Banjobuilder.net
This website will chronicle my efforts in building a 5-string openback banjo

Building the Rim

I started off by milling black walnut lumber that I purchased locally (from a tree felled about 15 miles from my location) that has been in my workshop for a few years.  This time allows the wood to stabilize with the temperature and humidity of my workshop.  If I were to use wood that was brought from a different climate or was just dried then it would most likely develop undesirable internal stresses that can lead to cracking or glue joint failure.

My choice of walnut is because of the look of the wood and its tonal properties.  This is a common wood for banjo rims and supposedly gives a "warm" sound.  The hope is that this will round out the brightness of the flathead tone ring and maple neck.

Since this is going to be a block rim, I started by milling to the rough lumber to dimensions using a jointer, planer, and table saw.

(click on any of the photos to pull up a larger view)

Since the rim is made up of six segments, the segments need to have 30 degree angles (since 180 / 6 = 30).  I set my Incra mitre gauge to 30 degrees and cut the end of one of the strips.  The angle needs to be as close to 30 degrees as possible -- if you don't have a precision mitre gauge, this can be set using a carpenters square.

The segment is marked in pencil for length and a stop block is set up.  The strip is moved to the far side of the blade to adjust the fence location so that the mark can be seen next to the blade.


The segments are cut from the strips by cutting and flipping the strips until enough (18+) segements are cut.  It's always good to have a few extras to account for any mishaps later on.


The segments are then dry fit and "clamped" using tape into sections of 3 segments.  The sections need to be coplanar (flat) so I do this on my table saw with wax paper applied to protect the surface from the gluing process.


The glue is applied and additional tape is applied to clamp the segments together.  I use Titebond II for this since it produces a permanent water-resistant bond that I never want to come apart.


The sections are left to dry overnight.  After drying, the remaining edges should be flat.  If they aren't they can be flattened by taping a piece of sandpaper to the table saw and manually sanding the edges.  It doesn't usually take much to get them flat.  The segment halves are then glued together (clamped or secured with tape) to give the completed ring of six segments.



I need to transfer the remaining photos and edit some of the short videos.  Hopefully, I'll have the rest of the rim build up in a week or so.

In the mean time, feel free to browse my flickr photos of the build