First we wet the side piece then placed it on the heat belt on the side bending jig Mike has built. Precision is important during this process so we watch our measurements carefully before laying the perforated top matt in place. The side is sprayed with water again after the waist of the side is held in place and then first the head and then the tail are slowly and evenly bent down.
The koa wood took a little longer than the walnut to bend. We sprayed the wood a few times and then as the heated belt dried the side piece the wood began to hold the desired shape.
It was exciting to release the side piece from the heated jig and see it looking like the the side of a ukulele!
We then placed the newly shaped piece into a compression jig then moved on to bending the second side.
After the second piece was bent a little excess wood was trimmed from both pieces and they were then cosied into holding jig which would help them learn to keep their now curved form.
Well the newly bent sides rested we turned our attention to making our 'fly swatters' which involved attaching the neck to the soundboard. This involved many small steps, lots of measuring, gluing, clamping and, of course, sanding.
We had fun gluing our personal uke labels onto the inside of the uke's back.
Our day didn't end there though. We pushed on preparing the headstock and bridge.
This was our longest day yet but we got heaps accomplished!
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