Pitchpine, teak, mahogany.

 Maple staves have been ripped on the tablesaw.

 Next, they go thru the jointer, to be brought down to the exact width.

Router jig for turning the outside.

Finally got the stave shell router fixture working. It cuts the outside of the faceted glued up shell quite well. Cutting the inside is still problematic, but with the right router bit, I'm still optimistic. I built a pitch pine shell that smells great but may prove to be a dud sonically. I sprayed some clear laq. on it and I'm ready to drill for lugs but I discovered it's really too small in diameter. I'll go ahead and finish it but I'll have to use thick pads under the lugs and it'll be tricky seating the heads, oh well. I've got a beautiful quilted maple stave 5 1/2x14 in the works now. Not sure how I'll deal with the inside yet.

I've yet to come up with a way of measuring the O.D. of the shell while it's in the jig as I'm routing. Maybe a large caliper, I could make one. Hmmm. The ultimate in size has the head fitting exactly, not too tight, not too loose


My unfinished shell inventory: 6x14 mahogany, 6x14 teak, 6x14 pitch pine.

In the top picture, the order is reversed.