The Shop > Wood & Stuff
Banjo Build
S. Heslop:
There was nothing thrilling about this drilling~♫
It was a long process, and so were some of the previous ones, but what made this one especially tedious is that it would've gone so much faster with a camlock tailstock and a keyless chuck. Almost all of the time spent was undoing the tailstock screw.
Got 28 done. Unlike previous steps i'm not compelled to finish off the spare ones since it didn't use a fancy setup. I can just make another one from the few unfinished spares if something goes wrong.
At first I was drilling a 4mm deep clearance hole above the threads, since it looked neat. But I realised after doing a few of them that way that it was hard to tell the difference once screwed on.
Next I've got to polish them. Still waiting for the brass to make the shoes. I've got no real polishing equipment and i'm considering trying to make my own mops by stitching together a bunch of old clothes. The other alternative would be to try tumbling them with some builder's sand. Not fussed about getting a high shine or anything since brass eventually tarnishes and looks like crap anyways.
vtsteam:
I was sorta thinking of a banjo as a woodworking project, but I'm starting to think it's metalworking project with some wood bits attached! Keep up the good work! :thumbup: :beer:
S. Heslop:
You could always just buy the hardware ready made. The hooks and nuts are about 1 Canadian dollar each. Although the shoes are $4.
Boy that's almost $160 for a 28 hook rim, but it probably isn't too far off the materials cost. 28 hooks is also way more than you need, I just think they look nicer with more.
That 12" rim banjo with 50 hooks is very silly though. The big problem with that many hooks is that there's hardly any tension on each individual hook. So the nuts tend to work their way loose. I read that there was a period of history where banjos underwent a hook war because, like with everything else, the bigger number means a better product. Supposedly they got up to 60 hooks on an 11" rim before people realised how ridiculous it was.
S. Heslop:
Knocked the edges off and shaped them a bit with some emery cloth stuck to a bit of wood.
I was planning on making some wheels as an excuse to use the sewing machine, but I was looking for the compounds and the only local place I could find that sold them was Halfrauds, who sold them in a kit with some tiny wheels and an arbour. I thought they worked pretty well though, the arbour had a left hand screw so it didn't loosen itself when rotating in a drill chuck.
Maybe Cromwell stocked them but it's a bit awkward to get to.
The sides of my fingers are also nice and shiny.
Made the handle to hold the hooks but I just found it awkward. With a bit of threaded rod in the end it could hold the nuts, but a problem is that the threaded rod tends to come loose. I'm waiting for the loctite to dry before finishing the nuts. If that comes loose i'll just turn the other end and make the threads one piece.
The sad thing about getting brass this shiny is that it's not going to stay so for very long. It's tempting to lacquer them but then that'll probably wear off and look tacky.
Fergus OMore:
From where I sit might I answer a couple of issues.
The first is that mop cloths are usually stapled together because unless you have a boot patching machine or better, you'll bust a normal domestic machine. I did tent making or more correctly, repairs in canvas tents for the Scouts in Workington. You need saddle making needles and protection for your hands. See a sailmaker - like Tommy Owen. I think that the old firm is still around somewhere.
As far as brass lacquer is concerned, my daughter has just phoned us to say that she has bought a piano. Her Mum is going to die just yet and she will not the 7/8th Bluthner Grand yet. Tough but it poses the point that the Bluthner has its second coat of lacquer - since 1911.
Good lacquers are still available for Saxophones and so on and Ferries of the USA are still the best although people like Windcraft in Cambridge are pretty good.
My mates DO wind instruments and I have lacquer but that is not for general exposure.
Ferries cat. is compulsive reading, by the way.
Norman
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