Resawing Guitar Sets on the New Laguna

[theEdwinson]

Macacauba, sometimes called Amazon Rosewood, as a trade moniker when it's sold as guitar tonewood. Not a true rosewood, Platymiscium pinnatum has many of the characteristics of Dalbergia rosewoods, including a strong, sustaining, metallic tap tone. The pore structure is tighter than most Dalbergias, so it can be given a glassy finish.



Another set of the Marbled Padouk. This wood has a rare chatoyance to it. When it's smooth and finished, it will shimmer and flash at different angles. Padouk is great tonewood; right up there the great rosewoods. These specimens that I got from Cook Woods are amazing in every way.



Another set sliced from some other Claro Walnut billets. I've come across some excellent Claro this year. This set came off a couple of 8/4 billets, so there's plenty more of this still to cut.




...And there's some fiddleback as well...



Here's a flamed Sinker Redwood top, sliced of an 8/4 billet. I am already building a guitar with this top. Hard, stiff top with temple-bell tap tone.



That's a pile of wood...



And finally, here's a Malaysian Blackwood back and sides, which is in the process of being made into a EP Performance "Element" guitar, along with the flamed Sinker top. My current build project.
Thanks for looking!

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Pow!

All that off the same blade? I'm very curious as to how long the Resaw King will last. I read a lot about carbide blades wearing out fast on 14" wheels, but it's all internet hearsay, so I'm very interested to know what transpires in a luthiers reality. Even if the blade did wear out faster than it would on a 16" saw, the cost savings would more than make up for it I think.

I have a few questions. What thickness are you slicing to? How many slices per inch are you getting?

It also looks like you leave the thick side against the fence, with the veneer coming off the blade on the right. Is there a reason for doing that, as opposed to having the veneer come off the inside so that you didn't need to adjust the fence each cut?

[theEdwinson]

Originally Posted by Halcyon/Tinker

Pow!

All that off the same blade? I'm very curious as to how long the Resaw King will last. I read a lot about carbide blades wearing out fast on 14" wheels, but it's all internet hearsay, so I'm very interested to know what transpires in a luthiers reality. Even if the blade did wear out faster than it would on a 16" saw, the cost savings would more than make up for it I think.

I have a few questions. What thickness are you slicing to? How many slices per inch are you getting?

It also looks like you leave the thick side against the fence, with the veneer coming off the blade on the right. Is there a reason for doing that, as opposed to having the veneer come off the inside so that you didn't need to adjust the fence each cut?

Yes, all that off the same blade. I orchestrated my resawing binge so that I started with the softer, easier to cut woods, like the Sinker redwood and Claro Walnut, to kind of get a feel for it. The blade stayed good and sharp through quite a bit of that material, and the Padouk. Then I moved on to the really hard stuff- the Honduran Rosewood, Braz Ebony, Malaysian Blackwood. I could tell the blade was losing a little edge, but with a slow, steady feed rate, not pushing more than a pound or two, I got a lot of mileage. I was real surprised when I got that Braz Ebony through the blade pretty easily. I was worried that stuff would ruin the blade, it's so hard. But slow and steady got it done.

The Laguna Resaw King blade is resharpenable up to five times. It cost $45 to send it back to Laguna in Irvine, CA to get it sharpened (that includes shipping). The teeth on this blade are not solid carbide, but some kind of carbide amalgam that makes resharpening possible.

My blade is close to ready to sending in to get the first dressing. I got about 25 bookmatched cuts off the blade to this point, and it's still in decent shape for softer woods.

I've been cutting woods mostly about 4mm thick. That gives me enough to run them through the thickness sander to get all the saw marks out. I varied it a little, depending on the thickness of the billets. One of those Padouk boards was 13/16" thick, and I got four slices (two perfect bookmatches) out of it.

If the saw is well set up, you've compensated for blade drift, and you're careful, you can get a lot of yield with this blade. The blade kerf is only about 1.3mm.

I did cut some of the wood from the outside of the billet, instead of against the fence, because sometimes, it's easier to get a good uniform thickness cut that way. For instance, if you have a wide chunk, like 8/4, and you're cutting a thin slice on the inside, the saw kerf can cause the board to wobble through the blade, leaving deeper saw marks.

You see that cut guide I built, the thing with the ball bearing contact? I made that for cutting from the outside of the billet. For accurate, repeatable thickness, I lock that guide down just forward of the blade, and move the wood up to it for each subsequent cut, locking the fence in that position. Billets cut this way must be carefully dimensioned for uniform thickness before you do the resawing.

Long and short, there are a lot of methods and tricks to doing good resawing work. I'm still learning the finer points. As Howard mentioned earlier, I'm still getting saw marks in my cuts. Once I really get the techniques down, I hope to be able to get super-smooth cut surfaces, like they came off a table saw.
The Laguna 14 SUV is a great machine to learn on!

[JHumphrey]

Nice wood! Thanks for sharing. Look forward to meeting you at GAL!

[fountainhead]

Stephen- Thank you for this thread! I think it is fascinating to see where, and how wood is fabricated for use in guitars. All guitar enthusiasts (not just luthiers) should be reading this with the excitement of a kid in a candy store! A lot of effort, thought and man hours go into making those pretty wood sets we all drool over, and you deserve a lot of credit for taking that burden onto yourself!

Cheers and thank you!

[ewh2]

I saw some of the Padauk on the Cook Woods mailout (not a luthier myself but also a wood nut!) and they advertised it as 'Crispy Bacon Padauk'.

Good to see it will be used for guitars.

Also is anyone else a little perplexed how Padauk doesn't have a greater reputation as a tonewood?

[Steve Kinnaird]

Originally Posted by ewh2

I saw some of the Padauk on the Cook Woods mailout (not a luthier myself but also a wood nut!) and they advertised it as 'Crispy Bacon Padauk'.

Good to see it will be used for guitars.

Also is anyone else a little perplexed how Padauk doesn't have a greater reputation as a tonewood?

I am. It is a wonderful material, yielding excellent results!

Steve

[Tim McKnight]

Is the MBW set a 4 piece back? Its a drop dead gorgeous set which quickly caught my eye!

BTW, you do realize that you have a full blown case of W.A.S. (Wood Acquisition Syndrome) which many of us unfortunately suffer from ;(

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Thanks for the info, can't wait to get mine!

Padauk is a mainstay in my building diet...

[theEdwinson]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

Is the MBW set a 4 piece back? Its a drop dead gorgeous set which quickly caught my eye!

BTW, you do realize that you have a full blown case of W.A.S. (Wood Acquisition Syndrome) which many of us unfortunately suffer from ;(

Hi, Tim. Yes, the Malay Blackwood back is a four piece. I bought a rather massive billet of it about five years ago from Gilmer woods in Portland, and have been letting it season since then. The individual slices are about 4 5/8" wide, and make a perfect grain match. I had to mark where the glue joints are so I could put the inside cross-grain reinforcement strips in the right place. The joins are totally invisible.
This Malay Blackwood rings just like Brazilian RW. I'm really thrilled to be using it in a spec build now.
The good news is, I still have enough of this spectacular wood for four more guitars!
I did confess to having a bad case of W.A.S. in the first paragraph of this thread. I guess admitting it is the first step to recovery.
But you know what? I don't want to recover! I want more wood!

[theEdwinson]

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone.

I agree that Padouk (or Padauk if you prefer) is a top-shelf tonewood. I've built four or five guitars with it, and in every respect, it rivals the best of the rosewoods. The color isn't for everybody, though. It can be bright vermillion, or blood-red, which may strike some people as a bit too HOT looking.
Padouk does tend to oxidize darker and browner over time.

When I saw this wood for sale at Cook Woods last year, they described it as "Iridescent, bacon-figure", which is a good description. I promptly bought two boards, and when it arrived, I liked it so much I ordered six more right away. I have enough for eight iridescent, bacon-figure guitars. This is special stuff, and will make some great instruments.

[Sage97]

Fantastic looking sets Steve! So glad to see the EP "Element" design is alive and kicking.

[permarklund]

I love resawing! Your bandsaw looks nice! I'm getting a new bandsaw in the near future but think I'll have to settle for one of the brands available here in Sweden but I will most certainly get the same resaw blade as you! And some more lumber of course. Hopefully I can afford to eat afterwards

Per

[Nemoman]

That Malay set really looks incredible--looking forward to seeing the EP it is slated to become. Wonderful stuff and an awesome thread!

[David Wren]

LOVE this thread Steve. I've got serious wood envy too!