Glue cleanup on Ribs

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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In a message dated 9/20/2003 5:31:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
regret I don't have any good techniques to offer, but I sure am interested in 
hearing what others have to say about this topic! I also have a few questions.

I like your approach of putting one coat of finish on the panel and ribs 
before glue-up. I should think that would go a long way in keeping things clean. 
You mentioned being unhappy with minor damage to the panel after cleaning up 
squeeze-out with a sharp chisel. Perhaps a sharp chisel is overkill in this 
situation? Maybe a scraper with a good right-angled corner - or even just a putty 
knife with a good right-angled corner - might scratch the finish a tad (but 
who cares at this point) but won't damage wood.   
Terry>>>>This part of my procedure may seem like alot of extra futzing to 
some but hey the shellac goes a long way toward keeping the panel clean and keeps 
any kind of glue from staining the wood, especially tight bond. You might be 
right about just use a putty knife before the glue gels. I glue up all my ribs 
at once so there is barely access for hands and towells between the cauls if 
I'm cleaning up the hide glue as I go.
  I'd be curious as to how the S&S or other factories do this. The bottom of 
old boards are always so nice looking. Except for the black paint refinishers 
like to put on them. Duh!
Big question: How do you get the ribs (curved, I assume?) snug enough to the 
panel so the finish doesn't get between the rib and panel - or do you not have 
the ribs attached to the panel when spraying on this first coat of finish? 
You state that you tape on the panel where the rib will be glued - how do you 
get the tape the exact width of the rib so that you don't end up with a 
quarter-inch of bare panel, thus defeating the effort to get a protective coat of 
finish on the panel at the rib edge? I can easily imagine attaching the rib and 
cutting tape off with an exacto-type knife - but I presume that will create its 
own damage.....
>>>>>>>>After the ribs are pinned to the board with there locating brads I 
lay the whole assembly rib side up in my dished press. This helps keep them from 
popping off while I take a sharp scratch awl along the sides of each rib. The 
rib scratches become the tape reference line & it's not seen later. Make 
sense? When the tape is wider than the rib lightly run it along the edge of the 
rib to trim the excess. It's not damaging. I mark the nail hole at the end of 
each rib with a pencil point so that I can see it thru the manila colored tape 
later . The ribs are re-pinned over the board ,the ends are taped & then I then 
spray one wet coat of bullseye clear shellac over the whole board. Then it 
goes back to the hot box till its dried down again.
   After pressing, the whole thing is lightly sanded and cleaned up. One more 
coat of shellac is sprayed on to make things look homgenous.
   I've enjoyed Immensely the discussions of soundboard theory and 
redesign/old design on this list & I just thought it would be fun to swap some more 
specifics about the actual process. 
        Dale Erwin
.

Thanks for sharing.

Terry Farrell
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