Official Luthiers Forum!

Exactly so. With rectangular bars, it will be one way or the other, much easier to

I too use wood bars. In my case, I had a bunch of leftover 3/16" red oak strip flooring.

There are so many things I have to pay money for that it makes me happy to have something that works well that is free.

In terms of denting my brace stock, of course that is not a problem if you're shaping the brace after it's been glued. When I have already shaped the brace, and some other times as well, I use a little piece of wood as a caul in between the end of the go bar and the brace or other piece I am gluing.

Of course Ed doesn't need this warning, but for any people reading this thread who are new to using go bars: don't forget to wear eye protection when placing or removing go bars, because occasionally they can spring loose unexpectedly with great force. (Spring loaded curtain rods wouldn't do this, so that's a plus for them.)

_________________
Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I've tried several different types of wood and I like split bamboo. It grows wild down here in the soggy bottom.

That's another nice thing about the spring tension curtain rods, Ed. They can easily be adjusted to press down as hard or as soft as you like just by twisting them to make them longer or shorter for a given space. I've never actually measured how much force I tend to set them at but I would guess it's around 8 lbs per rod.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

I use ash ripped to about 3/8 x 1/4 and cut a vee in the end then glue some leather around the slot . It saved denying the brace stock

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Pat,

Would you mind finding a link to the specific ones you use?

I forgot exactly where I bought mine, Ed, but they are easy to find at Canadian Tire, or Home Depot etc. I got the 28 - 48 inch length ones which work well for my set up and they were less than $3.00 each but they were the cheapest I could find. Hey, I'll have to edit that last sentence as I just took a look and found some for only $0.99 each at Lowe's. Here's the link for that:

https://www.lowes.ca/curtain-rods/style ... ension-rod

I may have t pick up a few more for myself.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

So I just went to Lowe's and the rods that I linked to in my previous message are oval in profile and require a screwdriver to loosen a screw that holds a spring in whatever position you want. They looked pretty sturdy but not as convenient as the cheaper, round ones that have a long spring up through the inside which you just have to twist in order to change length (i.e. no screwdriver needed). Happily, they also had the cheaper ones on sale for $0.99 each (reg. $4.99) so I bought a dozen.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Thanks, Pat! Time for a store run.

Nelson, why would you deny your brace stock? Embrace it!

Kidding, of course. I actually have a really nice piece of ash in the rafter that I bought to make a longbow with. Maybe some repurposing is in order...