Questions? Go to the Members Forums ____________ Video Transcript: Okay, we are ready to begin work on the neck! From this single blank of wood I will cut and make the scarf joint for the headstock and I will also cut and assemble the blocks for the heel. I start with a blank of wood, in this case Mahogany, that is 1" by 3". If this will be your first time hand-carving a neck, I highly recommend Mahogany for its strength and ease of use in shaping and carving operations. Other neck woods may be difficult to work, so you may want to save that highly figured The blank should be atleast 32" in length, although it can be shorter if you have another blank from which to cut the blocks for the heel. Let's begin by marking the blank for several cuts that we want to make. First I square a line 7 1/2" from one end of the blank. This marks where the headstock ends and where the nut begins. This is also where I cut the angle for the scarf joint, which in this case will be a 15 degree angle. I pull the squared line onto the sides of the blank. I pull the squared line onto the sides of the blank, and use a protractor to mark the 15 degree angle on both sides. Then I connect where the two angled lines meet on the bottom face of the blank. This gives a full representation of where the angled cut will be on all sides of the blank. After I make the angled cut for the scarf joint, I will be thicknessing the offcut to 1/2", so I will go ahead and mark that now. After I make the angled cut for the scarf joint, I will be thicknessing the offcut to 1/2", so I will go ahead and mark that now. Notice that it is the longer part of the offcut that I will be thicknessing to 1/2" and keeping as the headstock. The shorter portion is waste. To give you a rough idea of the order of operations here, first we cut along the angled line for the scarf joint, then we cut the headstock to thickness and the remaining piece gets glued to the bottom of the neck blank creating what is called a scarf joint for the headstock. This is sort of an oversimplification so let's get into the details of how to perfect this joint. Here I am resting the neckblank on the bandsaw table and checking for square. However, if your bandsaw table is not square to the bandsaw blade, I would start there first. The blank is slightly out of square with the table. Notice the gap at the bottom of the square. A few passes on the shooting board with a jack plane trues up the side. That's better. There is a tiny hairline gap at the top of the square now, but that's okay. As you'll see later, any out of squareness in the cut can be corrected when we fine-tune the joint. I prefer to use a 3/8" blade for this cut. On a 1/4" blade the teeth are too fine and the gullets between the teeth too small to deal with such a heavy cut. Not to mention, the narrow blade doesn't track well. On the other hand, the 1/2" blade cuts effectively, and tracks well but it leaves a very coarse surface. 3/8" seems to be the happy medium. I set the blade tension for a 3/8" blade. I make sure the blade tracks well on the wheel. And then I set the guide bushings. I like to set all the bushings so that I can fit a .025" feeler gauge between the bushing and the blade. It is always a good idea to have a well set bandsaw. The table setup, the blade tension, the tracking, and the guide bushings all factor into the outcome of the cut. The last thing I do is set the guide to just barely clear the workpiece. The cut is done carefully by hand, working very slowly, only applying enough pressure to allow the piece to move forward as the blade clears the wood. Be patient and do not force it. Try to keep the blade right on the line. If it drifts, gently correct it's course back towards the line. It is easy to stay on the line if you keep your focus a short distance ahead of the blade, rather than right where the blade is cutting. And now the thickness cut! I set the table saw fence for a 1/2" cut. Of course, you can also make this cut on the bandsaw. Okay, now let's fine-tune the joint. I clamp the neck blank in a vise. I apply double stick tape to the headstock and stick the headstock to the neckblank so that the two angled planes line up. I clamp two pieces of scrapwood to the sides of the blank to act as a fence. This makes it easy to stick the headstock down in proper alignment with the neckblank. My protractor verifies for me that the angled plane is at or close to 15 degrees. The skew of the angled plane can be checked with a square. Notice the two lines that I am checking: The line at the top of the angled plane and the line in the middle where the headstock and the neckblank meet. If these lines are not perpendicular to the sides, then the plane is skewed. I use a block plane, not only to clean up the bandsaw marks, but also to manage the skew of the angled plane. As always, it's not a bad idea to chalk up the surface so you can see the progress of your work. I stop to check the two lines with a square. And then I continue working with the block plane until all the chalk marks disappear. Okay, the chalk marks are gone and the lines are perpendicular to the sides, indicating that the angled plane is not skewed. Next, I use sandpaper and a flat block to remove plane marks and to smooth the surface. It is always important to make sure that the block you use is indeed flat. You'd be surprised how often this is the source of problems. This block, by the way, is 3" by 4 1/4". That seems to be a good size for this task. When sandpaper is pressed between 2 hard surfaces, the hardwood of the workpiece and the hardwood of the block, the grit wears down very quickly. Backing the block with thin cork adds a bit of cushion to the block which drastically extends the life of the sandpaper. Now I attach 120 grit sandpaper Be sure to trim those loose ends of sandpaper with a razor blade. Loose ends have a tendency to leave a slight round to the edges of your workpiece. Okay, now that we have an effective sanding block, let's chalk up and sand until the marks disappear. Notice how I sand with a circular motion rather than a back and forth motion. With the back and forth technique, the hand has a tendency to tip slightly every time the hand switches its momentum from one direction to the other. The chalk marks are gone, with the exception of this one stubborn, low spot in the corner. I'm not going to worry about this spot. The glue joint is actually between the headstock piece and the bottom of the neckblank. Finally I finish prepping the surface by sanding to 220 grit. The last thing I do to prepare the joint is sand the bottom of the neckblank, where the headstock will be attached, up to 220 grit. I use the heatgun and spatula to remove the headstock. A final check with a straightedge for large gaps, and we are ready to attach the headstock. In the next lesson we will attach the headstock and heelblocks.

Cutting the Scarf Joint

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