Hughes Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 (edited) so after fussing to the principal about getting my money back, they finally decided to order it yesterday and I ended up getting it today luckily. I ordered some quilt maple and i would have to say its not to bad (maybe 3A), a birdseye maple neck blank, mahogany body, and a ebony fretboard (Blacker than black itself). I have a question though, my birdseye maple is not planed and still has very rough edges. Now, if i plane it (big machine planer) will more bird eyes appear? Because i dont see as much as i would like to see. I glued up my mahogany and it will be ready for planing tomorrow. I'm also going to book match my maple and glue that up and hopefully finish a template tomorrow also. I might try and make the headstock angle tomorrow too...then its christmas holidays for me. (well, some holidays, i have to work all next week ) Edited December 14, 2005 by Hughes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Very often it "appears" as though more birds are visible. I think it's more of an illusion in that the planing just clears things up and doesn't actually uncover more. It's possible that more are actually uncovered but mainly, it's the cleaning up of the surface that makes it look more figured. To sum it up, planing it will make it look better. If you kinda/sorta like it now, you should feel more confident about it after it has been planed. No guarantees though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAI6 Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 You may want to take it easy with that planer on the birds eye. I've heard that going to rough on that type of wood can actually pull all those "eyes" out of the wood. Not the look you're going for, probably... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Yes, it definitely can. With any figured wood, I always take off a tiny amount with each pass. I just tap the adjustment wheel, lock it and send it through. Over and over again. If it looks like you're not going to be able to avoid tearout even with tiny adjustments, stop before 1/32 to 1/16 of final thickness and sand the rest of the way. I don't normally have to sand but it does depend on the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 If you do all of the thicknessing with a router jig, it'll probably go faster with less tear out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughes Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 the wood is 3/4" so i could probably sand it to perfection...so, with planing/sanding it will bring out more figure and perhaps more eyes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Why would you assume that planing it and sanding it would bring out more figure and eyes? The smoother you sand it, the more pronounced the figure will be, but if it looks like there is an even amount of birdseye on either side of the board, sand won't change that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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