Quickstep192 - Posted - 02/07/2010:  18:34:17

Dan, where is the tuner going to go in the 5th fret carving?

DEmery - Posted - 02/07/2010:  18:52:37

Dan, I like the over lapping design very much on the carving. Yes it does remind me of the basic design on Sherry Lynne. The leaf texture is a nice departure...as you elected a dimple effect on on the other ebony brute. Looks like with some detail and clean up...this thing will be ready for sanding and finish before long. I see the question from Mr. Quickstep above. I assumed the 5th peg will center in the wrap of the vine carving. As my daddy said, "it ain't safe to assume things." David

Deering_Dude - Posted - 02/08/2010:  03:41:03

Will wonders never cease?

Stringbean45 - Posted - 02/08/2010:  06:02:13

All I can say is WOW. You never cease to amaze me, with your artistry, and attention to every detail. Hope to come over, and visit with you someday, I'm over here on the other side of the Muddy Mississippi, in Swampeast Mo.

Don

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/08/2010:  17:16:10

Quickstep,
I'm glad to provide a bit of enjoyment on this snowy night...In fact I was teaching at the shop tonight (in the back room) when my wife called and informed me that the roads were getting slick (from snow) and she was coming to get me now. Anyway I hadn't got my photos ready yet, so needless to say tonight I won't post any photos. I will answer your question about the 5th. string tune.

This instrument is designed for the Emperors New Strings and as such will need no tuner.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/08/2010:  18:16:10

JUST KIDDING

Here is another photo of the carving in question.



Aw shucks... I don't never git the hang of these things! That was a photo of a little UKE like instrument called a Cavalquinha. Her name is La Chicka Rocha,



Daw gone it! I did it again. That is a photo of a tailpiece I made for one of David Emery's banjos. Here goes, I'll try again.

Here is another pictrue of the carving.



I don't know what to say about my silly self. I kant believe I dit id again. That is a photo of my pal Eddie Coffey checking out his new electric slide guitar. I do hope you'll give me one more chance....



There it is...

Well if you will look at the photo the peghead is on the far right. There is a indentation on the neck just to the right of the carving. That is where the tuning machine will go. I only wish I had viewed it as you do because I could have carved around the tuner. That is such a beautiful idea. Perhaps on the next banjo I'll do that.

Thank you for allowing me my little whimsy.

Quickstep, David, David & Don thank you for commenting and I thank everybody for looking in.

Dan Knowles

Edited by - DanKnowles on 02/08/2010 18:17:25

DEmery - Posted - 02/08/2010:  19:19:03

So you like the idea of the carving wrapping around the tuner. You are a perfectionist. I've known of builders tossing a project and starting over to get it right the next go around. Just send me that neck and we will watch the next one go together as you carve the design around the 5th string peg. I enjoyed seeing the Jubilo tailpiece photo. It is a good one. For anybody interested in how one of those tailpieces looks here is a photo of the same design on my ebony banjo. It produces a tremendous tone. David

Edited by - DEmery on 02/09/2010 05:07:44

saphine - Posted - 02/09/2010:  16:10:39

The mistake was worth it to see that guitar, it's gorgeous.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/09/2010:  17:50:02

David,

I've been looking at the neck today trying to figure how I could carve around the tuner. As a side note I don't give away my failures, I cut 'um up and toss 'um in the fire!

Elizabeth,
Thank you. That one is a strong voiced instrument to. Eddie tours with a West Kentucky Americana band called Bawn In The Mash. Look them up you might enjoy their music. He is one of the most creative slide players I've ever heard. Totally unique.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/09/2010:  18:40:22

IVORY SIDE DOTS

Today I made and installed ivory side dots for Othello. For those who might wonder: The material used here is ivory. It was acquired over 25 years ago, in the form of drops (or waste material) from a scrimshaw factory in Alaska. Most of the pieces I have are way to small to be used for anything but projects like this. I also have in my stock fossil ivory ( mastodon and walrus) but it is often to colored to be used in this setting.

First of all, I squared a small piece, put small holes in each end, turned a round base (on one end), which was flipped around and stuck in the chuck. Then I proceeded to turn the piece down. Very light cuts are required for this fragile material. After it was rounded and close to shape, a file was used to bring it to size. Here the ivory is being filed.



Using digital dial calipers, I'm checking thickness. The ivory was brought to .094.



Next the placement for the markers was made with an scratch awl.



The holes were drilled with a .094 bit and the top was opened with a cone shaped bit in a dremel moto-tool.



Glue was squirted into the hole and the ivory was driven in using a small hammer.



Ebony sawdust filled in around the ivory rod and was set with cyno. The rod was cut off and this was repeated for each of the markers.



The ivory was filed flush and sanded, wala, ivory dots inside of black circles.

GSCarson - Posted - 02/09/2010:  18:46:12

I'm back for my daily fix Dan, all I can say is cool beans!

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/09/2010:  19:28:03

Glenn,
Thanks!

Woodturner - Posted - 02/09/2010:  20:30:08

ebony dust around the ivory...I don't care who ya are...that's cool.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/09/2010:  20:53:15

Denton,
Thanks, while your out of school for snow, you ought to stop by and see it in the flesh. Some folks say it's better that way. Sides it would be great to see you and say Howdy.

ogletj - Posted - 02/09/2010:  21:27:37

Yah Dan, the pictures don't do it justice.

Couchie - Posted - 02/10/2010:  06:26:11

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/10/2010:  17:07:54

TODAY CLASS

I can almost hear one of my grade school teachers as she begins the days work. Sometimes when I start this I am reminded of those long days waiting for recess and time to go home. I guess hand sanding brings back those memories. Well folks that's just what I did. Sanded. Tommy do you notice the size of my paper? I thought about doing a shot with me holding a 1/4 sheet just for you. Today I started with 220 went to 400 then 800.

Whenever I sand I am reminded of my good friend Tim May. Often he has said, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some little feller to do all of our sanding?" Ya Tim I still think it would. Still I find sanding a nice meditative time, even if it does give me a sore thumb.

Here I am sanding the top of the peghead.



Now the dowel stick.



DOWEL STICK CAVING DESIGN

After sanding the dowel stick, I started doing my carving design for the facing side of the stick. First I decided that instead of raised relief I would do negative relief carving. Negative relief is basically engraving on a large scale.

The photos are basically self explanatory. You should be able to see the design as it grows under the pencil.



Tomorrow I hope to start carving.

Edited by - DanKnowles on 02/10/2010 17:12:37

dbrooks - Posted - 02/11/2010:  04:47:53

Dan, this work continues to enthrall and amaze.

David

DEmery - Posted - 02/11/2010:  16:08:36

Dan ... I really like the character and grain in the dowel stick. The varnish will be good to it. Interesting how some of the Maccassar (sp?) responds to finish ranging between near black to the appearance of Indian Rosewood. The contrast between Gabon and Maccassar will prove interesting for sure. David

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/12/2010:  03:49:53

Don, Tommy, David & David
Thanks for looking in and for your kind comments.

David Emey,
I'm looking forward to seeing what it does too.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/12/2010:  03:56:38

Starting Carving
Yesterday I did just a bit of carving on my ebony one.
Here is what I did...The pictures are quite self-explanatory so I'll just be quiet.

frihauf - Posted - 02/12/2010:  08:20:26

This is great Dan. We need to find a larger stae for this.

Ben

DEmery - Posted - 02/13/2010:  11:02:04

OK Dan. Where is the next installment? D Emery

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/13/2010:  18:48:09

IT'S BACK!!!!

Well folks here we are again. Last night I didn't have a chance to post, I spent the evening with Bela Fleck. I'm not sure Bela knew I was there though. He brought his Africa Project to Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. It was one of the best concerts I have been to in many years. I highly recommend seeing his movie Throw Down your Heart, going to any Africa Project concerts and hearing The wonderful music on Throw Down Your Heart vol. 1 & 2.

On to carving...

When I left of I was just beginning to do the detail work on the dowel stick. I wanted some dots so I took up my trusty egg beater drill and went to drilling. I love this drill. Not only was it my Grandfathers, but it is a tool thet is very controllable (and you know I'm a control freak!).



Here I'm cleaning up the leaves with a graver. Look close and you'll see the drilled dots.



Here using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper, I'm smoothing the lines.



Here is some more carving and smoothing of the stem lines. I included this just because I liked it.



More smoothing with a rifflers file.



More dots...



I have decided that I will finish this instrument with spirit varnish. It is a very labor intensive job applying this finish, but it has an elegance unmatched by any finis I know of. And under your hands when playing the feel is unmatched. Although I will not totally finish any part completely at this point, I like to apply it to check my carving ahd to help keep the maple as clean as possible. I use a mixture of Shellac, Copal, Sanderic, Benjamin and Ever Clear (the best alcohol solvent I've ever used). This is all made fresh once every six months or so from flakes dissolved in the Alcohol. This first pass is quickly applied here using a piece of paper towel.



The deeper cuts were filled with finish using a small 000 artist brush. Here it is after the finish dried.

jbalch - Posted - 02/14/2010:  06:06:50

Nice work Dan...very unique.

saphine - Posted - 02/14/2010:  07:07:44

Have had my daily fix, Dan what an artist you are. I pick up my Ozark and sigh nowadays..it feels like plastic when I think about your creation.

Elizabeth

dbrooks - Posted - 02/14/2010:  09:09:45

I generally don't like clear banjo heads, but that dowel stick looks so good it's a shame to hide it under a skin head (which I know you will be using). Continued great work and documentation, Dan.

David

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/14/2010:  17:59:20

CARVING ON DOWEL STICK SIDE

I started on the dowel stick side today. On this side I'll have my name, Paris, TN and some design on the opposite side I'll put the banjos name and number and a bit of flowery stuff.

Here I am laying out my name...at least I think it's my name.



Real quickly I started carving.



Here I'm hacking away at the "D".



Oh la la I got it this far! The flowery stuff is also laid out here.




Here I'm carving on the flowery images...






Here it is. Not finished but...



I just had to carve some more.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/14/2010:  18:07:47

Elizabeth,

Thank you. I bet you'd be surprised what it takes to own one of my not plastic instruments.

David,

Thanks for the great idea! So far all of this carving will be very viewable from the back of the banjo. I may just carve the not viewed side of the stick, so that some day some one who changes the head would have a nice surprise.

DEmery - Posted - 02/14/2010:  18:09:18

Dan...it is good to see you got that index finger nail repaired since the last set of photos. I have never looked on the top side of a dowel stick you did for me. Does it have all that stuff on it? I need to get a mirror and flash light to take a look. David

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/14/2010:  19:46:28

So sorry David, I've never carved a dowel stick on the side that faces the banjo head. In fact I never thought of doing so until tonight. It reminds me of some of the German fiddles I've seen. They antiqued the things and on occasion the finishers would paint hidden cartoons on them. Because of that whenever I build a guitar (or wood topped instrument) I always pencil draw a cartoon with some friendly statement of hope all done in reverse mirror imaging, which fits my dyslexia to a tee. Check your banjo heads though, you might be surprised what you'll find!

frihauf - Posted - 02/15/2010:  13:07:40

Looks amazing Dan. My wife and I spent an evening with Bela when his tour opened here on Feb 2. He brought over some incredible musicians. I was a good time.

Ben

DEmery - Posted - 02/15/2010:  17:43:43

Well there is one exception with carving on the back of a dowel stick, Dan. I pulled a mirror and flash light to look at the "backside" toward the head with Goshen. All marks, branding, and such is on that side. A glass photo image of my kin with your Grandfather's stamp is visible on the front side when looking toward the open pot. I thought some secret stuff was going on the back of your dowel stick for some of your future grandchildren to find. Oh well...it seems I am holding an exceptional piece in more than one way. David

Edited by - DEmery on 02/15/2010 17:45:17

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/15/2010:  19:00:11

Ben,
I feel that we are all fortunate because of Bela.

David,
I had forgotten about the branding of Goshen. The Boettcher banjos that Minstrel banjos are also marked that way. Today as I prepared to carve the opposite side I certainly began to muse about that 'hidden' side. erefun could I place there. The shame is that I can't post photos here, for the secret might escape.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/15/2010:  19:37:59

OTHELLO FIRM

OK folks, fix time...

Today I flipped the stick over and began to carve the opposite side. Othello is permanently named , has a serial number and a year date. Othello is number #230 and the year is 2015 . Anyway here is today's work.

I started by drawing Othello, the year and the serial number in white pencil on the dowel stick.




Here the year is being carved. As a side note, usually this information is usually stamped instead of carved.






More number carving...
(busted Dan you are so busted!)




Here is the last letter of Othello. Class, class, who can tell me what the last letter is?



Here I'm drawing some floral stuff to spruce up the ebony stick.



And carving the same.




More floral.



(answer Z)

rcnewcomb - Posted - 02/16/2010:  07:18:10

Dan's forum profile describes him as an average member.

I guess this means that any of us should be capable of this level of artistry.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/16/2010:  10:56:41

Dan, I really like the characters in your lettering and they are so nicely done, In fact the whole dowel stick motif is a thing of beauty! Started work on the heel carving for the Texas ebony banjo yesterday, will try to post some pictures today

Richard

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/16/2010:  18:52:35

Randall,
Just wait until you get to be an average member too.

Richard,

Thanks your complements mean a lot to me. I'll look over at your post after a bit, I'm excited to see your magnificent work!

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/16/2010:  19:39:43

STICKIN' THE STICK

Today I glued in the dowel stick. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, the camera's battery went dead so I made no photos of the drilling of the heel. It was done on my small lathe using a 5/8" forsner bit and a sled jig. If you'd like to see it done Bordertown brown (Richard Brown) has a beautiful set of photos in his Texsas Ebony Banjo post. banjohangout.org/topic/165814 Anyway I drilled the thing in the same manner and it also took me about 10 or so minutes.

Here I have the a gluing fixture, the neck, the dowel stick and some glue.



Holding the jig between my legs, I'm applying the glue to the mortise.




Here I'm stuffing the tenon into the glue filled mortise. After I pushed it home I cleaned all the glue squeeze out up.



Here it is in the jig.



And hanging up to cure.

Stringbean45 - Posted - 02/16/2010:  20:51:26

You know, you keep messing about with that piece of wood, and you might end up with a banjo.
Enjoying every new progress report, can't wait to hear it.

Don

ogletj - Posted - 02/16/2010:  21:09:00

When/if you string it green, be sure and call me!

DEmery - Posted - 02/17/2010:  16:15:30

That stick is appropriate for the banjo Dan. The rope design would have been too textured as you said. The carving is delicate and I do have a bias toward the maple binding that frames the stick. What's next? David

Quickstep192 - Posted - 02/17/2010:  16:45:16

Dan,

What's the notch in the dowel stick for?

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/17/2010:  17:22:05

Don,
I hope you are right...hear's to hopeing.

Tommy,
What'd you say yer number is?

David,
I'm glad you agree. Would you like a good deal on a partially finished ebony dowelstick? Lots of stuff

Quickstep,
Those notches are for neck brace wedges. Older banjos often used wood wedges for neck bracing instead of using the more commonly seen metal ones. This banjo (of course) will receive ebony wedges.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/17/2010:  18:48:35

MAKING THE FINISH


Although it may seam a bit soon, today I started prepairing the finishing materials for this banjo. I will be spirit varnishing the instrument with a French Polish technique. First I got out all of the raw materials, Shellac, Sanderic, Benzoine, copal and alcohol.

Here is my basic finish recipe:

Dry ingredients 30%

Shellac flakes 80%
Sandaric 10%
Copal 5%
Benzoine 5%

Alcohol (I use only PGA usually Everclear or this Gem Clear never de-natured alcohol) 70%

This recipe was developed from ones I got from Charlie Derrington and Stephen Gilcrest.



The shellac is (or was) in flake form, but has now hardened into a large brittle mass. I placed it in a old cooking pot and broke it up with a upholstery hammer.



Then it is ground with a mortar and pestle.



Here is some copal chunks.



Here it is ground.



All of the dry material was ground and mixed in a old peanut butter jar. The jar is then filled with alcohol.



Shakin' it up.



Here it is after a day of shaking, looks kind a tapioca like, there are still lots of undissolved hunks. It will take a couple of days for it all to dissolve.

[

ogletj - Posted - 02/17/2010:  21:07:20

Just tell your phone to "call Tommy".

DEmery - Posted - 02/18/2010:  16:20:47

Quickstep: While Dan answered you question about the notches in the dowel stick..., I thought you might want to see how the wedges look in the back of Dan's banjos. I had not seen this before either but it looks great and on mine Dan engraved a nice, antiqued "L Brace" that added to the appearance. Photo is below. David

Edited by - DEmery on 02/18/2010 16:22:39

Ambro type image of Great Grandfather circa 1850

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/18/2010:  18:50:30

CARVING THE TOP OF THE DOWEL STICK

A few days ago someone suggested the carving of the top of the dowel stick. I told how on my guitars I always draw a cartoon in mirror image on the underside of the top. This of course can only be seen with the aid of a mirror. I was sure I would not spend the time to carve this hidden aria. But being as this banjo is over the top anyway, a carving I went.

First using a white pencil I drew the design. This I followed up with a antique dog leg veneer gouge ( more than 185.3 years old) which I can only dream of owning and proceeded to inline the design.



This was followed by a 1/32" potluck gouge with which I delicately paired the non-floral edges. A dental scapula was used to incise some of the fine details.



Lastly a Wilfington cholik Emery bort divad was used to bring out the final details.



I hope you enjoyed my little bit of whimsy today. In truth today I did cave the upper side of the dowel stick. Viewings will be available upon request, to anyone who has a dental mirror in hand. carving was most certainly done in mirror form by a confirmed dyslexic.

Edited by - DanKnowles on 02/18/2010 18:54:06

GSCarson - Posted - 02/18/2010:  21:11:06

If I'm gonna see this build to the end it looks like I'll need to hitch a ride to Dan's shop in TN with mirror in hand when my friend Bill heads down to get his Knowles banjar....