The bodies of these pinecones are now assembled. Now it is time to make the Maple backs. From beautiful tiger striped maple that really make these ukes unique, Here is how I do it.
 1. Here is the secret- clamp this to your drill press, put a Forstner bit in your chuck and set the drill press to cut just to the point of maximum thickness for your back. If you set it properly you can set the back over this post and drill to your hearts content, you will drill no deeper than you have set the press to drill  3. I have marked the outer boundaries of that area I want to excavate. I have also filed down the large central pilot pin on the Forstner, to reduce the depth of the guide hole. Set the depth device on your drill press to penetrate all but the final thickness you want the back to eventually be. |  2. And so you are carving out immense amounts of wood but not penetrating the back of the instrument. You will later smooth this all up with a series of ever finer sanding discs on a right angle power tool, but for this moment you are hogging out material.  Now the rough excavation has been done. It is time to put a coarse sanding disc in a right angle drill and begin to grind down even more of the back until the pilot holes have disappeared. When those holes are gone you will know you have thinned the back to the thickness that you earlier set your drill press to drill. |
