Advice on Quarter Sawn Backs and Sides

Southern Cross · #1 07-23-2018, 12:17 PM

I have found a local source for some Maple, and some Black Walnut raw cut wood. What is an ideal length and width for quarter sawn wood for backs, and what is ideal for sides. The Black Walnut especially looks like it has a lot of figure in it. I know you need to let it dry properly, but how do you go about letting it dry? I am a novice builder, but I am thinking about how I might use the wood in the future as I gain skills, and tools. Thanks.
Clifford

Rodger Knox · #2 07-23-2018, 02:05 PM

Sides are about 5"x 32", backs are about 9"x 22". That's on the large end, unless you build jumbos. 4/4 or 6/4 thick is probably good, thicker if it is well quartered from a large enough tree. Allow a couple inches to cut off end checks after drying. Good luck, resawing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get. Looks like you have some pretty good chances from what I can see.

redir · #3 07-23-2018, 02:07 PM

Unfortunately those don't look long enough. I cut up a maple tree two years ago and am just about ready to start using it on a project. I cut the side drums to 40 inches and the back set drums to 26 inches. That gives plenty of room for end checking as it dries just in case. The drums were milled in the field with an Alaska mill chain saw and I basically just took out the center slab vertical grain sections. Then I ran those through my band saw into 1 in thick slabs to dry for at least a year. Pain the ends with latex paint and sticker in an area that has some ventilation.

Bruce Sexauer · #4 07-23-2018, 02:36 PM

I have good luck sawing walnut closer to finished dimensions and stickering carefully to keep it flat. It is very important to be sure there are no cracks whatsoever when you start, and to wax or otherwise seal the endgrain so that the wood dries evenly, not out the ends first. 3/16 is a good thickness. If you can hold it flat and dry it out of the weather with decent air circulation in my neighborhood, you could build with it in as little as 3 months. Not so true with all woods.

John Arnold · #5 07-23-2018, 03:55 PM

In my experience, cutting green hardwoods thinner than 1" is asking for trouble with warping. I cut it between 1" and 2" thick, and sticker it for at least a year before resawing. Once the moisture content is below 12%, resawing can be done with much less chance of warping. Even then, you need to sticker the wood so it is exposed the same on both sides, otherwise it will still warp.

For fully quartered backs, you need a diameter of at least 18". Unless you want sapwood in the finished guitar, that means the heartwood (the dark center) needs to be 18" in diameter. The sapwood is very thick on the walnut in the photo.

Seeing logs already cut too short for backs and sides is the story of my life. Invariably, the cutter is thinking about portability and firewood, not my desire to build guitars.

Otterhound · #6 07-23-2018, 04:36 PM

Fortunately , black walnut sapwood is identical to heartwood in structure , so it can be used .
Personally , I like the appearance of black walnut sapwood with the heartwood .
There is an old time trick that can be done with black walnut where you immerse it in water for 6 months to a year . The color in the heartwood will leach into the sapwood over time .
Back in the day , black walnut logs were placed in standing water like ponds for this purpose .
So , if you have a place and the patience .....

John Arnold · #7 07-23-2018, 07:08 PM

Steaming the lumber will also color the sapwood. But in my experience, it also reduces the contrasting striping in the heartwood, and lightens it some.
I like some sapwood, but not where it is wider than an inch or so.
On some guitars, I have dyed the sapwood just before finishing. It works just fine, but like steaming, you don't have the contrasting striping that IMHO is a big part of the beauty of walnut.

Southern Cross · #8 07-24-2018, 05:39 AM

Thanks for all the help. I spoke to the owner, and he assumed they would cut in fairly long lengths. Wrong they cut it like it was going to be used for firewood. What a loss. I am going to take a tape measure and check it out later today.

Otterhound · #9 07-24-2018, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Southern Cross

Thanks for all the help. I spoke to the owner, and he assumed they would cut in fairly long lengths. Wrong they cut it like it was going to be used for firewood. What a loss. I am going to take a tape measure and check it out later today.

16" long . 'Nuff said . Can't use/save them all .