The Pedal Gee Bee

Time spent: 3 hours (evening)

This has been one of the better build days to date. Ever since the start of this project I’ve been worried about the cowl and the ribs that are used to make it. How you make a round barrel out of straight pine boards fascinated and scared me since the moment I purchased the plans. Well, the key is your band saw and the pivoting arm jig, and I built it today.

I went and purchased a nice half-sheet of quality, 5-ply, plywood. I didn’t want this thing to warp, so it had to be stable (read: thick) and since the parts were going to be sliding over each other I wanted the faces to be smooth.

I followed the instructions to the letter on this one, and it turned out perfect. A word of caution is in order here before you start cutting parts exactly as the plans show. Make sure that the base is long enough past the blade to reach the back of the band saw table. Otherwise, you’ll have a tough time clamping it securely. Luckily, the plans fit my saw to a tee. I was feeling so go about this jig I felt I had to use one of Grandpa’s hardwood knobs that I found in his shop when he died. Yep, he still lends a hand in my shop.

If I were to do this again, Id make the following modifications to the jig plans:

• Make the base wider, say 8 to 10 inches instead of the 6 inches as per the plans. This would make the base less prone to twisting. Furthermore, the sliding top to the jig wouldn’t lever up and out of the bottom half when extended to the left.

• Make the pin removable. I did this on mine and the whole thing works easier, if you ask me.