Having already worked on one part made I finally got round to ordering a couple of part made clefts from Hell4Leather and the first one I've tackled is a Grade 3 cleft, I have a Grade 1 to have a go at next weekend.
The first bat I made with planes and spokeshaves only and didn't try to concave, this time round I have used a straight drawknife and a coopers hollowing drawknife, I am much happier with the outcome in terms of the shape of the bat but don't know if it was the use of the drawknives that made the difference or perhaps making sure not to make the same mistakes as first time round.
One observation of using a drawknife is that it is very easy to take more willow out than you anticipated.....the area near the splice is much thinner in the spine that I would have liked but got a big piece. That said the whole process took me about 2 hours less than first time!
I was aiming for a low middle, not really worried about edge size and the dead weight wasn't really a concern, just got it to a point where I liked the pick up. It weighs in at 2lb11oz in current state which has the handle bound and gripped, I may add a facing and glue to the toe later.
Here are a few pictures:
The final picture is a side by side with my first effort which weighs in at 2lb13oz so you can get an idea of the difference between the 2!
Comments good or bad are welcome.
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Topic: 2nd attempt (Read 1937 times)