Smoothing

When I removed the clamps from gluing the bottom/back and sides together, I cut away the lip of wood in order to even up the edge.  I like the clean look it has--though I have seen a few pictures of nyckelharpas with a lip around both top and bottom edges.  I'll leave a lip around the top.

I rough-cut the "curves" of the corners.  I was nervous the whole time in case I accidently removed too much wood or cut a wrong angle.

 

 Before and after.

I really like seeing the patterns of the grain of the different pieces come together.

The edges have turned out smooth and not hideous at all!  I had to splurge and buy a replacement sander (the one "power tool" I'm using) since my random orbital fell apart, and was really too big for this project anyhow.  Instead, I chose a Craftsman detail sander.

I was so excited after this point, that I couldn't sleep that night.  My female mind kept running down my list of what I should work on next and how long would it take to attach the sound board?  Cut the keys?  Put the keybox together?  Shape the tailpiece?  Don't forget the pegboard strengthener . . . .

Fiddley Work

 I find myself working in spurts.  While I waited on the glue to dry, I cut a rough piece of what will become the tailpiece.  Whew!  Maple is tough stuff to cut by hand.

I left extra wood on the tail of the tailpiece.  It will be removed and shaped when I do a final measurement .

Sawing, sawing, sawing. 

This chunk of alder is being cut for blanks for keys.  The sides of the keybox will be cherry.  I'm using the alder for the keys (for now) because I had a chunk of alder and it seems to be workable.  Because the keybox won't be glued to the neck of the harpa, I feel I could always go back and make a new keybox.

Back it up

 Once the sides were cut, leaving the ends square . . . well . . . square-ish . . . I clamped it together.  I have a large piece of heavy glass measuring about 1' x 2'.  It provides the perfect surface for sanding accurately.  I used it to level or even-up the bottom edges of the body of the harpa.  It worked!  This created flush edges all around which made attaching the bottom or back much easier.

Sides glued up.

To help with attaching the bottom/back and the sound board, I made clamps.  These are simply threaded rods (you can buy them at the local hardware store--precut in 6-inch lengths; however, I found long lengths at the lumber yard and the guys were happy to cut them for me . . . let's just say I could have saved about $20 if I'd gone to the lumber yard first).

I cut 1" pieces from the largest diameter dowel rod I could find.  Some matching washers and suitable wing-nuts, and "washers" I cut from a sheet of cork, and there you have it!  Voila!  There's just enough wiggle room plus the cushion from the cork that they can clamp uneven/slightly angled edges.

Here are my clamps in action.  Working very well.  They did leave a little cork residue when I took them off, but some light sanding took care of that.

Smoothing

When I removed the clamps from gluing the bottom/back and sides together, I cut away the lip of wood in order to even up the edge. I like the clean look it has--though I have seen a few pictures of nyckelharpas with a lip around both top and bottom edges. I'll leave a lip around the top.

I rough-cut the "curves" of the corners. I was nervous the whole time in case I accidently removed too much wood or cut a wrong angle.

Before and After

I really like seeing the patterns of the grain of the different pieces come together.

The edges have turned out smooth and not hideous at all! I had to splurge and buy a replacement sander (the one "power tool" I'm using) since my random orbital fell apart, and was really too big for this project anyhow. Instead, I chose a Craftsman detail sander.

I was so excited after this point, that I couldn't sleep that night. My female mind kept running down my list of what I should work on next and how long would it take to attach the sound board? Cut the keys? Put the keybox together? Shape the tailpiece? Don't forget the pegboard strengthener . . . .