Net Building Activity

    First our club has a lot of members with talents in different areas,  Alan, our leader in this project,  has been building some beautiful landing nets and archery bows agreed to take the members through the task of building their first landing net.  Certain criteria had to be meet, first it had to be inexpensive, cost was about 12 dollars plus the net bag itself.  Secondly the amount of equipment had to be kept to a minimum as we had about 15 members at one time trying the project and had a limited amount of equipment.  Finally it had to be done relatively quickly and without a great deal of expertise on the part of the participants.  ALAN DID NOT KNOW HOW BIG A TASK HE HAD BITTEN OFF - BUT IT WAS SUCCESSFUL - MANY THANKS TO ALAN.
 
 

    A small group of members meet a week before the activity and decided that the first net would be a tear-drop shape net patterned after a real cheap wooden net.  Simple reason was that we had a cheap wood net at hand and would not have to design a pattern.  Sheets of 3/4 inch high density particle board, generously donated by our local building materials supplier, were cut into rectangles large enough to enclose the pattern net and leave about a minimum of two inches extra around the net frame.  Construction grade plywood could have been used and was used by some members at a later date when they built forms for different shaped nets such as catch and release shapes. One rectangle was left whole, while the pattern for the net was traced on other rectangle. This gave about 3/8 " completely around the net allowing for the wood laminate frame.  The patterns were cut using a jig saw so that there were three pieces, the center looking like an overgrown ping pong bat, a thin 3/8 " loop running off the board at the handle end,  and the third piece looking like some one had cut a ping pong bat out of the center.  The cut pieces were placed upon the uncut rectangle and the center piece screwed down with 1 1/2 drywall screws, this was so it could be removed at a later date.  The outer piece was given relief cuts so that it could be clamped tightly against the inner pieces.  This involved about two cuts. ( see picture )  The loose pieces were temporarily attached back in position using drywall screws.  The crew  of three worked for about 4 hours and made up the fifteen net forms for members to use the next week end.  NOTE:  THE PICTURE SHOWS THE HANDLE SECTION CUT OUT, THIS IS A STEP DONE AT A LATTER PART OF CONSTRUCTION AFTER THE WOOD HAS BEEN BENT.  THE GLUING DESCRIBED LATER HAS BEEN DONE ON THIS NET.
 

    During the week, Alan had obtained some clear black walnut and birch about 6 feet long and with a sharp fine tooth blade and table saw had ripped the pieces into 1/8 thick by 6 foot strips.  Small left over pieces about 4 x 6 inches were used for the handle portions.  Normally to bend wood, it should be steamed but again we did not have the equipment so the wood strips were soaked in very hot water for about 3 hours prior to the members meeting.  Time for coffee and a lot of BS.  The soaking tubes were just 4 inch diameter black plastic plumbing pipe one end capped and set upright.  Two tubes were used, one for each type of wood so as to avoid staining. One member tried this concept  by themselves using white plastic pipe and a submersible heater.  A good idea but bad execution, the water in the tube stayed very warm, giving the wood the necessary flexibility but unfortunate the plastic tube also softened giving the tube an unexpected bend too.
 
     With forms constructed and wood soaking all was in readiness for the construction of the nets.  The members received a form from which they removed the outer pieces.  In bending wood, the trick to remember is to work quickly and an extra pair of hands is nice.  One member  to bend the wood around the form and the second team member to position the outer pieces and apply clamp pressure to force the wood to the form.  Each member choose three strips of wood in a combination of shades that they liked and started to bend it around the form.  We used two long pipe clamps so that it would span the net in any direction.  Grabbing the three now softened strips of wood in about the middle, the net was formed working from the top end  working on both sides toward the handle end.  As the top end was bent, the outer part of the form was put on with two pipe clamps, screwed tightly, then four dry wall screw inserted into the form so as to hold it into place.  After the screw were placed the team members worked toward the handle end using the same technique of bend, put form on, squeeze with clamps and insert dry wall screws until all of the outer sections of the form were in place and secure.  This technique also minimized the number of clamps required for the job. Once this was done the process was repeated for the second member's net.  The ends of the net extending beyond the form were cut off  about 1 inch long to give a reference point for the gluing stage of the net.  Each net took no more than about 15 minutes to complete to this point.

    In theory, we should have allowed the wood forms to set overnight so that the wood would not experience spring back, but we live in a very dry climate and the wood dried and set up quickly.  While waiting for the wood frame to set, members using a pattern for the inner part of the handle cut and sanded using drum sanders the insert part of the handle.  Most members used a solid piece of wood for the insert, some being more artistic ( ornery !!) used the end pieces that had been cut off to make a laminated handle by gluing the pieces together and then cutting to shape.  Depending upon method of cut this can produce a herring bone pattern or horizontal strips.  The trick in constructing the insert was to make sure it matched the pattern and was a very smooth curve, where it was to be in contact with the laminated strips so that no unwanted spaces showed up.  This task took about 1 hour for the members to accomplish.

    Having finished the insert, the screws were removed from the form and we got lucky in that the wood did not spring back badly.  The center piece was removed from the form and the section for the handle insert was cut off the paddle-like piece.  Again to be cheap, we could have sprayed the form with lacquer to prevent the glue from sticking to it; however we rubbed paraffin wax on the form surfaces close to the glue areas both on the horizontal and vertical edges.  Kind of like painting with a paraffin wax bar.  If you try this trick, be sure to have a good paraffin wax layer every place you do not want the glue to stick, nothing could be worse than completing a net only to have it permanently glued to the form. There is a lot of sanding to be done to get to the finished product, but sanding the form off would be ridiculous.   The form was partly reassembled with the ping-pong bat section minus the handle insert screwed down a second time.  Now was the time for the fun part, the gluing. We could have used waterproof glue but we decided to use Elmers Carpenters glue that is water resistant and gives about 15 minutes of working time.  Besides it was inexpensive, locally available and thus meet our criteria.

    Gluing started with applying a generous coat to the outer edges of the handle insert where it was to be in contact with the strips.  The handle was then placed in position upon the form.  Generous amounts of glue were placed upon the bent strips where they would be in contact with each other or the handle insert. Indeed a messy job for two members as the picture shows.  Working quickly similar to the initial forming of the wood strips, the three glued strips were placed in unison around the form and the clamps applied and form re-screwed down.  A bit of a hint, new holes for the screws insured that the form would not move.  Again having an extra pair of hands was invaluable. Once the form was secure with dry wall screws, the clamps could be removed.  To insured that the laminated strips had not moved up, a block of wood and hammer were used to tap them down. Unfortunate not all things were perfect at this time, some gaps were noted in the laminations so thin wedges of scrap laminate were driven along the outside edge to close up these gaps.  Don't use too many as it seems that the more you drive, the more gaps you create.  A bright idea came to us after we had done this once.  Along the outer edge we used a foam rope called BACKA ROD, which is used in expansion joints on concrete and masonry jobs.  This stuff while difficult to position and clamp at the same time is about 1/2 inch in diameter but flows like water to apply a nice even pressure around the form, this results in a net with no gaps in the laminated construction.  It also is easily removed as the glue did not stick to it.
 

    The members were finished for the day and after clean up and more coffee, took their new net and form home to allow the glue to cure for at least 24 hours.  Many had visions of beautiful net frames dropping out of the frame, HAH - someone forgot to tell them about the sanding yet to come.  Initial sanding was best done with a belt sander while the net frame was still in the frame, this allowed the builder to remove the built up glue and get one face smooth and thickness brought down to that of the handle insert.  The form was removed and net flipped over to permit sanding of the opposite face.  Simply leaving the center insert in the net and doing the flipping and reattaching with dry wall screws to the base made the job of holding the net easy.  The net was then removed totally from the form.  The outer edges and inner edges were hand sanded and corners of the handle and edges of net frame gently rounded and shaped.  Again the members with a drill press and drum sanders found that the inside of the loop could be easily sanded, but again a machine while easy tends to make errors that take hours to correct by hand.  The rounding of the handle permitted the various layers of laminate to show through giving a very pleasing effect.  After the shaping,  final sanding was performed with 220 grit for a satin smooth finish.

        Having completed the forming and sanding, members brought their nets back to use a router table and cut a groove starting just at the front end of the handle and running completely around the loop and back to front end of handle on opposite side.  The groove serves as a location for the holes that must be drilled through the net frame for lacing of the net bag.  In our case the groove was placed in the middle of the thickness portion of the frame and was about 1/8 wide and just over 1/16" deep.  The holes for the net lacing could now be drilled.  The spacing was about 1" apart, to make this effort fairly easy a tailors tape was used so that the starting and end hole at the handle end could be juggled for symmetry.  Holes of 1/8" size were now drilled using an electric hand drill into the frame using the grove as a guide.  Sorry no picture but if we do it again, definitely will have pictures of process.

    The net was ready for finish with one small hole to be drilled in the end of the handle for an eye screw to be inserted.  The eye also gave a place to hang the net up by while doing the varnish job.  The net frame was given three coats of spar varnish, being allowed to dry between coats and a light sanding given between coats.  This was done by the members at home.
 

    If we used a standard net for a pattern, which we did, in theory replacement nets could be bought and laced into the opening.  Guess what, the nets were not available and what was was worth more than the net.  So we purchased some soft fused nylon cargo netting material and talked nicely to one of the wives of  a member and got her to sew the net material into the necessary bags.  She charged us about 8 bucks making total cost of net about $20.  One advantage of this custom made process was that the depth of bag could be custom made to member's preferences.
 

    The installation of the net bag was accomplished by first cleaning the holes out of excess varnish and temporarily lacing the bag in using sewing thread.  Going real high class, we used vinyl leather lace about a perfect 1/8 in width along with a leather lacing needle to lace the bag in.  This involve the process of starting at the handle with a piece of lace about 6 feet long working it from outside in around the bag and  back out the same hole and then moving to the next hole in sequence for same process.  The trick with the lacing was to avoid twisting it so that it will lie flat in the grooves as it moves around the net and keep the same smooth side of the lace up. The sewing thread was removed as we moved forward.  The overall appearance of the lace looks like a thin band around the center of the loop lying in the previously cut groove.  To keep the lace from coming out a drop of instant glue was put in the first and last holes and the tag ends cut off.

    End result of all this was for about $20 Canadian each member had a beautiful custom made net.  The quality of the nets meets or exceeds some of those very expensive wood jobbies.  We learned a lot of tricks to make net building easier and do it with a minimum amount of equipment.  The use of the foam rope has permitted us to make nets without any gaps in the laminations.  Since we started the project using an old net, some of us have using an autocad type program drew up some shapes like catch and release nets with the long throat and triangular shaped nets.  To make the perfect pattern, we simply print the plans out full size, paste it on to a piece of wood for our form and go ahead cut.  Result is a perfect template and form.
 

 
     This was to be a short article, seems it did not turn out that way, but if you are interested in trying it come out to one of our meetings or get in contact with us by email, we will see what we can do.
 

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