Quote:
Originally Posted by naccoachbob
It's probably going to force me to take some medicines: like buying side benders, blankets, band saws, thickness sanders.
Speaking of which (tools), I have a Delta planer. I've used it in the past, and sometimes it snipes the ends of pieces. Steve, have you used one for backs, sides, or tops? If I'm smart, I can put another piece of scrap behind it of the same thickness and maybe eliminate the snipe. Kinda scary though, one miss and it's scrap too. Not sure how thin it will go either. Perhaps I could trade someone for a sander or band saw, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Dang, wood acquisition is not only terminal, it's killing me in all kinds of ways. It's launching other diseases............tool acquisition syndrome.
Have you seen that killer walnut on Ebay? 
Bob |
Hello,
That is some beautiful wood. I like it as much as EIR or BR.
I'm just getting back into guitar repair on two of my Martins. I'm not a luthier per se but I did build 9 guitars from 1973 to 1977 when I had a music store. I still have two of them.
Regarding your planer, that Delta should work very well. I have a 1930's Parks Plane that I rebuilt in 1971 for guitar work. It's big and very heavy with a floor stand but it does a job.
What I did for my backs, sides and tops was to first resaw them from 2X10's to approximately 3/16". Yes, I know that's wasteful but it was the thinnest I could hold on my 14" Delta bandaw. I would then tape them to 5/8" particle board to hold the flitches when they were being planed.I tried for 2mm on backs, 2.5mm on sides and 3 mm on tops.
I'm curious about your mentioning that the planer "snipes the ends of pieces". I call that a "signature cut"(my term) The so-called "signature cut" or "sniping" would only occur when I had the two bottom table rollers on the Parks set too high. If I took the time to adjust them properly and make sure that the blades were very sharp and clean, there would usually be no problems. Taping them to stiff boards did the trick for me. EDIT: If you could find a large enough sander, they really would be the way to go. I couldn't locate one when I was looking so I went with the planer, which I still have. The belts are rather expensive but perhaps they are worth the difference.
You're right about needing tools. It really takes a lot of stuff.
I did my bending with the wood soaked in a long tray for a few minutes and then I bent it to fit the molds over a piece of 4" aluminum tubing with 1/4" wall heated with a propane barbecue torch inside of the tubing. At 2-2.5mm with enough heat and steam generated by the tubing, it bent very nicely. I had some Brazilian Rosewood at the time and built seven guitars from it that I sold in my store but that was long ago. I also built one from Honduras Mahogany and another from African Mahogany, both of which I kept. Almost 35 years later they are still going strong. I can get some pictures later on.
I kept all of the tools and I'm in the process of doing a neck reset on one of my Martins.
I'm amazed at all of the nice custom work going on around here. I want to see your instrument when it's done. That wood is very choice indeed.
Regards.