From: Tim Grimwood

Website: Youtube.com/user/tlgrimmy

Location: Calimesa, CA

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: Multiple layers of Tru Oil gun stock finish, sanding with high grit sand paper in between coats (4-5 very thin coats). I took down the sheen after the final coat with #0000 steel wool to give it more of a satin finish.

Wood Species: Walnut

Project Description:
I used a taper jig to cut the angles. The dual recesses on the jig allow you to cut both compound angles by just flipping the setup over. The goal was a large dodecagon, so I determined the interior angles of a dodecagon and divided that in half to get the bevel. I picked the taper based upon what size circles I wanted at the top and bottom. To glue all of these pieces together, I laid out many large strips of packing tape and butted the tapered pieces together on top of them, which looks like a large hand fan;). I used a TON of Titebond, not worrying about excess and simply wrapped it into the tapered dodecagon shape. I tightly wrapped the whole unit with tape until it wouldn’t budge. After the glue dried, I used a power planer (handheld) to hog off the lion’s share of the corners to round things out, the I went at it with a smaller belt sander to get closer to final dimensions. Then it was just a lot of work with a card scraper and sand paper. I used a violin plane (Ibex) and some rasps to shape the top and then cleaned it up with card scrapers and sand paper. Once again, I’ve included pictures from another project to give an idea of what the process looks like. I ordered an african goat skin from, conveniently, goatskins.com, soaked it in warm water to soften things up and cut it into an oversized circle (about 5″ too large on the radius). I took some 1/4″ steel bar I picked up at Ace and bent them into appropriately sized circles, using a board with a a couple of lag bolts in it to help me bend them (two of the same size for the top and one much smaller for around half-way up the drum). I welded them with a mig welder. I took 1″ thick strips of cloth, sprayed the back with spray adhesive, and wrapped the rings with the strips.

The process of heading the drum is a bit in depth to cover here, but check out this website for more info. After heading the drum using nearly 100 ft. of rope! (about $20 at drumrope.com….gotta love these witty names;) I had to shave the goatskin on top! I simply took a razor blade and had at it like you’d shave yourself, being careful not so cut the skin. After shaving it, I sanded it nice and smooth to give a good hand-feel and shape the tone a little. You have to re-tension the head after a few weeks as the skin stretches. It was loads of fun and my brother loves it!

Here is a quickie project I slammed together for our 2 year old grandson. Santa had asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said “a yellow present.” Soooo, Jane and I were looking for a yellow present for him and couldn’t find anything suitable, but we noticed a xylophone bar set with plans at Rockler. It turned out pretty good but it’s not exactly a fine quality as a musical instrument. :-) And, as expected, after he opened it, Luke was much more interested in other more 2-year-oldish gifts than the “yellow present.”

It was easy to build from scraps of poplar I cut to four 1×3/4 boards for the tone bars, and two 1×3/8 I cut for the bottom supports to hold it together. Sanded smooth and rounded the edges, then glued and clamped. Pre-drilled holes for #10 1″ pan-head metal screws to hold tone bars. Sprayed with yellow Rust-oleum gloss. Put little pieces of soda straw around the screws to prevent clanging against screws, per instructions. Foam, adhesive-backed insulation support the tone bars. I had some 3/16″ dowels on hand for the strikers. Didn’t have time to find a wooden bead to go on end.

Maybe you will find these interesting Marc it’s the Steve Vai/ Paul Gilbert type guitar I made for my son when he played with Paul Gilbert on one of his visits to the UK. It’s Ash (obviously) with a maple neck, scarf jointed at the headstock with an ebony fingerboard and birds eye maple headstock veneer and rosewood truss rod cover very fiddly mother of pearl shell inlays at the 12th fret. Apologies to all you Americans for the artwork, Chris is really interested in the native American culture so I customized the body with a little pyrography (I don’t have the correct tools so I used my soldering
iron, effective but lacks finesse) any way that’s it. It plays well sounds OK and Paul Gilbert was impressed.

My iPod Touch update made it easy to get video podcasts and I stumbled across your site. I was quite impressed with your clarity and ease of delivery. Anyway, the pinnacle of my woodworking experience thus far is a hammer dulcimer I made from a kit sold here in Stillwater, MN. It has a Baltic birch frame with a red cedar soundboard. It was literally a labor of love for a friend. I bought the basic kit that included the plans and hardware, but purchased the wood myself. Following the plans and prints was very easy, but the bridges were the most complex pieces of wood I ever made. I borrowed a completed stand from the store to take measurements to build my own, and designed and built the case myself. I used an electronic tuning fork to tune the dulcimer and it played like a dream. Musicmaker’s also sells complete kits as well as the finished instruments.