The 0.75" thick planed teak plank supplied by the timber merchant which was the raw material for the replacement centreplate case capping. The first stage was to decide which side was to be the top and which was to be the bottom (hidden) side of the capping. All marking out was done in pencil on the bottom.

(Click picture for larger view)

The wood as supplied was the correct width and thickness but was over length. The first job was to mark out the correct length using a steel rule, try-square and pencil. A jig-saw was then used to cut the capping to the correct length. A finely serrated blade was used in all cutting operations to minimise splintering of the cut edges of the timber.

(Click picture for larger view)

This picture shows the marking out of the position of the slot in the capping. Note that the marking out in pencil is on top of Masking Tape. The tape makes the lines easier to see whilst cutting is in progress and also helps to minimise splintering of the wood along the edges of the cut. For this reason tape was also applied to the underside of the timber. A compass and pencil was used to mark out the curved corners of the capping (See Figure. 2 for dimensions of the slot and corners).

(Click picture for larger view)

Cutting out the slot using a jig-saw with a fine blade. The two long cuts were made first and then the bottom cross slot was made by means of a series of cross cuts.

(Click picture for larger view)

Detail of completed main and the cross-slot cut at the end to take the stainless steel stop-plate. The cross slot was cut slightly undersize. Files were used to enlarge the cross-slot until the stainless steel plate fitted tightly.

(Click picture for larger view)

Once the steel plate fitted in the slot a pencil was used to draw round it to mark the area where a rebate would be made. The rebate was to enable the plate to lie flush with the surface of the wood on the underside of the capping.

(Click picture for larger view)

The rebate was made using a wood chisel and craft knife. The craft knife was used to score vertically along the pencilled border to confine the chiselling accurately within the area of the rebate and thus avoiding ragged and splintered edges.

(Click picture for larger view)

The end result of some careful chiselling: the stop-plate fits snugly into the rebate.

(Click picture for larger view)

Using the holes in the steel plate as a template, four holes were drilled through the wooden capping. These were countersunk on the top and the stop-plate bolted on using M6 stainless steel bolts

(Click picture for larger view)

Top view of the centreplate-case capping with the stop-plate bolted in place with four countersunk-head stainless steel bolts.

(Click picture for larger view)

The curved corners of the capping were marked out using compass and pencil and then cut out using the jig-saw. They were then smoothed using a sanding block.

(Click picture for larger view)