Chapter 7: Ye cannae change the laws of physics!

Hmmm. Not sure about that one yet.

It's two weeks since my last post and, as promised, the wood was drowned in it's custom bath tub and bent to a new shape!

First off the sheet of 570mm x 220mm x 4.5mm Swedish spruce was placed in the tub and the bars bolted in place over it. As our hot water comes out of the tap at 65C I filled some jugs and poured them into the tub making sure the wood sat where I wanted it as the water level rose. As a cunning after-thought I then ran off to get a drill to make an extra hole in the cross bar so I could hang my thermometer in the water. I found that within several minutes the water temperature was already down to 40C! I then spent the next hour and a half boiling the kettle and adding 1.5 litres of water at a time to add to the tub, and then draining a few litres out to make room for the next kettle full. In the end I was able to sustain 60 for about the last hour. I then put on my most fashionable rubber gloves to try bending the wood so I could see how things were going. I first tried at the hour mark but the sheet was not flexible enough then but, half an hour later, I could bend it further than I needed without much effort.

 In the mean time the bending form I first showed off in chapter 4 has been upgraded and given a sheet of plastic to keep the water out.

I took the wood sheet out of the hot water, put it straight on to the form, and straped it down. I pulled the straps just tight enough to bring the sheet right down at the edges. I left this by the radiator for two days so it could completely dry out.

The good news: I have a curved sheet of wood that looks just right to be a Nyckelharpa Top.

The bad news: There is a crack along one edge of the sheet. Fortunately it looks like it is close enough to the edge that it will get cut off when the final shape is cut out. I'm not sure if this is a result of the knot in the middle of the crack, or if it would have been averted by leaving the wood in the water longer.
Also there is some slight staining in the wood where the straps lay. It has come out a bit after I lightly sanded the top and, hopefully, the final stain and varnish will cover it up. Note to self: Next time put some plastic between the wood and the straps. (... Next time? Really? Well maybe, one day...)

The odd news: After all the experts said the wood would 'spring back' slightly after being released from the form, mine has actually curved futher which seems to defy all known law and logic. What else did you expect from my project?

Just to prove to myself that the crack is out of the way I have, once again put the Sides, Neck, and End Block together and placed the Top on top. It is close, but I will be able to miss the crack.
I know that our dear friend Sören Åhker says in his book that we should glue the Sides, Neck, End Block, and Back together, and then shape them and fit the Top before working on the Neck's Tuners, but I think it will be much easier to get the Neck's detail done while it is separate, so that is my next plan.