Sheet Metal Art

How cool is my Dad - aka Gryper?!

One of the things we have to do while building the double bass is take these thin "sheets" of maple that we have planed to around 2mm thick, and bend them to form the sides of the double bass.

We have a bending iron which is a tool that is about 6 inches high and heats up, then you bend the sides around it shaping them to fit the sides of the double bass. The sides of the double bass are about 9 inches high.

So here is a picture of the bending iron.

Gryper did some sheet metal art and built us an extension for it so our bending iron is now 9" high. Despite his being frustrated and it having taken quite a few hours, it works incredibly well. Here is the bending iron with the new extension fitted.

Here's Bethany starting to bend the first piece of side rib.

We found that, as with everything we've done with this so far, it goes much easier with four hands than two.

Here is the mould and you can see the ribs have been glued in on the "C bouts" (the waist)

The first one took us well over an hour to get bent to fit exactly, the second one was bent and glued in in half an hour.

Once again, Gryper's sheet metal art saves the day.

Progress

We are making progress on the double bass. The mould has taken us some time to figure out and then build. We spent yesterday and today shaping the blocks at the corners and the top & bottom. We're really pleased with our efforts.

We decided to put the pieces together (sort of) in their current state. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it was exciting to see it taking shape. You can see the iguana that Bethany has carved on top of the scroll. It's very impressive and is going to be gorgeous!

Another First

This was given to a friend of ours, but it needed some repairs.

With my vast experience, I volunteered to do the repairs for him.

There was a crack in the front and some other small bits of damage, and it just looked tired. Here it is with the front crack glued and clamped.

Then I added some purfling where a piece had broken out. Although it looks very white in this picture, you'll see later that it barely shows when I finished it.

There was some damage to the edge preventing it from being properly glued together. The edge was ragged and there was a gap between the top and the sides.

So I made little patches to fix the two spots. They too look very white, but I took care of them.

There see, they barely show.

I put a lable in it.

Then glued it back together. Here it is all clamped up.

It looks really good, I'm so pleased with it.

There's the seam where the patches are.

Last of the gluing and clamping.

Tomorrow, I'll finish setting it up and put the strings on her.

I'm so pleased. It's the first time I've done repairs and it went so well.

Sisters' Trip To Niagara

For those of you not on FB here are some of the pix ... there are more on FB because it's much easier to upload them in batches.

When we met Susan at the airport, we wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss us at the arrivals gate.

The quiet little restaurant we "invaded" and changed the ambiance.

Meeting some of the locals.

Finally in our room.

Bed time ... it's a bit grainy 'cause I took it without the flash.

First thing in the morning, the hyper-active one got started early!

Absolutely an awesome time!

Blisters and Bruises

This is the front of "Lucy", my cello, waiting for her back. The front is ready to do the purfling (that black line of inlay around the perimeter on the viola and the violin). As you can see her sister Lily still awaits the varnish. I did a little shaping on the back of the neck today. I'll get to it pretty soon.

This is the back of the double bass that Bethany and I are working on. The top is asymmetrical so the player can reach around more easily. The grain in the wood is outstanding ... it doesn't really show in the picture that well yet.

Tardy Again

For those of you who aren't on FaceB00k, last weekend we went to the annual corn maze/corn roast at Cheryl & John's.

Gavin & Mya both enjoyed the corn maze, as they wandered through they played with ears of corn. Picking the corn off row by row was a favourite pastime as we wandered through the maze. (Mya is in a Snow White dress, but she had to wear a jacket so you can't see the top.)

After we finished the maze, we went and played in the "corn box". I have never heard Gavin laughing like he did when Devon, then Dad piled the corn on top of him.

He can see what's coming and his eyes are all lit up.

Around the fire afterwards, Mya climbed up on Dad's knee. It was so cute!

A great time was had by all!

Walk In The Clouds

Yesterday we went on the canopy tour in the Haliburton Forest.

Ever since the last time when I heard that Andrew had hung from his harness over the side of the walkway, I wanted to try it.

I got really nervous just before I did it but Andrew and Devon encouraged me to do it. After the first time, it was great.

I got a whole bunch of pix that are on my Facebook page, but here's a few. Cheryl and John took a bunch too so you'll be seeing more.

Our friends Michael and his daughter Brittany.

I Confess

Okay, I confess. I love gadgets. I like things that do stuff and the slicker, the better.

This gadget, that I got yesterday, has to be the absolute top of the heap, super-duper, fantabulously cool gadget.

It does everything but curl my hair, and in the past 10 years, Mother Nature seems to have taken care of that.

Here's what I don't need to put in my purse before I go somewhere now that I have this gadget.

cell phone (is the battery charged?)

iPod (is the battery charged?)

camera (is the battery charged?)

video camera (didn't have one)

address book

calendar

notepad

tuner

metronome

a book

map

time waster (like sudoku)

This is the coolest gadget EVER!

It has:

internet

gps

compass

clock

dictionary

metric/imperial converter

Tim Horton's locator

All right there.

And SOOO much more.

Yippeee!!

End of Summer Events

~~~~~~~

The last week of August, we headed north for our vacation. We had no plan. We drove the direction that we felt like driving, we stopped at information booths and asked where the next campsite was. It was great fun. I took this picture in the Hearst area.

We decided (after a few messages from her) to go to Susan's in Kenora. We had a great time, this is a picture of me fishing on Lake of the Woods. It was a good day.

I managed to get this eagle just as it grabbed a perch from the surface of the lake. I was pretty pleased with it.

After we got back from our trip north, I spent another hour on my cello ... here's the front; pretty close to finished on the outside, maybe another hour or so. It's almost ready for me to put it aside and work on the back.

This is me and Bethany working on the double bass.

Now here's an interesting question. Do you know what the difference is between these two pictures of the front of the double bass?

They didn't line up properly on the blog .... the second picture is the one

on the right side (with out the hub of the wheel showing).

Believe it or not, the second picture was taken after I had done an hour more work. Hard to see the difference when it's such a big piece of wood.

Day 2

As we left the camp grounds east of New Liskeard this morning, we started west bound. We got under way we had to make a decision, but we found it very easy.

Heads - Hearst

Tails - Timmins

So here we are at Pivabiska Lake. There's no cell service on either of our phones, and I have to go to the office to use the wireless, so this'll be a short post.

We're just settling in to a wee dram over which we will consider tomorrow's choices.

We can go south to White River, or continue west to Nipigon. This decision will be based on the following.

Susan, meet us en Thunderrrr Bay. Wull consyume copious amouwnts of scottish heaven, after whuch ye can sleep in the trrrailer. Whut say ye, Lassie? Rrrrespond here, FB orrr text.

Where?

After starting out on our "drive north and figure out what we'll do" vacation, we ended up here the first day. The land across the water on the right side of the picture is Quebec.

Often, when leaving for vacation I have some sort of "entertainment" planned for the down time. This time it was carving. I got basswood sticks for me and The Mister and we brought along carving tools. After going for a walk, we sat down at the picnic table at our campsite and using instructions, we started cutting.

So far, I'm beginning to think it's easier carving a violin!

Here is what we had at the end of day one.

It would be better if The Mister would stop laughing at mine!

Stay tuned!