Once I had the faux body/belly side lamination pieces bent and in the form overnight, I went ahead and started the process of gluing them up. The first decision was centered on which glue to use. I have several options available in the shop: Titebond I, Titebond I Extended (longer setup time), Garrett Wade Gap-filling glue, and Gorilla Glue. I was surprised during a recent visit to a prominent Portland harpsichord builder's shop to learn that he uses Gorilla Glue for all of this bentside laminations, so there you go.
I started with a piece of maple and a piece of sapele. The idea was to present light/dark/light layering that would look kinda cool in the end. Now, the thing about Gorilla Glue is that it's activated by water, so I sprayed both pieces and spread the Gorilla Glue and quickly realized that I don't really have enough strong clamps for the lamination process. It takes a LOT of clamps and they must be really, really strong to hold the lamination pieces in place, even after they've been bent.
As you can see in the photo above, I did the best I could, but the Gorilla Glue expands when it's activated, which resulted in a slight spreading of the pieces that left discernible gaps between them, which is simply unacceptable. The result is that I will be capping the sides with a thin piece of bent maple. This will be a vastly easier task than the laminations, yet it is a bit disappointing that I have to do it at all. Observe my progress below.
I should have taken a close-up of the final product so you could see the little gaps. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. Given the fact that I'm on a roll and will be capping the pieces, I'm going to go ahead and bend and laminate the other belly side today. Besides, we're snowed in - what better way to spend one's Snow Day, right?
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment