That's a rim

October 26 2011, 8:12 PM  by Shawn Hoover

I got to thinking about the perfect jig to complete the tone ring chamfer with my spindle sander and decided to give it a go with plywood and a 2x4. No go. My "depth stop" invention was not close to working and was definitely not fail-safe. More like fail-mess-up-the-whole-rim.

I was just about to give up and bust out the router to trim the inside flush and do a normal tone ring when I thought, eh, I'm a rookie woodworker who's never done this before, why not take a stab at it by hand? Normally that's a terrible idea for me, but there was lots of wood to practice on, this is part of the banjo where the sun doesn't shine, and I had a hunch it just might work.

I let the rim ride/wobble on a 45 degree block and I totally freehanded the depth of cut. Believe it or not it worked! Either my standards are dropping or I nailed it, because I'm not sure I can tell it was done by hand. In summary, spindle sanders and paste wax are awesome. Who needs a fancy $45 router bit?

On to the neck for real this time.

150 views and 2 responses

  • Oct 28 2011, 6:25 AM
    Monica R Hoover responded:
    Dropping standards? Never!
  • Oct 28 2011, 7:14 AM
    Shawn Hoover responded:
    Don't worry, I found some tiny imperfections later :)