Seeking Stable And Dark (brown) Wood

[GregP]

I haven't joined a body blank together, either. I bought mine glued-up and will continue to do so.

My table saw MIGHT be able to do it, but it's not the best table saw in the world. I've never gotten a perfectly straight cut out of it, though I'm sure I'm partially to blame for that.

Greg

[jnewman]

Do you have any experience using a hand plane? A jack plane is plenty for something like this, and they're pretty easy to use - I got perfect glue joints with one the first time I really tried it. You don't need a $225 lie-nielsen one, either, a decent stanley one that's reasonably sharp is fine.

If you want a straight cut out of a table saw, you basically have to use a fence and the fence has to be clamped down, hard - I've never seen anyone get a perfectly straight face just pushing wood across the table, no matter what kind of table saw they're using. With a fence, you can do it with pretty much any table saw, it doesn't have to be a particularly good one. If you wanted to do it on a table saw, you'd need a fence clamped down tight parallel to the blade and then a long piece of wood with the taper you want already on it. Hold the piece you want to cut against the piece with the taper and slide the two together along the fence.

Edited April 23, 2005 by jnewman

[GregP]

I always use the fence, and I actually reinforce the 'built-in' fence clamp mechanism with separate clamps, but I still have failure. The fence on my table is totally ass-tastic.

I saw a cool jig for taper-cutting with a fence, though. You can buy it at Lee Valley, but it'd be simple to construct one, too. Might be worth the investment, as I have no fewer than 5 guitars 'planned' for the future. If I make the jig, I will also make it so that it uses the er... mitre groove... er... or whatever it's called... instead of the built-in fence. It'd make for a smoother cut if the wood's not frictioning up against my crap fence.

Saw some sort of low-friction tape in the catalog, too. I wonder if that would help my fence to perform better?

Regarding the plane-- no, I haven't used a hand plane yet. I've never quite understood the theory behind a hand plane, so I haven't gotten around to trying one out yet, either.

Greg

[bluespresence]

Hey Greg, I have loads of black walnut here that is dry, stable and ready for a guitar. GuitarEd used some of it in his tele project a while back so he could provide you with an objective comment about it. I have several boards that run about 13/16 to 15/16" thick and are 7 foot long or so. I also have some cut up for tops that are between 20 and 24" and 13/16" thick.

Drop me a PM if you're interested and I could get you pics pretty quickly.

[jnewman]

Regarding the plane-- no, I haven't used a hand plane yet.  I've never quite understood the theory behind a hand plane, so I haven't gotten around to trying one out yet, either. 

Greg

←

Actually, I take it back, I was using a smoothing plane (No. 4) not a jack plane.

A No. 4 smoothing plane is basically a perfectly flat surface 9.5" long and 2.5" wide, with a perfectly straight blade that sticks an adjustable distance out of a slot in the middle of the flat surface. You set the blade so that it's almost not sticking out of the slot at all, so that when you push it along a piece of wood, it shaves off a piece about as thick as a piece of paper. Then what happens is this: if there are any low spots in the piece of wood you're planing, the plane is perfectly flat and the blade (in the middle of the plane) can't reach down into the dip because it is held level with the rest of the surface by the plane's sole (what the bottom surface is called). If there's a rise in the surface, the plane just cuts the rise and not around it because around it the rise holds the sole off the surface of the wood. Basically, a plane cuts very even, thin sheets off of a surface, removing any rises in the wood, until you've cut the wood down to a perfectly flat surface.

That may not be the best explanation ever, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

[GregP]

I'm just imagining the cuts I made on my table saw, which tend to be only very slightly not perfect. I don't know that a hand plane will be able to get them to the point they need to be. It's hard for me to spend any money whatsoever, so I can't buy even a $40 tool without knowing for sure it'll do what I need it to do.

Great explanation, though. Certainly helps me understand how a smoothing plane could easily do the work on a tricky surface.

Greg

[RGGR]

That's why I said.......used template (just straight bit of wood) and your router.

Simple & effective. No need for investment in tools you don't know how to use, or might not use again. Router with template bit will be answer to your prayers.

Quick question though........if this relative simple tapered bodyshape is aready causing you big problems in execution. How on earth are you planning to conquer the more difficult aspects of your built (read; tapering fretboard, shaping neck.....etc.)

For you it might be wise to invest some time in searching for people/companies in your area with a more professional woodworking shop. For a 6 pack of beer, or some small $$$ lot's of people will be willing to help you out with bandsaws, table saws, planers, mitres?....etc. Just look for furniture, woodworking, type companies in your area.

Part of building guitar process is not buying all tools needed,....but scoping for people with the right tools already available. You might make some new friends in process.

In my build I have used nothing but simple hand tools. Scoping for bandsaw access, planers, etc....took some time......but now I have found the companies and people whom have them and are willing to be of assistance,.......it makes live so much more easy.

[GregP]

Surely you can see how tapering or otherwise shaping the outside layer of a project is much easier than making a perfectly jointed surface for gluing. In point of fact, though, I WOULD rather get someone else to glue it up; hence the question.

To answer your other questions-- how do I plan to tackle the shaping of the rest of that 'complex' work:

- I hope to buy my body blanks glued up (including this one, but we'll see)

- I buy pre-radiused and slotted fingerboards

- I have a local guy who will do the fretting for a very reasonable price

- the neck will be shaped by spokeshave, rasp, and sandpaper

- the neck taper will be done with an MDF template or simple MDF straight-edges, which I trust enough for the neck taper but not necessarily enough for jointing.

- other problems will be met by asking questions here, as I have always done.

If I already knew how to do everything, I wouldn't have to post here. <chuckle>

I have used a school's bandsaw, and there's a local place that can likely thickness plane/sand the body for me, for a very reasonable amount. I've already used them to bring my other project's body blank a bit down to size. During the process, though, the wood was burned a bit, which didn't matter to me since I'm painting opaque; however, it was a thing that made me go "hmm".

I also don't mind trying stuff out, but before proceeding, I prefer researching. What was it that someone's signature said recently--"A person that asks is a fool for 5 minutes; a person that never asks is a fool forever." or something like that. I don't mind displaying my ignorance and trepidation for the world to see, as long as I'm learning as I go.

Greg

[RGGR]

Surely you can see how tapering or otherwise shaping the outside layer of a project is much easier than making a perfectly jointed surface for gluing.

I understand your concerns. Multiple passes with template bit will have tendency to leave small "layering type" markings on side of routed surface. (Depends on number of passes you make of course.) Some sand paper 80-120-240.....and perfectly flat sanding block will take care of this.

- the neck taper will be done with an MDF template or simple MDF straight-edges, which I trust enough for the neck taper but not necessarily enough for jointing.

Same principles apply to both applications. Although neck taper is much more nerve wrecking as if you screw up....you can throw away the neck black. With body shape you can always readjust and tell people later....Yeah, it's meant that way.....much more cool...this way...."

In point of fact, though, I WOULD rather get someone else to glue it up; hence the question. biggrin.gif

You're making this sound like a science project. There simply isn't so much involved here.

Why don't you test it out with scrap piece of wood. Bettya results will be very decent.

[GregP]

I'm still working on my first project. I don't have enough scrap accumulated. Then again, I guess I could always try it out with a plain old pine 2X4.

Cheers for the tips. The router idea is sounding the best so far. I need to get myself a perfectly flat sanding block, still. I like the idea of working the wood over the block better than working the block over the wood, though, so I've been considering one of those granite reference planes.

I wonder if any of the local billiards suppliers would know where I could get my hands on a cracked piece of billiard-table slate. That might do the trick, too.

You're absolutely right about the fact that I'm over-thinking, though. Part of it is simply due to the fact that I have zero job stability. I work as a supply teacher now that my contract is up, and you never know when you're going to get enough shifts in a month to make ends meet. Until I can afford to screw up, I won't be able to relax and just allow myself to make errors.

Greg