Triming Excess Binding Material From Ftreboard

[strangegrey]

Hey folks,

This might seem like a really stupid question. I bound my first fretboard last night. Now comes the job of trimming the excess binding material. I need some advise here.

Should I sand down the fretboard using a radiused block? Or should I do the scraping thing. I've never really used a scraper, so is there anywhere I can find a tuturial or advice learning how to do it and what to do it with?

Thanks,

Frank

[Setch]

How much excess? I usually remove the bulk of the binding with a plane, either a block plane or one of my little wooden ones, then scrape the very last bit flush.

Sanding works well, but if you have a pale wood binding it will dirty it a bit.

If you scrape or plane, ensure you angle the tool towards the centre of the board, so your strokes tend to push the binding towards the board, not away, or you can pop the glue joint. With the scrapere you need to work with the scraper at about 45 degrees to the centre line, or you'll drop into the fretslots and make low spots in the binding.

[strangegrey]

How much excess? I usually remove the bulk of the binding with a plane, either a block plane or one of my little wooden ones, then scrape the very last bit flush.

Sanding works well, but if you have a pale wood binding it will dirty it a bit.

If you scrape or plane, ensure you angle the tool towards the centre of the board, so your strokes tend to push the binding towards the board, not away, or you can pop the glue joint. With the scrapere you need to work with the scraper at about 45 degrees to the centre line, or you'll drop into the fretslots and make low spots in the binding.

Hey Setch,

Um. It's regular standard stew mac cream binding. It didn't occur to me to trim it before gluing it. So it's at it's normal size, on the side of the fretboard. I would say that at most 1/32"-1/16" tops. It's enough to certainly make the fretboard not look or feel right. Regardless, I think I'm going to sand until I got close and then try to scrape it with a razor blade the rest of the way...that should get close.

what do you mean staying 45 degrees to the center line? I'm not sure I follow you. I've been thinking of simply limiting the scrape so that it never gets near the rosewood....

I dunno, I feel like such an idiot....granted your website has most certainly educated me a bit!

-F

[postal]

Cream binding, with that small of an overhang, the safest thing to do is use a radius block... then clean/smooth the binding scraping it with a razor blade. You will need to scrap a touch to get it looking nice after sanding.

What Setch means by scraping at an angle, is to hold the razor so the side of the razor over the fretboard is lagging then side hanging off the board. hold the blade at an angle like that while you scrape, because if it is held perpendicular to the board, it will catch on the fretslots... angling the blade keeps it from falling in the slots.

you want the razor at an angle that will match the radius of the FB. When the binding is flush to the board, the razor should touch the FB and the binding. Do not *Over round* the binding or there will be a gap under the frets. Don't sweat this too much because a razor removes such small amounts at a time, if you do scrape wood a little wood off, it will be okay.

You can also run a file over the binding which is safe and easy, also leaves them looking nice, but in your case, block then scrape is safe, easy and fast. A file is safe, but very slow.

Edited January 13, 2007 by postal

[strangegrey]

Ahhhh....Postal, thank you for the clarification...and Setch for the initial help!

That makes alot more sense....

I've removed *most* of the material already with sandpaper...so a final hit with the radius block should do the trick....and then scraping

Alright, I'm scrubbin up and goin in! Be back to you guys with my results....

[strangegrey]

Postal and Setch,

Thanks for the advice....in both cases, it proved very useful. I was able to avoid issues relating to fret slots by keeping the scraper at a 45 degree angle....and I was able to remove a great deal of binding material, clean and straight, with the radius block.

I've got it down enough to start thinking about how I'm going to do the inlays....but this hump is over thanks to you guys!

-Frank