Preparing plate joints

I ordered three Englemann Spruce tops from Mountain Voice Soundwoods.

This will be the belly for violin #1

They are just sitting beside each other. I have to prepare the joint yet.

This will be the belly for Violin #2 with the Schroepfer back.

As you can see, it has very fine grain

First I had to make sure the joints precise so they fit together perfect without applying any side pressure.

Heating up the hide glue to join the plates together. The glue should get hot enough to have an oily consistency between the fingers, but not boil.

Applying the glue to both surfaces.

Now quickly before the glue gets tacky, I rubbed the upper plate back and forth a couple of times to get rid if the excess glue between the joint.

Back after gluing the maple together. I used the same method as I did with the belly above.

Once the joint had dried for a day, I placed some 100gt sticky back sandpaper down on a flat surface and sanded the joined plates to get a true surface.

Now it is flat and ready for cutting out with the band saw and then carving..

By the way, this is not our good coffee table. It's an old one in the basement, but it had a nice flat surface to work on.