jmrentis Posted June 18, 2005 Report Share Posted June 18, 2005 What is the best grit to use before glueing up a laminate neck? I know I have seen it somewhere and I'm not sure it was this site. I tried searching and the PG tutorial on neck construction and didn't see. If someone has a suggestion on what to use or a thread that it was posted it let me know! I just did a dry clamp of my neck and it looks good so I will probably glue up tonight if I get my answer. I know it should be coarse but I don't think too coarse would be advisable. My laminate is hard maple/ jatoba/ hard maple. Next time I will do a 5 piece, but this is my first so if I encounter any problems it won't be a big lose in terms of money. I will be posting a thread soon in, progress and finished work. I have most of my wood and have taken pictures of the body wood, the neck wood, my practice template and other things, I will be starting the actual work soon. So any opinion will be great! Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollock Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Personaly I dont think you need to sand them. I have tested quite a few differant woods & glues and found that freshly machined with either my jointer or thicknesser produced the strongest joint. Sanding the surface seemed to make no differance. That said I always keep the blades realy sharp, so I am not to sure whether that would still be true if they were not so sharp, as I have read that a blunt planer can damage the surface of teh wood and result in a weak joint. Also I think normal wood glue works by a molecular bond and doesnt need a rough surface like epoxy seems to. The absolute worst surface from my experience is one that has been untouched for many months, it seems either residue setles on it, or oil rises to the surface, or maybe the pores close up, but a bit of wood that has been lying around for a long time often doesnt hold aswell in my experience. So all I do is run the surface through my planer/jointer. And i found it quite hard to sand a 2 inch wide piece of wood without spoiling what would otherwise be a snug fit. It always seems to end up a very slightly rounded because the outer edges seem to end up sanded more than the center. chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted June 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 Thanks for the info! I had asked wes and he told me the same not to sand it just plane if needed. I have already glued up, I am waiting for it to dry, by tomorrow morning I'll unclamp and check it out, that will be over 30 hours drying time. One thing that happened was I used too much glue, I had read that you need to use plenty of glue, some on both glueing surfaces and I guess I went way overboard, but I cleaned it up and hopefully I will have a good joint to work with. And now I know how much glue is enough! Drak was right when he said that one of the best ways to learn is by doing it. I don't think there was any way to explain how much glue to use for joints, when people say cover both surfaces, it can be a big difference in amount of glue you use. Thanks for your help, What are some specs on a jointer/planer that would be able to do neck balnks and body blanks? How big and such? Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollock Posted June 20, 2005 Report Share Posted June 20, 2005 To be honest I dont think I know enough to give you advice on that, I just use an old (very old) planer/jointer that I inherited from my uncle. All i know is it is a 10" wide cut, all cast iron, f*in heavy, and I think a 1 HP motor. Only thing I would say is to make sure it has cast iron tables, and a rock solid fence. chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Fine Woodworking magazine had done a test on surface preparation in glue joints. The strongest was on freshly planed surfaces. Sanding makes a fuzzy surface. Most of the glue is sticking to wood fiber fuzz. The strength of loose wood fibers is less that the strength between wood fibers, in the wood, before they get sanded apart. Also, on planed surfaces, pores in the wood aren't clogged with wood dust. Glue can wick into pores more easily. Joint strength is more important when the loads are high and the glued surface is small. When you have a large gluing surface and not much load applied to it (like a cap on a body), reduced strength is acceptable. With a typical laminated neck, where each layer of wood extends from the back of the neck through to the front (fretboard surface), the glue lines don't carry neck bending loads. Each layer of wood is in compression on the front and tension in the back. The reverse neck bending load, from the truss rod, does have to go through the glue lines. Fine Woodworking's best results were with a planed surface as in a hand plane. Power planers and jointers don't have as smooth and glue friendly a surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 21, 2005 Report Share Posted June 21, 2005 Fine Woodworking's best results were with a planed surface as in a hand plane. Power planers and jointers don't have as smooth and glue friendly a surface. i can see that...but i always make sure there is no burnish on a machine planed surface.i must admit i do not plane by hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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