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DanKnowles - Posted - 08/13/2010: 18:23:50
rimir
This post starts the making of the rim. Here is how rim building will proceed.
Mold making.
Wood milling, (this will include all of the cutting and thicknessing of the timbers)
Scarf joint cutting.
Timber steaming
Rim bending.
Rim gluing.
Rim scraping.
Rim dimensioning,
Layout of all mortises and bracket shoe holes.
Bracket shoe drilling.
Neck mortise making.
Sanding & scraping.
Finishing
So although in this post I will be starting with the mold making, there will be many other jobs to follow in the completion of the rim. Though these tasks will roughly follow in the above order the posts may or may not follow this same pattern. I may intersperse neck construction or perhaps hardware making depending on which job I decide to do as I attempt to finish these instruments in a reasonable amount of time.
My first job is laying out the outside diameter of the mold. The existent rim averages 11 ¾” OD. Its Id is around 11 5/8”. This less a smudge hair for metal sheathing will be our mold OD. Here I’m laying out the walking beam compass for half of that measurement.
Drawing the circles on ¾” plywood.
I need two so here ya go.
Cutting on the ole’ band saw.
Carl Ball - Posted - 08/14/2010: 09:36:48
quote:
Originally posted by Steven M
Wow, that is a steady hand!
DanKnowles - Posted - 08/16/2010: 19:13:26
II MOLD 8:15
Here we are, continuing with the rim mold making. Hopefully this sucker will go together easy and work great!
…We’ll see.
OK, continuing with the cutting… perfect circles... only his barber knows...
Here is the two mold pieces with a piece of aluminum flashing material. I’m trying to make this wide enough to roll two rim pieces on one mold. It feels like it might be a bit flimsy.
. 
I rolled it around one mold piece and clamped it.
Then taped it and banged in a mold piece.
Held it in place and screwed it together.
All screwed together. I’m not happy with this it is not sturdy enough. 
After tearing it apart I substituted a piece of 4” wide aluminum wrapped several times around the mold and added blocks to keep it up off of a table while working. This feels very sturdy and I feel much better about the whole thing.
DanKnowles - Posted - 08/17/2010: 18:26:52
1st. RIM
Hay there, tonight at long last I’ll start really Building these Jacobs reproductions. Well perhaps what I should say is rather that now I get to start the woodworking part of the building of these banjos…
Ya!
First of all I dug through m stock of maple. I am looking for timbers that do not exhibit much (if any) figure. If you remember the photos of the original banjo’s rim the wood was rather plain. This is what I am looking for. I also want a piece which I have had in inventory for as long as possible. The aging of the wood makes it harder and more brittle. If you have ever tried to drive a 16 penny nail into an old two by four you will understand just what I am talking about.
So with this in mind I went digging. I usually have several hundred board feet of maple in stock at any time. It’s kept up in a upper cabinet of my shop where it stays warm and gets really dry. I so enjoy digging and visiting with these friends. So much so that I plumb forgot to take any photos of my searching. Needless to say though, the shop floor was covered with wood. The difficulty with this search was that most of the maple which I own is quite figured. I’m a wood miser and I’ll buy almost any beautiful piece which I find. Any how after several hours of looking, raping and sighting I found just the piece that I needed for this project.
First I planned how I would work up this piece of maple. It is first cut in around 4’ lengths. Then it is ripped on the band saw to 3 ½” width.
Then the planks are ripped to around 3/8” thick.
Next using a thickness plainer they are thicknessed to .220”.
Now the real hand work begins. Using a cabinet scraper I take off about .010” of material, giving me a final thickness of .210”. If you have ever attempted this you know how long this takes. Still I want to replicate the work done in the 1850’s on this project as much as is practical. Most likely the original wood would have been scraped. Close inspection of the original shows no scratches from glass paper or sharkskin.
trapdoor2 - Posted - 08/17/2010: 19:40:16
I love working with scrapers. I'm always amazed at the lovely finish one gets and how much control you actually have...and how much stock you can remove if you're not careful!
I want to build a shaving horse for these jobs. I think setting up out under a tree in my backyard and making chips would be a great thing...as long as it warn't 100 deg. or raining...or both! 
DanKnowles - Posted - 08/18/2010: 17:59:44
ARFF N' SCARF
Well folks, today is scarf joint day. That’s right get out your joints and scarf them… but please don’t inhale! We want no cut fangers…
What you ask is a scarf joint? Elementary dear Watson…
The scarf is a elongated V shaped cut allowing us to join two pieces of wood side by side and still maintain the same thickness. It is a long feathering lap joint. Most banjo & drum rims are made using this joint.
Our Jacobs banjo had a 3” long scarf. so we ar going to make ours the same. Here is how it’s done.
First I measure and mark the timber 3” from its end. Then I mark a squire line at that point.
The board is securely clamped to the bench and using my Granddad’s Stanley #4 bench plane I begin to cut the taper.
The using a block plane I refine the taper.
Because I am making several rims here, I scrape another one.
Then lay out for another scarf…
Do you notice the difference between this photo and the one that started this post?
dubtom - Posted - 08/19/2010: 15:41:55
quote:
Originally posted by Carl Ball
Does appear to be the same piece of wood.
DanKnowles - Posted - 08/19/2010: 17:51:21
SCRAPIN' & SCRAPIN'
I was going to tell you that today is Bill Clinton’s birthday…but I won’t. Or that he is 64 today… won’t do that either. Not that it matters. Still it was on the news as I write this. It’s interesting the useless information that is passed off as news. Lord a mercy I’m a Newsman now!
Instead I’ll go ahead and let you in on the very last bit of timber scraping and then soon, very soon we’ll go ahead and roll those rims… As a little side note last night I read Ben Franklin’s speech recommending the acceptance of the constitution back in 1787 and it was printed with his original spelling. He spelled very as verry. I like that; it’s more intense than the modern way… I can almost feel the word jumping off the page.
OK on to work.
Here is another piece of maple clamped in ready for scraping. 
I’m using a cabinet scraper it’s an very old tool which looks sort of like a spoke shave but holds a scraper blade. The sole on the bottom helps keep the object true, helping keep the possible dips and hollows from happening.
Here I’ve changed to a plain ole scrapes, it’s a Sandvick brand scraper and is one of my favorites.
Complete!
trapdoor2 - Posted - 08/23/2010: 11:00:50
No less than S.S. Stewart advocated "flat" for his banjos in his writings. Banjo hacks have been "recutting" Stewart necks for years, thinking they "pulled forward" (not that some necks didn't warp). They simply were designed for different strings and a different playing method. Same goes for the earlier banjo types.
I'm right there with you though. I think something around 1 degree ought to be optimal. I'm restoring (ok, "polishing up") a Stewart "American Princess" at the moment and she has just a "slightly less than flat" cut...probably just less than 1 degree. I think she'll string up perfectly with nylgut and a 1/2" bridge, no cutting required.
I'll have to check my Hartel Ashborn tonight. I suspect it is flat...but I've never bothered to notice or check.
DanKnowles - Posted - 08/23/2010: 18:32:43
STE STE STEAMIN'
Howdie, Horray it’s rim rolling day!
This is how it will go. First we set up the steaming and bending equipment outside in front of the shop. This includes: the steam chamber, the boiler and the mold.
I am privileged on this post to introduce my friend Tommy Ogle, who besides being a fine old-time banjo picker, recording artist, sanger (not singer, he understands this), gun finisher and upright bass player is a insipient (look that one up Tommy) rim roller. I’m quite sure this job would have been impossible without his help.
The steamer is fired up, and the steam box is brought up to temperature, approximately 210 degrees. All of the pieces of wood are placed in the steam box and steamed for a minimum of 20 minutes. We went back inside and kicked back and waited.
Here we are with the first rim that we are rolling. I guess this is #1 of 4. Here we have just pulled it from the steamer and are preparing to roll it.
We didn’t get many good photos of this rolling. Once the wood is pulled from the steam box it is moving as fast as you can, no time to fool around. The wood will loose is limberness quite quickly.
Anyway, here the rim has been rolled and clamped into the mold. I am knocking it into evenness. The timber wasn’t quite exactly true.
Clamping some more.
I tried to quickly get the wood to set to shape by using the heat gun. We later figured out that this was a useless thing to do. 
Here’s Tommy looking through our first rim just pulled from the mold.
Will1717 - Posted - 08/23/2010: 19:32:23
Dan:
That's not fair! I counted four hands rolling that rim!
Bill Rickard
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