After the glue did it’s job, I ended up with a single piece of wood. Ok, it had really small ridges at the joins, but it is definitely a single lump. This is good.

I was busy trying to level out the seams with a scraper, when my instructor spotted me. He very quickly jumped in to help me understand how I could get better results. It turns out that a scraper is useless. Unless of course it is backed up with the other relevant equipment.

The 3 things you need to make a scraper work properly are :-

• A whetstone or a sharpening block
• 3-in-1 oil
• A burnisher

The technique seems easy enough but it makes a huge difference for sure. I am sure it applies just as well to other tools that you need to make sharp. I was thinking how best to describe what I had learnt, when I came across this guide to sharpening and using a scraper at www.stewmac.com.

Beyond that, Stewmac have lots of info for luthiers and parts you cannot find anywhere else 😉

Now my mahogany body is glass smooth and looking nice.

You can still see the holes from where it was salvaged, but you will note these are around the edges and will be removed.

Next up, I will be drawing on a template pattern and cutting the block to shape.