Here are the indgredients for the last sanding of the shellac finish. A saucer of water with just a drop of dishwater detergent in it to clean and lubricate the 1,000 grit wet dry sand paper. a flat sanding device, and a careful and light sanding of any high spots or rough deposits on the finish.
Here are the current build freshly sanded and drying among the beginnings of the next build. In a couple of hours I will begin the French Polish routine again. Perhaps three more applications of the thicker mix, then three applications of the thinner dilution and these ukes will be ready to string up. They are really looking good now.
As the current build dried I put the big old plane back in the vise and trimmed up the sides of the next build. I suppose it would have been faster to just hold them up to the belt sander, but there is something soothing about cutting a straight side with a sharp blade. All six sides are now sized and ready to thin down to their bending thickness. (.70).
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Now it is time to thin down all parts on the thickness sander. It takes some time, lots of passes through the sander but slowly they are thinned, saw marks removed and when I had them all down to .130 I quit for the day. Another session on the sander with thin them down to about .70 their final thickness. This always takes some time, but nothing like it did on my first uke when I did it all by hand sanding. I love this machine.
Here are all the pieces. now all the same thickness and cut to shape. Next task will be to select the Redwood for the Soundboards and thin and shape them.
