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Cello Linings, Willow, bent and ready to install
The linings I sawed up yesterday are now bent and ready to install.
While the bending iron was warming up (which takes about 20-30 minutes, especially in cold weather), I used a very small hand plane to smooth the edges of the linings, since some were still a little rough, especially if they had been the outside edge of the strips I cut from that beat-up 4 x 4 I brought home.
Once the iron was hot enough to make water droplets dance on its surface, I dampened each lining strip one at a time, and used a metal bending strap to force the wood against the hot surface of the (aluminum) “bending iron”. These linings are about 4mm thick, so I gave each segment a full 15 seconds to heat up, or 20 in the case of the c-bout linings which were to endure a tighter bend. As I heated one section, forced against the flattest curve of the iron, I counted seconds, then shifted the wood sideways to heat the next section, still maintaining the curve of the first, and so on, until the entire lining strip had the curve I wanted it to have. You can see that I deliberately over-bent them: I do so because it is pretty easy to straighten them out a little, to adjust them to fit tightly against the ribs.
Here is what they look like now:
Tomorrow evening, depending on how tired I am when I get home, (or probably Friday, since I have to go to bed very early Thursday in order to get up at 2:30 AM and go teach a code clinic class before my regular work begins on Friday morning) I will remove the front section of the mold (notice the screws holding it), which will allow room for the linings to be installed. I will cut the little mortises in each side of each block, to receive the ends of the linings, then brush hot hide glue onto each rib and lining, one set at a time, and clamp them in place with little spring clamps. After the front linings are dry, I will repeat the process with the back linings.
Starting to look more encouraging, now.