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KASHA FUN TODAY

10/6/2017

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 I had a fun and productive afternoon in the workshop today.  Some new experiences and some learning.
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The first challenge was bending fancy purfling to fit the tight oval around the Kasha sound hole.  I just received some purfling from Luthiers Mercantile Inc. and I wanted to bend some of it around the oval. I made this form to bend it around.
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Here is some of the beautiful material I bought.  But now how do you bend it into a tight oval or, around the shape of the instrument.
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The answer is HEAT.  I discovered that with a few passes of hot air from the heat gun this purfling will soften-bend- and hold its shape as it cools.  It is not easy but it is doable, so I tried it on several different purflings  I had bought.  here is some regular white/black/white.  Easy to bend, but I wanted something prettier.
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I also learned that my first bending form needed improvement.  I needed to bend all of the way around the oval, so I cut out the oval and screwed it onto the backing piece.  Now I had the freedom to bend all the way around.
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Then I tried this purfling, that I really like.  I was able to bend it but found it a bit too wide for the groove that I had cut in the soundboard. I could have made this work despite the broken pieces. I was just too wide.
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I almost forgot.  Before you put super glue into a groove you must seal off the wood with a coating of shellac.  Super glue stains wood and it is so thin that it travels through the grain very quickly.  I have put a coating of shellac into the groove that will receive the purfling, If I can successfully bend it.
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I was able to bend this purfling and get in place, then with medium thick, gap filling superglue I set it in place.  Now for the finishing touches.
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Here are some of the other possibilities for future instruments.
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Now, with this delicate little scraper, I scrape the purfling down to level.  It is looking pretty good.
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And here it is, the finished product,  Not perfect, but not bad for a first try.  work on the neck also made progress,  Show you that tomorrow.
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