Davis guitars Posted July 6, 2006 Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 ok so i have seen this done and was wondering how the heck its done ? any know or, know of a place with a tuturial on this ? plz help thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Go to youtube and search for Hamer Guitar or similar, factory tour, has some nice images. Basically, pop on a sanding disk of your choice (or chainsaw disk, flapsanding disk, whatever), secure the body, hold on to the angle grinder, and start carving. Remove wood until it feels and/or looks good. Seriously, there's nothing magical about it. Get some scrap wood and fiddle around until you get a feel for it. It's a very agressive tool (removes a lot, quickly), but can be used for very fine control as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 ok so i have seen this done and was wondering how the heck its done ? any know or, know of a place with a tuturial on this ? plz help thanks You might try these from woodcraft, they are a bit pricey but will remove wood fast. I've used them for other tasks like shaping the seat of a wooden chair. http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=926 MK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 I carved the top of my Les Paul using a 40grit sanding atatchment, it was very easy and quick, but practice alittle on scrap to get a feel for it, you can take of ALOT of material very quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 If you did it with a 40 grit attachment, suffice to say could you not accomplish the same tasks then with a RO sander and a low grit paper? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 An RO sander generally has a soft pad and moves at much lower rpm's. You MIGHT be able to do a little shaping but it would take much longer. An angle grinder is actually a pleasure to carve with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 No, a RO sander would take ages, but a grinder, as Jay said, is realy good fun to carve with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdw3332 Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 I used a $15 Harbor Freight one with their sanding disks. Worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kench Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 The idea of using angle grinder is to CUT the wood with the discs... NOT TO SAND it away until the desired shape. So lower grit discs much better. Higher grit discs sands smootly and slowly, which may sound good because you can do the work gradually with more control.. but that BURNS the wood because of the friction, no matter how smoothly you are using the grinder. Coarser grits works like a saw... there is not much friction because it cuts and removes the wood right away when it touches. I've had great results with a 40 grit flap sanding disc installed on my 10000 rpm angle grinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 If you did it with a 40 grit attachment, suffice to say could you not accomplish the same tasks then with a RO sander and a low grit paper? Chris Totally not the same. An angle grinder has massive, massive speed going for it. It's agressive, powerful, everything an angle grinder isn't, pretty much. And RO sander is an excellent tool for finish-sanding an angle-grinder-carved top, smooth out subtler curves and all that, with 120 and 220 grit paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 The idea of using angle grinder is to CUT the wood with the discs... NOT TO SAND it away until the desired shape I'm confused. I thought it was used for sanding away the wood. There have been several threads recently where people said they used a grinder to make the belly cuts and arm contours. I did what Mattia suggested and watched that Hamer tour, and it looked more like they were sanding than cutting. Well, either way, you all have convinced me to get a grinder. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 It's just the terminology he used. You ARE "sanding", but he's saying you need a coarse enough grit that you're removing substantial wood rather than just slowly "smoothing" it to shape. You need a grit with teeth. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Gotcha. I guess I'm still a newbie just trying to learn about different tools before I spend money on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Just wanted to thank everyone for the great information! As a newbie to this whole business of building guitars (and woodworking for that matter), this has been fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matttheguy Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Today I used a 36 grit fiber disk (similar to this) and it worked great......... on a scrap piece of wood. Next time I carve, I'm sure I'll use this first thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRossitter Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 I have had great success with a Porter Cable RO Sander and those stainless Steel Sanding pads. I knowRockler and Harbor Freight have them. They work great. I shaped my Purpleheart/Canarey bass with it in about 45 minutes. I did have to come back and clean it up with the some 40 grit and up, but as far as rough shaping goes you cant beat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Thought I'd give this topic a little bump... I used my $18 4-1/2" Harbor Freight angle grinder for the first time on wood last night. I carved the forearm and belly contours on my guitar with it in about an hour. It was a very pleasant experience... the angle grinder removes wood effortlessly, but is surprisingly controllable. To my surprise, I spent most of my time on the forearm contour, going back and forth between the grinder and belt sander, trying to make sure everything was level. It still needs a bit of touchup, but it's pretty close. The belly contour, on the other hand, was much easier. I just marked some lines on the guitar and started carving away. It took about 10 minutes to do the whole thing, and the carve came out great. It just needs some sanding to remove the grinding marks. Anyway, I just wanted to share my angle grinding experience. If anyone is still wondering about this method, I thoroughly recommend trying it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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