Lovely as always. What timber do you use for the splines?
Burr Elm sat on the Bog Oak, this will have a Burr Elm top. To the left is an all round Sycamore plinth with Bog oak detailing, to the right a Burr Oak and Sycamore plinth with Lacewood detailing.
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I am in awe of your craftsmanship Bob
Be careful with that axe around nuclear submarines, Bob!
Fylde mandolin sinks Nuclear Submarine
Another great story from a customer - (proper name withheld just in case, although I am assured it’s all ok) . “Gerry” is currently an Instructor in the Royal Navy, and was onboard HMS Superb, on a secret “sneaky mission”, when someone crashed the submarine into a mountain, under the Red Sea. Oops.
There isn’t much to do in your spare time on a submarine, and in those days, the guys had to share bunks - “hot bedding”, so anywhere to escape to was a blessing. The aft (back end) of the submarine with the engines and reactor, wasn’t very pleasant, so Gerry would spent hours at a time in the cooler Lyser space at the pointy end, playing his Touchstone mandolin, and it came in very handy when things went horribly wrong.
“On 26th May 2008 At deep depth, and at maximum revs, whilst dived in the Red Sea, the submarine hit an underwater mountain. And after quite a stressful moment of carrying out safety drills, we had to perform an emergency surface. The angle of the boat was about 40 degrees and, after what seemed an eternity, we surfaced. Whilst everyone was being warned about phoning home and the command were trying to get guidance from the UK, my first thought was go forward, get 3 cans of beer and head to the lyser shack with my mandolin until everything settled down”
So that is how, with a little poetic licence, a simple Fylde Mandolin save hundreds of lives and prevented world war three.
On subsequent patrols in other submarines, Gerry has played his mandolin all around the globe, sometimes on the sea, sometimes under it, without further incident!
“Our mandolin has been through a lot with me, If not for your message I could have made a very big mistake, and got rid of it. As I write this I realise that your handmade mandolin has been a very close companion and has brought me much comfort. Thank you for your skill, which has brought joy to many people. I am only one of them”.
Not sure what to say to that. Thank you?
Anyway, with apologies to Gerry, here is a bit of fun.
What a shame “Mandolin” doesn’t work in place of “Ukulele”
Been busy with other project but inbetween made this for a fella in the office. Simple box in Oak, Bog Oak, Mahogany and Walnut.
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I want one (please).
Spent the past month flattening off a peice of Elm for the top of the hifi unit. it’s taken a while, first flattening it, then waiting for it to bow, then flattening, then waiting for it to…well you get the picture. four mortices made with the ends tapered in, this will allow me to split the tenons with wedges to give me a self lock joint on assembly.
Another couple of weeks should see this achieve an acceptable final finish and shaping.
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Lovely work Bob as always. Any chance you could share some of your wood suppliers?
Yea, once I’ve gone up and bought about another half ton of Elm from him 
I’ll drop a list up tonight, a couple of them are down your way.
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Bloody #ell, forgot about the wood places, will sort that out.
Top now finished, fitted a three dovetailed ties across the split to stabilise and the application of water to the convex side of the bow in the plank to reset the fibres and cure the bow. Lots of finishing and finally a few coats of spirit sealer and carnuba polish.
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Lovely, Bob.
Will you fill the split with anything, or just leave it as is?
The large part of the split i will just leave. The small part to the right of the inner tie i have filled with a resin and sawdust paste, sanded smooth. that part of the split is more a surface check, not going all the way through, so there is a good chance it wont grow.
If anything is going to move it will do so in the next week or so, it’s now in a centrally heated room so i can see what happens to it.
Yes, I would imagine the central heating will dry it further and only time will tell. Nice piece of work though, very nice.
So want to make one of these
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wow - I found making closed dovetail joints or secret mitred ones hard enough, but that is mind boggling
Messing around with violin finish, more on that later. The big Oak plinth is making progress, resin casts complete and started shaping the edges.
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bog