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DanKnowles - Posted - 03/05/2010: 19:17:01
STRAT-O-CASTER
Well folks today was spent finishing up a Strat restoration and dealing with customers...it was fun though. Needless to say nothing was accomplished on Othello. So I am posting some photos of a recent banjo built for Barry Hart called Corps of Discovery. All of the scenes are images representing Lewis & Clark's great expedition.
By way of invitation, should you like to see Othello (as she is) I will be at Cedars of Lebanon State Park (east of Nashville) Sat. afternoon. 
jbalch - Posted - 03/06/2010: 17:53:32
Well folks...I saw the Ebony neck, rim and a sample of the hardware at Breakin Up Winter today....Oh...and Dan was there too.
As magnificent as Dan's photos are...they absolutely fail to portray the true beauty of the real thing. I've never seen anything quite like it. It is simply gorgeous!
Edited by - jbalch on 03/06/2010 17:54:03
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/07/2010: 16:58:08
SUNDAY...
John, Marc and all of you great folks it wa wonderful seeing you at Breaking up Winter. We had some good conversations about skin banjo heads and English classical. Hollow necked banjos and thickness sanded and polished banjo heads. There is nothing like it!
Today was a great but lazy for me. Mostly it was spent recovering from running over to Cedars of Lebanon. I went over to the shop (my shop is a storefont in beautiful downtown Paris, TN) with all intents and purposes of working on Othello some but my son Sam was the with my two granddaughters Abby and amber. They had a project going making membrane pipes. They were very cool. I didn't really get how these things worked but were they ever loud. They sounded a whole lot like a bagpipe chanter. Anyway here is Abby with her instrument.
And here is her older sister Amber.
Friday afternoon one of my clients came in and traded me this bracket. It comes from a Paramount style F banjo. I thought this was the coolist bracket nut I had ever seen so I figured I'd post it here.
jbalch - Posted - 03/08/2010: 07:56:24
Knowles - Cavaquinho
At Breakin-up-winter: Dan loaned me this that he built. It tunes one octave higher than the four strings of a banjo ( DGBD or double C: CGCD).
Sounds really cool and is great fun to play. Ain't it cute.
Edited by - jbalch on 03/08/2010 08:00:40
trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/08/2010: 11:13:10
quote:Yeah, Dan is such a versatile luthier. It seems that every time I see an unusual instrument it has his fingerprints all over it. It appears to me that somehow Dan left a Gibson trapdoor tenor in the same room with an L-3 archtop. Their child sure looks & sounds good but I wonder how it got a spanish name?
Originally posted by jbalch
Knowles - Cavaquinho
At Breakin-up-winter: Dan loaned me this that he built. It tunes one octave higher than the four strings of a banjo ( DGBD or double C: CGCD).
Sounds really cool and is great fun to play. Ain't it cute.
Musta been a burro in the fuel supply...DanKnowles - Posted - 03/08/2010: 18:57:18
No fellas...the real question is what have you been smokin'? Those are musical instruments which my son Sam and his daughters made as a project. Sam is a very accomplished wood worker he is a master stair builder, but here they are building with PVC pipe. I'm not quite sure how these things work but they sound a lot like oboes.
CAVALQUINHA
The instrument that John has shown is a Cavalquinha. Its origin is Brazil. Usually they are flattop instruments sort of like a steel string uke. I was introduced to this by my step-brother Alan Dick. Alan worked as a teacher in Rio with the people who make their livings picking through the trash in the dump. During his years there, he fell in love with Brazilian music and brought a cavalquinha back. I saw it at his home last summer and was intrigued by it. I decided while I was there to build him a good one as the one he had left a lot to be desired. So instead of one I built two.
The one in John's Photos is La Rosa Real. It has quartered American sycamore back, sides and neck, ebony fingerboard, tailpiece and peghead overlay and a carved spruce top. The top came from a old stair tread. The tailpiece is a take off from the designs of viols. This is the louder of the two instruments
This one is La Chicka Rocha. Her spec.s are the same except that her top is sitka spruce that was milled by Martin back in the 1950's. Gorgeous wood that I bought from Tom Morgan years ago. This is by far the sweeter of the two. 
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/09/2010: 20:10:37
NEW CHUCK
Well I finally got my chuck with its new mounting plate back from the machine shop yesterday. It is a 9" machinist lathe 3 jaw chuck. It was given to me by a friend, the factory he works at was going to scrap it. Turns out I was the fortunate one. I got it mounted on the lathe yesterday and today I started making the jaw adapters for rim turning. I got this basic idea from my friend and fellow luthier Richard Brown, known to us here on the Hangout as BorderTownBrown. It is a variation from his design. I am planning on doing most of the rim finishing on the lathe.
First here is the chuck attached to the Lathe shaft.
Here I'm measuring so that I can guesstimate the size of material for these pads.
Measuring fo the spline mortise.
Dadoing fo the spline.
Laying out for the bolt holes.
Drilling Bolt holes. Ilike this photo, shadows and all. It really is not this dark in my shop.
Checking fit.
Glueing on the pads. You'll notice the different sized washers, before I turn this thing on I will replace the odd sized ones.
All clamped up. Tomorrow Turning day.
Will1717 - Posted - 03/09/2010: 20:27:27
Dan:
What you should do is double up some 3/4" plywood and cut it or turn it into the inside diameter of your rim. Then cut the circle into 3 pie shape pieces, with approx. 1/4" between the cuts. Next fasten them to the chuck as you show but you'll end up with a complete inner rim shape. When expanded it will force the rim into a true circle. Hope this makes sense. I found that if you use only 3 points to hold your rim you'll force the rim into a triangular shape as you expand the chuck.If you need some photos let me know and I'll send you some of my set up. My jaws are metal and cut on the laser but it works just as well in wood. I'm also turning 2 ply rims which my differ from your block rim requirements.
Bill Rickard
Couchie - Posted - 03/11/2010: 07:01:02
quote:
Originally posted by DanKnowles
STRAT-O-CASTER
Well folks today was spent finishing up a Strat restoration and dealing with customers...it was fun though. Needless to say nothing was accomplished on Othello. So I am posting some photos of a recent banjo built for Barry Hart called Corps of Discovery. All of the scenes are images representing Lewis & Clark's great expedition.
By way of invitation, should you like to see Othello (as she is) I will be at Cedars of Lebanon State Park (east of Nashville) Sat. afternoon.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/11/2010: 19:46:50
Bill,
I thought about doing as you described and I may yet... What I wanted to try is making a chuck able to grasp the work from either the inside or the outside, hold the work securely and handle both 11" and 12" rims.
CHUCK TURNING, TENSION HOOP & DRILLING JIG
Here I'm turning the chuck facings to hold the rim blanks.
After turning I removed each of the chuck facings for sanding and finishing. Here one is being sanded.
The faces were painted with two coats of shellac, my favorite finish and reinstalled. I have yet to get all the correct washers. 
T-HOOP
I just received this tension hoop from my good friend Bill Rickard in Aurora, Ontario. He and his associate Al Box worked this up for me. It is a Van Eps style hoop.
Bill, some day we may have to build the whole Van Eps style banjo, flush scalloped frets, internal pan resonator and the head sound hole too!
Folks I got to tell you right now and I can't say it often enough, Bill Rickard makes the very finest metal parts being made today. His parts rival and even surpass those made in the Golden Age!
Here is my bracket shoe drilling jig. It is attached to the drill press and has an indexing pin. It will be set to do both 11" & 12" drill patterns.
Centering the Bill Rickard tension hoop preparing to do the layout.
Here I'm marking the location of the holes in the hoop.
Here it's all laid out. Tomorrow I'll drill for the locating points.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/12/2010: 19:53:27
DRILLING & CARVING
Today The rim got sanded, drilled for bracket shoes and the carving of the rim was renewed. But that's almost like telling the end of the story before ya hardly get started. Probably, the most important thing I did today was practice for a local version of the GONG show. Needless to say I get gonged!
Oh well...
First off this morning I loaded the rim in that new chuck affair and recut the lip under the tone ring aria. It is cut so that the wall of the rim eases from stranded wall thickness to 1/4" at the top where the tone ring sits. This allows the tone ring to be more prominent in the sound. Then I went to sanding. Sometimes I feel like a sanding fool... sand sand, sand.
I put the two tone ring systems on the rim to measure for the bracket shoe placement.
Here is the Rickard White Lady.
Now with the Rickard Tubaphone.
The tension hoop, a bracket set (bracket shoe, bracket and nut) and and a bracket wrench were placed together to locate the location line for the bracket shoes.
Marking the center of the bracket shoe.
Using the lathe to mark the shoe centers.
The rim was placed in the drilling fixture and here one of the first holes is drilled.
Here is another view of the fixture in action.
After the drilling was complete a headless bolt was fitted into a bracket shoe and placed in the drilled holes so I could draw around the shoe to identify its placement. I'm planning on making the carving go around and by the shoes.
Here I've just gotten going good in the carving.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/13/2010: 14:50:41
RIM CARVING
Well mostly the time today was spent on the rim carving today. Recently I was re-introduced to some tools that I use back in highschool for the making of linoleum or wood block prints. These hand dandy little cutters are cheep, easy to sharpen and keep sharp and are fun and easy to use. Make not of easy, I like easy! The way I was shown to carve with these is to drive the chisel towards me with light little taps which are quickly applied. It just eases the chisel through the work.
Here I'm carving with my little (2 oz.) home made copper carving mallet.
Leaf carving.
Here is a image with the carving partially complete.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/15/2010: 05:14:24
John, Thanks .
MORE CARVING
Here I am, back at carving. This time I'm using my Speedball knife blade to insize the vanes of the leaves/ These will probably fill with finish but they will leave a dark detail line.
Here using a mallet driven punch I'm adding a seed detail.
At the end of the sessison.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/15/2010: 16:41:03
FRENCHIN' THE RIM
Well here we are, if Othello thinks, I wonder about her thoughts, for she's back on the lathe again... sounds like a dong, doesn't it?
I'm back on the Lathe again,
Back where a frind is a friend
Where the world goes around
and spins, spins and spins
Back on the lathe again.
Ya think it'll be a hit?
Well maybe just a keeper?
Ok... back to work.
One of the things that makes French Polish work is friction. Its the friction of the fad or pad that lays down the finish and smothes it out. This makes (as all you wood turners know) the lathe a perfect vehicle for this type of finishing. I will use the lathe over the next few days, to help apply the polish. So to start out the rim is attached (here with the tone ring aria out) to the lathe and set to spinning. It's running around 500 rpm.
The finish is first loaded onto a rag, very sloppy and wet and rubbed against the spinning rim. This is done repeatedly. I will polish both the inside and outside of the rim. The photos in this bit won't be as clear as usual due to movement.
After several passes the lathe is turned off and all of the leaves and stems are filled with finish (with the spinning stopped).
After a bunch more passes (with the lathe on) it begins to shine and look like this. The grain is not filled but it's beginning to look like we might just get a finish on it.
There's my fad.
Adding finish to the fad.
More shine. Although this is looking good there will be a lot of rubbing work yet to come once it is off the lathe. Tomorrow I'll flip her over and polish the bottom.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/17/2010: 18:55:36
MORE POLISH
Well here we are again, back at the lathe. This is the basic build of the finish. After all of this is complete, then there is a lot of hand polishing to come.
Here is the rim spinning.
Stopped here for a little hand rub.
One of the things that sometimes happens when lathe finishing is the quick building of 'whips'. This one will have to be sanded out later after the finish sets up.
Here almost ready to be removed frome the lathe.
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/18/2010: 19:00:09
CUTTING THE DOWL STICK MORTISE
Here finally we're down to cutting the dowel stick hole. Many folks will jig up and use a router for this and that does make good clean smart sense, still this is the way that works for me.
First I lay out the hole by measuring the space between the bracket shoe holes.
Squaire up for the center of the mortise.
Lay out the width and height of the mortise. Then put it in a fixture and drill most of the waist out with a forsner bit. I spot the corners with a 1/8" bit.
Then using a small saw I cut to the corners, then rasp and file the hole true.
trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/18/2010: 20:58:30
Gee Dan, you need to invest in a square forstner bit. Would save you a bunch of filing.
Othello is looking better and better. Can't wait to see the banknote engraving on the hubcap resonator!
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/19/2010: 15:21:52
Out Of the Race
Hay everyone, today I've been enjoying being home, well sort of...I've got the crud. So since I wont be able to post about Othello I figured I'd post some things that you migt find interesting.
My training is in the arts. All of my life I have painted. Here is a recent one, The Saint #2
Recently I completed a banjo built by my friend Bill Rickard. Here I'm pictured with the great Tennessee Old-time banjo player Daniel Rothwell. This is a beautiful fiddle backed maple Tubaphone.
Here is a Mando-Cello which I built several years ago, spruce top, brazilian rosewood back and sides, bubinga neck, 26 3/16" scale.
Here is a mandolin fingerboard that I inlayed. It has an interesting style of inlay. Pieces of pearl are glued together, joined on one side, cut out like a old fashioned paper snowflake, seperated and the jointed edges are glued together. After a number of these pieces ae formed they are fit together making the design.
Here is a tele body I painted. The idea behind the comission was to make a hippy guitar. First it was painted in a pointillism style then coated with clear auto finish until the surface could be leveled.
Perhaps tomorrow I'll be back with the New Ebony.
Delfield - Posted - 03/19/2010: 16:41:23
Dan,
Probably the most entertaining half hour of last year, for me, was seeing Daniel and his grand father, Thomas Maupin, perform together at the Swannanoa Gathering (last July). It's wonderful to see the frailingest, singingest, joke-tellingest, Uncle-Dave-incarnate out there grinning so widely with a great new banjo.
Thanks for sharing that great photo of you two.
Jeff
Edited by - Delfield on 03/23/2010 06:08:20
DanKnowles - Posted - 03/22/2010: 18:07:13
BACK IN THE SHOP
Thank y'all for your kind thoughts, espessialy yours Marc... if you had only sent the 'fore mentioned thought!
*************************************************************
After several days of laying around feeling sorry for myself, today I was back in the shop. Most of the day was spent playing catch up, but I did steal a little bit of time to work on this favorite one of mine.
First I gave her a good sanding with 800, just for good measure.
Then I screwed the rim to one of my finishing hanging sticks. They consist of a hanger bolt inserted into the end of a stick and a hook in the other. These are wonderful for holding rims when I'm spraying lacquer. Also the work well for applying french polish on rims like this. Although the build was good using the lathe, there still is quite a bit of work to go. Here the rim is mounted and the mount is held in the vice.
Here is some rubbing.
A shot of a bit of the rim when I quit for the day. Still a lot of work to do.
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