Useful Building Aids
(Not required for the course)
1. It is handy to have a portable turntable for working with go-decks. Makes it easy to spin the deck around for glue clean-up. A turntable can be easily made. This one, suitably sized for uke building uses 2 pieces of 3/4" x 13" diameter plywood and 12" lazy Susan hardware from Ace. Very quick to make.
2. This is a carving aid called a bench hook. Again, quick and easy to make. Allows the user to have a stop to carve against so that they don't have to hold the wood in place, which can be dangerous if the piece slips. It is just a suitably sized piece of plywood with a cleat fixed to one end on the top and another, usually taller cleat, fixed to the other end on the bottom. The larger cleat simply slips up against the edge of your bench and you use the other cleat as a stop for your carving. This particular jig, again sized for ukes, uses a 3/4" x 12" x 14" piece of plywood with a 3/4" high cleat on the bottom and a 1/2" high cleat on the top.
3. The lives of many builders center around these little stainless 6" rulers. Metric on one side and standard on the other. Made by General. Indispensible for glue clean-up and occasionally useful for measuring!
