BillFitzmaurice.info

Rob Shasta Guitar wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:58 am Beautiful build, I was thinking about the same walnut burl for the jack I'm making, but for this one I'm keeping it to stuff on hand. As far as the twist, nothing will get that out now. The wetting, clamping, heating can work on a single piece of actual wood, but the glues in the plywood and the pl are done, heat and moisture will not affect them, and if it did, the bond would have been broken.

Shellac is a frustrating finish. It really works great as a sealer, but not so much to build with. The french polish technique works to get a smooth finish with shellac, but only really can happen on a flat surface with no inside corners. I've sprayed shellac to build then french polished to get a sheen and smooth.

Would you put something over the shellac once it has been sealed, or would you just use something else? I am now thinking I will maybe use the shellac to seal it, and even build up a few coats with sanding between, and then using something like a varnish over the top. I am not really sure what to use over the top, I like the way shellac leaves the feel of natural wood. I don't want something that turns out like an automotive clear coat or something plastic like. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Shellac provides all the color you need, so the easiest finish to put over it is clear water-base urethane varnish.

I've used the shellac for color as a sanding sealer, you can get that amber color that comes from nitrocelulose lacquer or oil based urethanes then top with a water based product that does not have any color. This is friendly for breathing without a booth and dries quickly. You can put any finish on top of dewaxed shellac without issue.

Started on the surround sound units. Going for a 7.1 system so there will be 4 surrounds. I based them on the units in Bill's plans but took some of my own design liberties. They will be similar size and shape to the original design but I've added a couple tweeters.

Still been working away. All major construction is done. The surrounds and center have been completely sanded and are ready for paint. The sub has been sanded and the top applied. It is ready for veneer and final glue up.

The TLAHs are getting close. I made a grill for the horn mouth that will hopefully keep the batting in and cover the color of it. It will be covered in black grill cloth. I started the veering process yesterday. These things are going to look killer! I’m getting super excited. I still haven’t decided on a finish yet. I bought some danish oil and some aniline dyes to experiment with.



A nice little happy family

Glueing the table top surface on. Unfortunately the sub didn’t come out perfectly square but I think I hid all of it at the back where it won’t be seen too much

Veneer for TLAHs


Flattening the veneer

TLAH grill. Hoping it doesn’t effect sound production too much as it does cover quite a bit of the Mouth. My gut says it won’t but I have no science to back that up

Glue applied to veneer and substrate

Veneer gets applied by ironing on

Final product. Everything else exposed will get an automotive finish in black with a satin clear coat

I’ve got to finish 3 more sides of the TLAHs with veneer and then I’ll do the THT table top. The next time I post it will be to show the table top. Picture of things to come:



Veneer for center of THT top. This will get book matched in left to right and then top to bottom so there will be 4 pieces joined together. Around it will be curly maple with a solid walnut edge.

Made a few mistakes during the veneering process but overall it turned out nice. Nothing that is too noticeable. I’m just starting to glue solid walnut around the edges .

Got some more done. The subwoofer is about ready for the finish. I put the first coat of finish on the left and right cabinets. After a lot of testing, I settled on a wipe on poly. It gave decent clarity and sheen without looking or feeling like plastic. I also got the magnets for the grills installed. They are only 5mm in diameter and 3mm thick but they are tough little suckers. 1 was enough to hold the weight of the grill.

A little more done tonight, just putting the finish on before it all goes to the paint shop.

It’s been a while since I updated this so I’ll drop a picture of some progress from tonight.

WOW!