Making a beveled armrest

This weekend was very productive and I was able to get both the beveled armrest and "scoop" cutaway finished. This post will deal with the armrest, and the next will detail the cutaway.

I did quite a bit of research (i.e., "googling" about the best way to make a beveled armrest. The two best techniques are referenced here. At first I found a video by Robbie O'brien of O'brien Guitars as part of his "Luthier Tips Du Jour" series:

Luthier Tips Beveled Armrest

And this is the road I started down. However, there is a second video on youtube made by Kent Everett of Everett Guitars:

Everett Guitars Beveled Armrest

Now, at first I thought these were the same technique, as they were both filmed and published by Robbie and the second is a "teaser" for you to buy Kent's DVD tutorial. But they are different, and after I realized there was value, I went ahead and purchased Kent's DVD. After it arrived I realized I was going about it "the hard way". Kent's technique is mucho simpler, and the DVD is well put together and gives you all the information you need.

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING DOING AN ARMREST BEVEL, BUY KENT's DVD. Follow the links in the youtube video above.

I won't go into full detail because I don't want to take away from Kent's tutorial, and I wasn't able to do it completely as he shows due to the fact that I had already started. But here is how I progressed. Commentary in between the photos.
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You've seen the armrest blocking and soundboard cutaway in previous posts. Here I am doing it the "other" way, with a UHMW template for the router bearing bit to follow. For this I used a template guide bushing in my Festool MFK 700. The hard part (other than making the profile) was to get it located and staying in place. There's nothing you can clamp to. I tried double stick tape, I tried heating up the UHMW with a hair dryer (that helped a bit) but finally I just ended up with long strands of binding tape going around the body. Note that you'll want to spray the top with shellac to protect it. In retrospect, I think I could have used my rubber binding band without having it get in the way of router. Sorry, forgot to take pictures of it in place.

THIS IS THE HARD WAY. Buy Kent's DVD.

I routed the binding ledge on the side and made sure to just go through the sides into the bevel blocking. Now I'm trying to catch up to Kent's technique. I used a chisel and a file to chip and clean away the waste parts of the side.

Once again, this ain't the smart way. I stopped the binding at both ends of the bevel, split the remainder in half on the bandsaw (yeah, that was interesting!) and used half of it as purfling to match the binding. The other half went on the side for a similar purpose.

This is the hard way. BUY KENT's DVD.

Here it is with top and bottom bindings in place.

Adding filler material to support the veneer when it's all beveled to fall away from the bindings.

Here it is beveled, mostly ready for veneer. I had some voids, so I used wood putty to fill them in , then sanded smooth for a good veneering surface. Yes, I was tempted to use bondo.....

Don't do it this way.

 Time for veneering. I didn't follow Kent's technique, don't ask me why. I decided to get some Titebond "cold press" veneer glue and put it on all at once. I also used "Super Soft II" to "rubberize" the veneer so it could handle the curves and the edges. It was VERY brittle, and this helped. Of course, if I'd done it Kent's way, this wouldn't be necessary.

BUY THE DVD.

Time to wrap it all in rubber banding to get good pressure. After I pulled this off, I still had some bubbles from the rubberized veneer. I just re-wrapped it again making sure to get pressure on them, and a couple hours later is was fine and dried.

Here it is after initial sanding to get rid of the veneer where we don't want it. Mineral spirits have been applied to highlight the wood.

So in retrospect, I made it work, but I wouldn't do it this way again. 

BUY THE DVD!!!!