I put up a blog entry on my IV kit progress. Most of the work was done in the last 2 weeks, and I didn't document every step, but you can get an idea how it is coming along.
You can get to the whole gallery Here.
Along the way I ran into a few issues, but nothing too bad. The hardest parts were probably 1) finish, and 2) binding. Both will take some practice, and while it didn't turn out perfect, I think it was a good attempt at a first instrument, and as a first major woodworking project for me.
I've never done much more than refinish furniture before, and I had carved a violin top out of some 50 year old white pine about 6 months ago, just to 'see if I could do it', so I had alot to learn.
I'll be updating the entry to fill in the blanks, but I wanted to get something up to let everyone that made suggestions etc how things were going. I ended up using water based stains, so far, and they worked ALOT better than the oil based stuff I was working with previously.
The back looks fabulous. The top I am still working on. Spruce is much harder to work with stain wise, and this top has some odd grain streaks which makes it especially difficult.
All in all, I think I gained alot of great knowledge and practical experience, as well as gathered and made quite a few tools. This will be the first of many, I hope.
-b
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