Adventures in Ukulelecraft #3: Wood binding, what a bastard

Kerfing on the front went great!

The back binding looks good at a distance.

Even from this side!

However up close there are some sizable gaps to be filled.

Today I spent a little more time with the side bending iron in my work to get the wood bindings on Dad’s ukulele.  I was pleased to find out that the binding that I had bent stayed pretty much in the same bent position as I left it, but I still re-soaked it so I could work it a little more.  I got things as far as I could work it, the wood was starting to scorch and in some cases cracked.  I decided it was time to attempt gluing these bindings on, and it became quickly obvious that things were going to be harder than I expected when I superglued my fingers to the binding on about three occasions.

Bending wood bindings is hard.  As you can see from the pictures, it came out really well with a few notable exceptions.  As the wood dried, I got some gaps between the edge of the binding and the body.  The kerfing went on so well that I went ahead and put it on the entire body at once.  I was very pleased with how this worked, despite the fact that I soaked some of the strips too long and they delaminated.  I did get better as I worked the wood bindings, the second half was much better than the first.

So far my favorite tool is the hand-held scraper.  I used it to even out the binding edges along the body of the ukulele, and it makes these satisfying tiny curls of wood as it removes a small amount of material each time.  More about that later.  The solution I am going to use for the gaps in the binding is one that my Dad recommended, and my grandpa used to use on his bowl inlays.  He would take a pile of sawdust of the same type of wood and mix it with wood glue until it is a paste, and then use that paste to fill the gaps.  With any luck, this will fill the gaps satisfactorily and I can move on with finishing.

I wish I could say I was more satisfied with the results, but the wood binding is tough to work with and very hard to make look perfect.  It’s all a learning experience though!  More soon!