freight ring roller and new flesh hoop rolled:

New head mounted:

Trimmed and stained with TransTint Brown Mahogany sprayed in a very thin cut of shellac:

Banjo Hangout says nylon strung banjos sound better with a different bridge design and lighter weight, so I made a few:

5th String Spike And Nylgut Install

I've always been curious how my banjo might sound with nylon strings. The main thing holding me back was the need to install a spike at the fifth string in order to bring it up to tension. I work around this with steel strings by using a smaller gauge string, but I wasn't sure that would work for nylon.

Having recently acquired some tiny railroad spikes and received a new push drill, I took a crack at it and completed the job. I shortened and polished the spike, drilled a hole for a snug fit, dipped the spike in glue, pressed it in with pliers, and then tapped down to a height just above the string thickness. It took two tries to get everything lined up and pointing the right way at the right height, but it works just fine. I'd say I'm lucky, considering I didn't really practice on scrap. I didn't drill all the way through the neck or anything!

It sounds like an old fashioned thumper in person but more mellow in the recording. I will try a different bridge and give my fingers some time to adjust.

I like how easy the strings are to work with in installation, which is good because so far I've broken three (at the tailpiece knot).

Of course Child noticed the red strings right away. "Mommy, Daddy's banjo has red strings. Daddy, why are you always building banjos?" Well, it's just the one, Sweetie... I take things slow.

Nylgut reds demo audio (download):

Shooting board

I cobbled together this shooting board a few weeks ago and finally screwed down the fence and used it today. It's an amalgamation (bastardization) of plans from Chris Schwarz and Scott Wynn.

The base is 3/4" birch plywood. The top is two layers of 3/16" hardboard. The fence and hook are chunks of cherry from the land.

I slopped some linseed oil on. The hardboard soaked the oil up into streaks and would have taken a gallon to fix.

The fence is attached with machine screws into threaded holes and had a strip of sandpaper glued to the bottom (oops, not on the bottom yet).

It seems to work, although I haven't tested for accuracy.

Bench hook

We had this cradle my grandpa made a few decades ago, but it was too big and heavy to keep around as a toy. After checking with the family to make sure no one else wanted it, I decided to use the wood.

Here's the dismantling and first project, a simple bench hook for cutting stuff with the Lowes special pull saw. The cradle sides were both straight grained quartersawn oak, so I grabbed one of them for the base of the bench hook. The stop and cleat (under the far side) are just pieces cut off the ends of the same board.

Gluing the fretboard

Here's the fifth string tunnel tube bent to fit the curves it must traverse, gluing the fretboard and peghead overlay, and a closeup of the tube sanded flush with the fretboard.

Rasp handles

A while back I made a handle for a dragon rasp. I recently made the second and took all of one construction photo.

The idea came from http://dans-woodshop.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-handles-for-new-tools.html. I used cherry from the stash. Like Dan said, saw around the shoulder, pare it down, shape the handle, drill, insert the tang, and tap the end of the handle to seat. I didn't do the burn-in treatment. I mainly used a small block plane to make the octagonal facets. Easy, fun, functional.

Also shown is one rasp taking a two day vinegar bath for sharpening. It helped. Except that rig soon fell over and dumped a pint of vinegar all over everywhere. The second time was the charm with a proper curved clamping fixture.

Fretboard update

Here's cutting the scoop with the safe-t-planer, followed by a bunch of messing around drilling and routing channels in the neck, fretboard, and peghead overlay for the fifth string tunnel. Drilling the oblique holes is a major pain, but I think next time I can start with the dremel instead. With an angled ramp, it cuts nice and low and straight.

Once the tube gets bent to follow the curves, the fretboard and peghead overlay are ready for gluing.