Dan Morrison

Today we're going to see the final steps leading up to wrapping these wood bodies with washi. This will conclude the machining and assembly steps on the cherry wood bodies. Apart from a few finishing touches these bodies are complete! In the last issue we saw how the

We've seen the making of the boxes... now we'll be taking a look at how they're painted. All of the Okin boxes were either painted with milk paint or left raw. Milk paint is made from natural pigments with a casein (milk protein) binder.

In this update we'll creep ever closer to getting these Toads ready to wrap with washi. Ill be showing the assembly process for joining the wood and metal parts together. First, a slot is milled to accommodate the brass backing plate that sits behind the button. At the

For this update I'll be showing how the button sleeve is made and attached to the cherry wood Toad bodies. Each Toad is fitted with a brass button that slides in and out of a Delrin sleeve. I chose Delrin for this application for a number of important

In the last update I showed the making of the brass heater module connector rings, and how they were connected to copper lead wires. Those lead wires will connect to a brass plate that sits behind the button, carrying electricity from the button down to the heater module. In this

In the next couple updates we're going to take a look at the brass and copper components that make up the electrical pathway. The Toad has a very simple and durable circuit that is entirely analog. Most of it is hidden inside the wood and washi composite shell.

In this issue we're going to take a look at making the Okin boxes. Every Okin came with it's own box made from honduran mahogany with a kraft composite shell. Some boxes came unpainted but most were finished with milk paint. I chose Honduran mahogany as

In the last issue we looked at the machining of the heater module holes. Now, we'll continue on the lathe to finish up the next two processes that'll bring these cherry wood blocks closer to their final forms. Back on the lathe again to drill out

Cocobolo and jatoba would be the species of choice for these Okins. Both options would be fitted with a naturally moisture resistant African blackwood mouthpiece. For this design I knew I wanted a warm toned, strong, wood. Cocobolo would be the more exotic, flashy choice. Jatoba, with it's

The Okin was the first product that I designed for production. Before that, I was making one-off pieces. It was an entirely new experience for me and looking back on these albums it's obvious that I really had no idea what I was doing. I now know