Official Luthiers Forum!

Just wanted to pass along a little tip or more accurately, a warm-up method that came in the past issue of Fine Woodworking.  I know that I am at my most dangerous (to me and my projects ) in the first fifteen minutes that I am in my shop and I had really never taken the time to ponder why.  The answer turns out to be embarassingly simple -- I don't bother to warm up.    If I play my guitars I take some time to warm up.  If I take the dog jogging (brisk walking these days) I warm up.  I even take the time to watch Terry, Howie and Jimmy before an NFL game!   -- but I've never bothered to warm up working in the shop.

Fine Woodworking would have us warm up on a five-minute dovetail cut into scrap wood and done with pencil, backsaw, chisel and coping saw.  No measurements!  Warm up the hands and eyes before ever touching expensive wood or projects in progress. 

It also occured to me that for those that use a dovetail neck joint, this exercise can be modified easily to mimic the guitar joint.  Just angle the shoulder of the pin when looking into it's end.

    End view drawer dovetail:

     _________________________
    |        |           ;       |           ; |
    |        |       pin  &n bsp;   |           ; |
     _________________________

 

    End view of guitar dovetail: 

 _________________________
  |           ;  \   pin      /         |
  |           ;    \         /           ; |
 _________________________

I'm adding this warm up to my New Year's resolution.  Please pardon the bad ascii art -- I hope this helps.

 

 

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I never really thought of it that way before. It makes perfect sense
though. I wish I had remembered that yesterday before I played
basketball because today I'm hurting like h*%l.