bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/18/2009:  12:10:01

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Several months ago when I first saw the ebony banjo Dan built I was truly inspired by the beauty of that instrument. At that time I had no thoughts of attempting to build a banjo like that but while milling out some Texas ebony for finger boards and tone rings a couple of pieces seemed perfect for a neck, also enough material for a couple of rims. The secondary wood in the banjo is mesquite, I do like the contrast of maple but decided to stay with a regional material. Right now I have parts in the works for nineteen banjos, all the rims are turned, neck blanks cut and slotted for a truss rod. The last few days I have spent working on the Texas ebony banjo, the following are pictures of its progress.

First I wanted to put a binding strip on the inside and outside of the bottom of the rim so I built this steam box out of PVC pipe.

The forms are made from the same backer plates that were glued to the rims for turning, after using them twice they were turned on the lathe and re purposed as bending forms.


The binding is glued to the rim in rabbited grooves, turned on the lathe.

The binding is scraped flush with a cabinet scraper.

The rim is returned to the lathe an the bottom is finished with a spindle gouge.

The rim is sanded down to 320 grit paper and sealed with a coat of Tru-Oil

The neck blank is constructed with two pieces of ebony 1 1/4" thick, two pieces of mesquite 1/16" thick and one piece of ebony 1" thick, also a 1'16" mesquite veneer covers the top of the neck and the head stock which will be capped with a ebony finger board and overlay.


A 14 degree angle is cut for the peg head and the veneer, trued on the belt sander and glued in place.

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Edited by - bordertownbrown on 06/22/2010 12:48:10

Blake507 - Posted - 12/18/2009:  13:47:59

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I am seriously impressed with your skills and the quality of the wood is over the top. Love what you are doing. Keep it up. We want to see more. Keep the photos coming.

Viper - Posted - 12/18/2009:  13:53:56

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Nice work. I love to see these photos of the building process. Between this and Dan Knowles' postings, it feels like a race!

jbalch - Posted - 12/18/2009:  14:34:58

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very nice!

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/18/2009:  15:10:04

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I'm tryin to ketch up with you fellers. Ol Lefty

DanKnowles - Posted - 12/18/2009:  22:29:06

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Richard,
It's lookin' great! It'll be fun watching yours grow too.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/19/2009:  10:47:06

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Thanks to all for your nice comments! This morning I cut the slot for the truss rod, it is 1/4 x 3/8" for an LMI double action. I use this slot to index for several other operations which include the heel to rim cuts, boring for the dowel stick and shaping the top profile of the neck.

This is a router table I made quite a few years ago, it is simple and easy to adjust, it is used to cut the truss rod slot.




Next I cut a 3 degree angle at the heel of the neck.


With this jig the heel to rim cuts are made on the table saw, first the rim cut is made in a single pass, next the cut for the tension hoop is made in several passes.




The next operation is boring the dowel stick hole with a fixture I designed to be used on the lathe. To bore the hole in this ebony neck took about 10 minutes, any end grain is hard to drill but this stuff is really hard and that was with a new bit.


Here is the finished heel cut, bored for the dowel stick.


This picture shows the fit, heel to rim on a banjo with a ten inch rim, the saw blade is ten inches so the cut is perfect. A dowel stick is inserted and everything matches up.


Although the fit to an eleven inch rim is not perfect, it is very close and will need only minimal adjustment.

BigDawg - Posted - 12/19/2009:  10:56:43

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Richard, Great photos. Very inspiring, I keep thinking about building a banjo but am not sure where to start. The details you share take a lot of the mystery out of it. What is Texas ebony? I had never heard of it before, which doesn't mean much, I'm pretty narrow in my knowledge of woods.

bvh - Posted - 12/19/2009:  15:04:59

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Can you guys tell, that Richaed was, and is a professional wood worker? I especially like his jigs amd fixtures. Great work Richard!

bvh

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/19/2009:  15:36:40

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I take ridiculously minimal credit for at least firing Dan's imagination and spurrin' his pony into action. Then Richard comes out with stuff that makes me just shake my head in wonder and, unfortunately, brings on a big dose of the green eyed monster.

I sometimes enjoy making the jigs and fixtures more than I do the ultimate instrument-I've yet to be clever enough to make better ones and I struggle to reach barely similar.

On "My Les Paul Forum," we have a tradition of documenting builds for all to see. These tutorials even come from those who build for mortgage,rent, food, children's education and the continued existence of a loving home.

I bow with gratitude to those who do the same here. "Let your reach exceed your grasp, or what is heaven for?"[Robert Browning].

Well, I and others are reaching like crazy. And, I feel the better for it even as I fail. Mike T.

Bob Robert - Posted - 12/20/2009:  04:01:04

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I love seeing these builds in progress. I can only dream of someday having access to a shop equipped like yours or Dan's. I also like seeing the jigs you guys come up with. It gives me ideas of how to use my meager and motley collection of amateur tools more effectively.

I will echo BigDawg and ask, what is Texas ebony? Does that simply mean ebony that was grown in Texas, or is it another tree altogether that is just called ebony?

country frank - Posted - 12/20/2009:  06:26:52

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Inspirational!

Cant help feeling slightly under-abled when i look at such fantastic builds. All my attempts at carpentry seem to end up as firewood.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/20/2009:  08:34:35

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This is the info I have posted on my website, you can also do a search for Texas ebony or Mexican ebony, they are the same thing and are indigenous only to our area bordering the southern Rio Grande.

Texas Ebony

Texas Ebony is a member of the Legume family, Pithecellobrium flexicaule. It is very similar to Mesquite and is closely related. In the Mimosa family, the tree is shrubby and grows up to 60 feet tall, and three feet in diameter. It is rare, growing only in southern Texas and northern Mexico. The wood is extremely hard and dense, and very durable. A dark chocolate brown to black, with distinct striping in the grain, it polishes to a mirror shine. It takes frets extremely well and once dried properly it is extremely stable and won't warp with changes in humidity. Difficult to work and rare, but its extreme density (sinks in water), color, polish and stability are everything you could ask for in a fingerboard.



Richard Brown

bordertownbrown.com

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/20/2009:  09:08:23

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Richard-I'm having trouble getting my head around the 10 inch saw blade fitting up the neck to rim joint. I did the pivoting jig with a slip-in wedge for neck angle, but it is for my drillpress(really Shopsmith) vertical sanding drum. It would also work on one of my router tables(I have miter bars set up to make circle cutting jigs-pivoting on a bar mounted pin and into a 1 3/8th" , very tall bearing flush bit). I can advance in minute increments and nothing is flopping around. A little more exciting than the sanding, but it works. I can see the miter gauge on the saw with the neck jigged up and moved by it-I can't get the vertical clamping part of the jig-I'm truly confused.

Also, have you tried the Allied version of the trussrod? I think here is some competitive understated bitterness there-both Allied and LMII in the same smallish town. I have three of those Allieds right now, one for banjo for the FQ Stage 1 and two for guitars-one a Les Paul(a replica-I am silver soldering a Gibson nut on the end with a dummy 10-32 threaded end showing) and the other an Imbuia/Englemann 24.9 scale 12 string Slope Shoulder Dreadnought for myself to replace my Martin vintage D12-28 I sold to fund some power tools(big regret there-old enough to have no adjustable TR and even at concert pitch the most comfortable 12 string action I ever had and an immovable neck-a rosewood cannon).

Would you show a couple more pictures of the multi-task neck heel jig, please? Thanks, Ol Lefty( I found local resaw help for my huge curly maple billets-a friend with an 18" Laguna and 1" Timberwolf blade-what a relief!)

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/20/2009:  09:31:31

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Again I would like to thank all you guys for the nice comments. I have worked alone for over twenty years and would have it no other way but being an artist or craftsman can be a very lonely existence. I enjoy sharing my work with people who have an interest and understanding of what I'm doing, regardless of our personal level of skill or accomplishments we all share a common thread. The jigs and fixtures are the result of problem solving, when faced with how to accomplish a certain task it is all I think about even when I sleep. Concepts run through my head and I'll do sketches of possible ideas, sometimes just scrap something together that works and maybe later improve it. It is very rewarding though to build fixtures and jigs that are well designed, feel good in your hands and are easy to use. Also while using any machine to do woodwork it is most important to carefully check the set up each time, we can never assume that a saw is cutting square even if it was doing so earlier that morning, just the slightest bump can through things off.

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/20/2009:  09:55:21

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I hope that people understand that one of the reasons I am so conversational in my posts is the "all alone" factor. Since my "surprise retirement" I talk to folks on forums and my two little amigos-writing and talking persuasively was my life for 36 years-that is why I can't post without stories-in my former world, you could not succeed by tossing a "blueprint" of your case in the lap of a judge or jury.

Human experience as a part of the story is crucial- I know from experience-even judges need to be placed in the shoes of the real human beings before them and it is more important with juries. In most states in the legal rules of evidence and trial practice a lawyer is not permitted to openly ask jurors to put themselve in the place of a party to a case, so those of us who really did trials frequently learned to use analogy and other story frameworks in talking to people about most anything. It becomes a hard instinct to abandon.

Photographs help too-please Richard, a couple more on the "saw jig" for the heel area?Just if you get time. Thanks, Ol'Lefty

***PS*** I am going to work on reducing number of posts and length of posts. Looks like short and sweet is preferred here.o'l

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Edited by - Ol Lefty on 12/20/2009 10:01:56

Helix - Posted - 12/21/2009:  05:25:35

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Very well done. The Carob tree in our former yard was 15 years old and 15" in diameter, The Texas Ebony was the same age and was 5" in diameter.

I really like your use of what is at hand. this is American grown wood and is exotic.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/21/2009:  06:12:30

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Ol Lefty, I enjoy reading your post and hope that you reconsider before either shortening or reducing them. Writing is becoming a lost art the same as so many other forms of manual creativity, one like yourself who has the ability and the love write should not be censored.

As for the jig, here are a couple more photos and I'll try to further explain how it works. The part that holds the neck is built on a 3 degree angle to the saw table. The neck is indexed by the truss rod slot and fits over three 1/4" brass pins located in a straight center line of the holding part of the jig. When the neck is placed in the jig it fits snugly, I don't use clamps to hold it in place but rather just my hands, the left placed high and the right placed low, holding both the neck and the jig. The jig with the neck slide along the adjustable fence at the left, this fence must be adjustable as the saw blade does not rise on a true center. The neck is then passed sideways into the saw blade, this must be done only with light cuts as saw blades are not designed to cut in this fashion. After the neck to rim cut is made, centered with the heel, a stop block is placed on the table against the saw fence and the adjustable fence which is part of my jig, this block stops the cut for the tension hoop, The blade is raised about a quarter turn at a time to accomplish the cut in a series of light passes. Check to see that the cut is centered, on my saw the adjustable fence needs to be moved about 1/16" to the left accomplish this. The last picture shows the block, it just sits on the table, hope this helps.

Richard

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/21/2009:  06:14:37

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Helix,
Thanks for the nice comments, hope your banjo building is going well!
Richard

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/21/2009:  08:00:20

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Was blind, but now I see. The buried blade -not just outside the box-there is no box!
I have a baltic birch face that fastens onto my rip fence. The saw blade is buried in it flush. I just set it over the blade and very carefully raised the blade to full height. Now, I can joint a piece of wood quite precisely-I am not feeding contrary to the design mode, but your "buried blade" highlighted by the extra pictures lit the lightbulb. THANKS!!!

I like that you make your jigs detailed with workmanship. A tool that pleases the eye also pleases the wood, so to speak. This is why I have mentioned that I can get the same pleasure from a good "helper" as I do from the end piece. And, by detailing my jigs I feel I keep the level of care consistent. Perhaps even more important, a well executed jig generally ends up with safety considerations built into it. For instance, the contoured sides of the vertical jig reflect hand placement and a sensible distance from disaster.{Here is a thought-I have a big Dado King blade-might a dado blade be just a bit more stiff for side- flex loading?}

One of the dumbest things I have ever done was to cut through 4.5" of the huge maple billets I have. I was very hot and tired and using my conventional tablesaw out in the garage-perspiring profusely. To pass the second, through, cut, and move seven and a half feet of maple without binding, I ended up with my sternum leaned over a running blade. The Lord looks out for fools, and there was no tragedy-I had straightened up and looked at the singing tablesaw and literally got the "shakes." as the long end of the "log" tipped onto the floor. The next chunk got cut off with a carefully used chainsaw-another but more obvious monster in its own right. Time to get going and dig out some ply and phenolic and brass rod stock. Ol Lefty

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/21/2009:  09:03:26

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Mike,
Don't think I would try the dado blades, they may have a tendency to grab if you get the least bit out of line, better to proceed with a heavy combination blade, caution and very light cuts keeping in mind that it is only the outside lead edge of the blade that is doing the cutting.

Banjocoltrane - Posted - 12/21/2009:  10:06:42

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Wow, that looks beautiful

Helix - Posted - 12/21/2009:  16:15:03

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The proof is in the cutting. Really well thought out.

mandocaster - Posted - 12/21/2009:  16:26:24

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But is a 10" radius cut by an 10" saw blade the right match for an 11" rim? I try to get the heel of my necks to fit as close as possible to the rim which means an 11" cut on the heel.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/22/2009:  05:45:16

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If you can cut a perfect 11" radius at the heel you won't get an exacting fit. the rim is probably 1/32" to 1/16" under 11" allowing the mating pieces to be open at the edges. With a 10" radius cut the outer edges will be tight, slightly undercut and insuring a perfect fit. At the center of the neck where it joins the rim there is a measurable gap of about two thousands of an inch, a couple of swipes with a profiled sanding block could make this a perfect fit but it is better to have the heel slightly under cut than to go the other way. Here's another picture that shows the cut made by a 10" saw blade matched to an 11" rim.

uncle.fogey - Posted - 12/22/2009:  06:05:40

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Thanks for posting all the fantastic pictures!!
Your jigs and fixtures are great. You are lucky to have a rare and beautiful wood like that available, and you are really making a wonderful and beautiful product with it. You wouldn't even need a separate fingerboard with that kind of wood - you could just put the frets directly in the neck like Pete Seeher's lignum vitae neck.

Keep up the good work!

Ken

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/22/2009:  08:30:47

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Thanks Ken,
Do you have any pictures of that Seeger lignum vitae banjo? I have never seen it.

Richard

GSCarson - Posted - 12/22/2009:  09:24:44

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Excellent thread and photos Richard. There is a good article with photos of Pete Seeger's instruments including his long neck banjo in the #15 Fall issue of Fretboard Journal thats pretty interesting.
Glenn C.

uncle.fogey - Posted - 12/22/2009:  09:43:45

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Here's a pic


The story is that he hired the great John D'Angelico in New York to add a two-fret extension to the neck of his old tubaphone in the late 40s. Later on, he wanted 3 frets, so he got a piece of lignum vitae and carved it into a neck himself. He got a luthier to put frets directly on top of the neck. The peghead design is unique. and to attach the strap, he has screwed an eye-bolt right into the side of the neck near the 5th fret.

Vega "presented" him with a "Pete Seeger" Vega, which he said was beautiful, but auctioned it off in a charity auction for a cause he supported. He has been playing his lignum vitae neck tubaphone ever since and he's 90 now.

It must have remained straight, and lignum vitae is waxy, so it's probably a "speed neck". I'm told the neck is very thick and heavy.

uncle.fogey - Posted - 12/22/2009:  09:51:09

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Sorry for the typo- Pete Seeger's strap eyebolt is next to the 15th fret, not the 5th. That must be a good balance point.

raverys12 - Posted - 12/22/2009:  19:10:50

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I guess I'm trying to understand the 10 " blade and the 11 " rim issue. Did you cant the neck slightly to the blade to get the right radius ??? Maybe I missed that if you did. Looks very nice though ... did a very nice job on the fixtures ... Like I always say ... its all in the fixtures ... great Job overall ... , Later, Bob

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/23/2009:  05:20:22

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Since I too was mystified until the extra pictures-his point is that using the 10" leaves a minimal difference-easily cleaned up to exact as needed. My largest sanding drum is 3" diameter, but can be manipulated to reproduce the arc for an 11" rim-the manipulations are nearly minute.

As an exercise in "exactness" I am building a jig for a Shopsmith that will feed a heel into an 11" diameter, 3" thick wooden disc sander. It will arc the whole heel and then by moving the stock to the side(edge) of the disc, will cut the deeper tension hoop relief. I think I have found a router bit that will pretty closely cut the flange relief as well for resonators. The jig can go from Shopsmith to router table. I am in early stages; I'm making it so that it will also work with any sizable drillpress. I am also doing his vertical jig-it is too clever not to attempt it. Ol Lefty

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/23/2009:  05:23:46

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Bob,
The second to the last post on the first page of this topic explains and illustrates how and why the 10" blade/ 11" rim works. The cut is made straight and produces a 10" radius cut at the heel.
Richard

Ol Lefty - Posted - 12/23/2009:  06:19:15

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sadly, I overestimated how much Gaboon Ebony I have. I cannot find a large third board I had. I have plenty of nice very stable Black Walnut though. So, I'll be reserving my Gaboon for a tone ring and doing walnut blocks.

Maybe I need to import some of that Texas Ebony. Another woodworking pal once sent me a small load of mesquite-I made some planes and chisel handles-they came out great. Some had swirly grain, but nothing has really moved. O'L

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/24/2009:  06:11:13

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Yesterday I cut the neck profile on the band saw and shaped the top profile with a template I designed to be used with a router and a top bearing flush trim bit which is indexed by three 1/4" brass pins into the truss rod slot. I made four of these templates for various scale lengths, it took a whole day to make the templates but I shaped about 15 necks in one hour.

The side profile is cut on the band saw.




Next the top profile is cut, I try to stay between 1/32 to 1/16" outside the line.


The template is used to perfectly shape the top profile of the neck, the template must be made exact and the routing must be done with great care. The fingerboard, once attached will be trimmed flush with a router and a bottom bearing flush trim bit.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/12/2010:  14:41:14

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Well I haven't made a post on this topic in a long time so here goes. I have shown some pictures of this banjo mixed in with my "Necks and Dowel Sticks" so I wont show those again in this thread. I spent most of the week shaping banjo necks and decided to start some carving on the ebony banjo today. I am also posting some other pictures of its progress but wont go into any lengthy explanations as these either have been or will be presented in another post.

Ol Lefty - Posted - 02/12/2010:  17:20:39

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Very classy volute! Oh, and the rest is pretty OK!!!, too! I'm a bit stalled at the moment. Ol Lefty

dubtom - Posted - 02/12/2010:  17:26:36

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Ohh I do love that detail at the peg head,very very clever. I too am mighty impressed with your Jig building skills bordertownbrown (not to mention banjo building skills)

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/13/2010:  10:42:47

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This morning I spent a few more hours refining the neck carving, Not quite there but getting close. Here's a couple of pictures.

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/14/2010:  18:24:31

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Richard,

What a cool volute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really like this! I'd take my hat off to you ...if I was wearing one. Seriously that is very beautiful and such a nice touch.

Dan Knowles

broncbuster - Posted - 02/14/2010:  18:40:09

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Frikkin Awesome! Nice work there Richard.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/16/2010:  14:35:11

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HEEL CARVING

Yesterday I started on the heel carving, after drawing and re drawing the design I was finally able to settle on something. I had been thinking about this motif for some time and began making sketches about a week ago. The subjects are cactus which I have growing in my yard, they are prickly pear and fence post. Here is my progress so far, the first side will require a few more hours while the second has not yet been started.

First the pattern is drawn on the heel with a white pencil.


next the design is outlined with a very small gouge or a V shaped tool.



Next the background is cut away from around the design.




After this I begin to carve the shapes where thy overlap to give them dimension, I start with the objects which are furthest in the background and work towards the foreground.




Still quite a ways to go, will post more pictures tomorrow.

ronwalker49 - Posted - 02/16/2010:  17:39:18

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Awful nice of you Richard, to go to all the extra trouble for us...Many thanks......Ron

moparcolt - Posted - 02/16/2010:  18:53:56

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I am just curious why some builders use dowel rods and some use co-ordinator rods. I am building a neck and buying a rim and was planing on using co-ordinator rods, because I don't understand how the dowel rods work, is one easier than the other? YOUr project is awesome, I hope to be able to try making some of these jigs some day yo make building faster and easier. I carved my neck practically by hand, with just a table saw, belt sander and a rasp so far.

Chris

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Edited by - moparcolt on 02/16/2010 18:56:48

DanKnowles - Posted - 02/16/2010:  19:44:17

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Richard,

I had slap my face to stop smiling, this is so cool and fitting with the Texas Ebony motif!! I Love it!!!

Dan Knowles

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/18/2010:  06:19:59

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Ron, I'm glad you enjoy my posts, it is a great pleasure to share with those of like interest.

Chris, Your neck looks very nice, as for the preference of dowel stick or co-coordinator rods, I like a dowel stick because of its more traditional look, also it appeals to my senses as a woodworker as something I can have faith in.

Dan, Thanks for the reply! I'm looking at this area of heel carving as a mini landscape, seems to lend itself well and the themes are unlimited but for me I'll keep it local. I always find that my best inspiration comes from what I am looking at every day.

Richard

bordertownbrown - Posted - 02/18/2010:  06:30:54

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Yesterday I spent several more hours carving the first side of the heel, it is now very near completion but still needs some attention to detail, I began working on this carving this week because I had a bad cold and had to do something that wouldn't make much dust. A trip to the doctor yesterday told me that I have the flu virus for which I am now being treated, the medication has wiped me out so I'll be spending most of the day on the couch.




Richard

GSCarson - Posted - 02/18/2010:  15:32:38

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Looking good Richard, can't wait to see how you do those cactus needles! Get well soon and keep the photos coming.
Glenn C.

DEmery - Posted - 02/18/2010:  16:31:38

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It is interesting to see builders from different parts of the country add their local flair to carving designs. This is both interesting and a super way to put a twist on a traditional instrument. I continue to watch you and Dan move along with great work. David E.