Last lining is now fitted and glued.

Lower bout linings are now also glued in place for the back side. Only one of the c bout linings is still missing.

I had a lot of trouble with the c bout linings again and the linings kept breaking. I many the grain wasn't running nicely along the lining and I think there wasn't too much I could have done to prevent. I had expected that these ready made linings would be properly prepared. Apparently not. Still, I managed to glue the two upper bout linings and one of the c bout linings today.

Before fitting the linings I thought it best to glue the crack. This way I don't have too many operations at the same time and I can put the clamps properly. The rib had cracked cleanly and with a knife I could put plenty of glue in the crack.

I am not sure if I remembered to put soap on all parts of the plate when I glued the ribs. Need to keep that in mind the next time. And also check for that before I start forcing the mould plates out. Anyways, I think this will to be an issue at all in the end, especially since the lining will strengthen the crack nicely.

I can move to the other side now. Removing screws and pulling the mould plate out should be easy right. Well, it still requires care. Unfortunately I wasn't being careful. One of the ribs had gotten glued to the plate and cracked as I removed the plate. I only noticed this afterwards. Had I being careful I might have noticed this earlier and been able to loosen the glued by heating the area up. Luckily the crack is on the edge of the rib and I think it wont be an issue at all once the linings are installed as the lining is just about wide enough to cover the whole crack.

I used my block plane to trim the linings flush with the ribs all around. I tried not to trim anything off the ribs, just to get the linings level with them.

All the linings on one side are now glued on. Once the glue for the lower bout linings has dried tomorrow, I will still trim them flush with the height of the ribs before proceeding with the linings on the other side. The bending iron is working great by the way. I have almost forgotten what I paid for it already.

I continued with the linings today. This time I bent, fitted and glued the linings for the upper bout. These I managed to bend dry, the curvature is not too tight anywhere. I was contemplating not to add a mortice in the corners blocks for these linings but decided to do that in the end. The mortices are not too much work and they should add some strength, and help to ensure that the linings stay put. A small mirror can be used to check that the linings fit the ribs well everywhere.

Having bent and trimmed the c bout linings all that remained to do was to glue them in and clamp them with lots of clothes pegs. Tomorrow I can hopefully do the other linings on this side.

Well, bending the linings is quite tricky. Strobel says they should be bent dry to avoid any warping of the linings later. I found it still almost impossible to bend the linings of the c bouts dry. In the end I did you use water to help the process. I added a wet cloth between the bending iron and the lining. The generated steam makes it possible to bend the linings. The linings for the upper and lower bouts should be easier.