Official Luthiers Forum!

Didn't see any subforum for tools and jigs and such, so I thought I'd post this here.
I was in the process of making my first rosette out of a piece of mesquite I had laying around. I'm putting it on a walnut top and the two grains looked very similar so I thinned down some extra maple binding I had to use as purfling strips to set the two grains apart. I wanted to glue them all up and install them as one piece (ok, I'm new at this, any and all suggestions as to how to make this more efficient are greatly appreciated, but not the point of this thread). How do I clamp this thin, thin, thin stuff???? Hmmmmm..........
I had some wooden clothespins laying around that the wife used to hang out clothes and that I had tried for clamping up kerfing (don't care for the clamping tension)........


so I examined them a little more closely. What a wonderful invention!!! So simple, yet so versitile!!


I thought, hmmmmm...., maybe I can do something with this. First, disassembly.....


then off to the spindle sander to put a little concave "gripping lip" on the "wrong" end.....


then reassembly with the spring reversed.....


then glue up and try them out........


and, VIOLA!!!!, a soon-to-be-finished-and-installed rosette!!!


I may have to hit the Dollar Store and get me some more of these! Handy little tools....and cheap, too!!!

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"Anything that's worth cuttin' down a tree for is worth doin' right, don't the Lord love a 2 X4?" - The Carpenter - Guy Clark
www.tandnguitarrepair.com

great idea
thanks for sharing

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Music Is Forever

Great idea. However, don't sell them short for clamping kerfed linings. Wrap a rubber band around the "right" end and it will increase the clamping pressure considerably. They work great that way.

Matt

Cool idea. Looks like it worked well, but here's my suggestion. When doing a rosette like that, I glue the wide circle into the top as best I can, then I cut a narrow channel for each of the narrow trim bits. No clamping needed and helps compensate for any movement the big piece does when you cut it out.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom