Hello there, my fellow artisans and handcrafts enthusiasts!

Welcome back to another entry in the workshop crafts. Today, we are following up on last week's work. The project moves forward as we carve the bars on both sound board and back, and also shape both pieces to have the curve of the instrument. Of course, the details of the process are below.

Let's get to it!

Back Bars

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We are starting on this piece because it requires the least amount of work possible. To carve the bars, we need to adjust their height with the block plane. Then, we remove material from each corner to start creating the curve on the top of each bar. Once we have a sort of pyramid shape, we can start removing material from the ends. We take some measurements and then proceed to use a chisel to remove wood shavings until we are at around 3mm on the lower portion (the one closest to the edge of the back).

With this out of the way, we can sand the bars. This gives us the curve on top of the reinforcement and it also gives us a smooth finish. When, the instrument is complete, this bars will be visible to anyone who peeks on the sound hole.

To finish work on the back for this time, we are using a knife to follow the outline of the piece. We remove as little material as possible to achieve the curve it needs.

Sound Board Bars

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We are onto the sound board. To start this process, we need to address the middle reinforcement. This bar is necessary to make the joinery between the piece that compose the sound board stronger. We cut a piece of pine leaving room for the end block that will be glued later. Once we have it in length. We sand all faces and then proceed to glue it top the sound board.

Once the glue dries up, we can move on an carve. We remove some material from the top. Then, we carve the ends. We finish this by sanding the reinforcement. Now we can move to the bars.

The carving is the same as in the back. We trim the excess from the top. Then, we remove the corners. The next step is to carve the ends with a chisel to get the shape we want. Once we are done with that, we sand the bars. This gives us the rounded top. It will not be visible, but it is a nice sanding exercise. We finish giving shape to the sound board with the knife. Again we follow the outline we had previously drawn on the piece.

Once we have both pieces ready, there's time to get a photo with the results. There are some notes to keep in mind. During this job, I got some cuts on my left hand. To be specific, they were deep cuts on index and middle fingers. This happened because I was not paying attention. Also, I had just sharpened the knife. Things like this happen every so often and it is necessary to keep an eye for the safety measures to avoid it.

That was all for now. Thanks for reading. See you next time!