I still have some cuts to make in order to finish roughing in the neck. The remaining ones are:

Cut the Angle on the Bottom
Cut out the Frailing Scoop

The bottom of the neck is still square where the boards were glued together. I need to cut the corners off of the boards so that they make a nice angle from the heel to the nut.

Since I am going to put a boat heel on this neck just like on the other one like it, I have to mark off where the heel will go before I cut the bottom of the neck. While I was at it, I also marked off the place where the frailing scoop will go.

The Frailing Scoop Goes Here

I turned the neck over to draw the boat heel and found out that I had not cut that end of the neck very well. It was difficult to center the boat heel on the neck because the neck itself is asymmetrical. You can see how far off the mark the cut is in the photo below.

The Cut is Not On the Line

Turning the neck over and looking straight down on it, it is clear that the whole dowel stick is off center. Ick.

The Dowel Stick is Off Center

When I looked at the end of the stick it became apparent why. I have cut the side of the dowel at an angle. So it is wider on the bottom than it is on the top.

The Sides of the Dowel are Not Parallel

Here is a photo of the neck where the dowel is too far from the edge. I have cut the side of the neck off from the line where it should be. The pencil line is where the edge of the neck ought to be.

The Neck Should Be Cut to the Line

And on the side where the dowel is too close to the side of the neck I have cut the dowel too wide. Here is a closeup.

The Dowel is Too Wide At the Heel

It is pretty easy to take wood off when there is too much of it. Putting it back on after removing too much is more difficult. So I took the block plane to the side of the neck that is too wide, and cut it down to the line.

Planing The Side of the Neck to Size

On the other side, I removed some of the wood from the side of the dowel. Since my spokeshave will not reach into the tight corner where the heel meets the dowel, I took some of the wood off with the shoe rasp.

Removing Wood with the Shoe Rasp

Then, the rest of the dowel was done using the spokeshave. It makes quick work of trimming that stick. Nice tool. It is really easy to use.

The Spokeshave Makes Quick Work of the Dowel

OK. Let's take another look.

It Looks a Bit Better Now

I will be trimming the neck down again when I do the final carving to shape, so that is close enough for now. I marked off a line where the end of the boat heel will be. I do not want to remove the wood past that point when I cut the angle on the bottom of the neck blank.

The Saw Stops Here for the Heel

Drawing the angle is easy. I just use the ruler to connect the corners where the pieces of wood are joined together. I drew the line up to, but not past the vertical line that I drew from the end of the boat heel.

Drawing the Line of the Bottom of the Neck

There it is. You can see that the cut will go only up to the front edge of the boat heel.

The Line Goes Only to the Boat Heel

Here is a closeup.

Close Up of the Line

I turned the neck over and did the same thing on the side that has the double ogee on it. That was a bit more difficult because the ruler doesn't bend to the shape of the wood. But that is OK because we are still just hogging out the wood to make a blank. This is just a rough cut.

Drawing the Line on the Curvy Side is a Challenge

Once again, I cannot get a saw blade into the tight space where the pieces of wood are joined, so I start by cutting some kerfs where I can chip out a short section of the slope to get a start.

Cutting Kerfs Again

Closeup of Cutting Kerfs Again

Here they are. I have tried to follow the slant of the line, making each kerf a bit shorter than the one before it.

The Kerfs are Done

Same trick with the chisel. I use it to break out the remaining wood between the kerfs.

Breaking out the Waste Wood with a Chisel

After that I could get my compass saw in there to start the cut up the line.

Sawing With the Compass Saw

When I turned it over, I noticed that I had gone off the mark again. So I restarted sawing it on this side to get the cut lined up with the line on both sides.

Restart the Cut Closer to the Line

Cutting that hard maple with the compass saw is slow going.

Cutting from the Other Side

As soon as I had enough space in there to fit the rip saw I switched over to it.

Cutting With the Rip Saw

This time, I swapped from side to side occasionally to avoid going off the mark.

Sawing From the Other Side

OK. The first part of the block has fallen off. I am half way there. You can see in the photo that I have clamped the dowel stick in my bench vise to hold the neck for sawing. That is actually working out quite well. The last time I made a neck I did not have that vise.