on rib notching

[Ron Nossaman]

> Thanks for the info - I take it that you pattern and route the mortises 
> prior to gluing on the ribs? Maybe I will try this next time - this time 
> ribs are glued on the board prior to mortising the inner rim.
> Gene

Yes. I make the pattern first, including boring out nose bolt 
locations. On the pattern, I locate the bridge positions 
(after scaling changes) and juggle ribs until I get what I 
think I want, supporting the bridges in the right places, and 
missing the nose bolts. Then I mark and saber saw out the 
mortise locations. I'm not the greatest hand mortise chiseler 
around, so I find spending an hour or so making a pattern and 
ten minutes routing 30-44+ mortises with an offset router to 
be a substantial net gain. Lots more fun too. I then drive 
brads into the curved side of the ribs, a bit in from the 
ends, and cut what sticks out to about 6mm. I locate the ribs 
in the mortises and duct tape the ends to keep them from 
moving, then drop in the panel (dried to 6%MC and cut to more 
or less fit the rim). I pound on the panel around the 
perimeter to mark the rib locations with the brads and the 
brads act as locater pins into the panel to keep the ribs from 
skating around on the wet glue when I pressurize the clamp as 
I glue the ribs on. That's pretty much it.
Ron N