thirdstone Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 I was without a project so I thought I would build a Lap Steel. I have already made one so this one will get sold somehow at a small profit, nowhere near the labour cost . Its a bit of fun and I might learn something. Body is queensland maple , quilt cap is victorian ash and the neck is bulbinga. body neck sloted for 23 Inch scale Altogether now. gluing cap on Gluing binding on with acetone Geting there Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrkil Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 any pics of your first one? coool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrol Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Awesome, can't wait to see it when it's finished! How you going to finish it? A nice stain or burst would look sweet IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted April 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Awesome, can't wait to see it when it's finished! How you going to finish it? A nice stain or burst would look sweet IMO. I realy want to keep the finish process simple so I want to stay away from spraying lacquor so an oil finish would be prefrable. I can still stain but a burst is more difficult as the transition looks different when wiped on and its not as dramatic. Still I'll see what I can do, thats half the reason for this project , to try stuff. First lap Steel Wipe on burst I could try and spray on the stain but it wont build up like a lacquor I would have to create the transition with varying shades of tone in the stain... Me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Both those finishes look great to me. What's on your first build? I love it. Denis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted April 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Both those finishes look great to me. What's on your first build? I love it. Denis Hi Denis The first build is just basic maple stain over the blackwood with an oil finish ,oraganoil I think. Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Thats looking very cool, love the ash top too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted April 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 One of the things I wanted to try was using acetone to glue the binding. I can tell you it works well but is very messy.What I did on advice from some pros was to soak my binding strip in a container filled with acetone for 1 minute . Then what you do , and here is where it gets very messy , is to remove the strip and just fit around the routed channel all the time taping it on tight. Some observation; 1 min might have been too long , it desolves quite quickly , 50 seconds might have been better. The binding gets that gooey that it fills the chanel very well filling in all the grain in butts up to making it look very tight. You have to be very careful that you don't gouge the soft binding or else a gouge will be there when its dryed. If that happens it is relativly easy to fix by wetting the strip and smoothing it over with your finger. It drys quite quickly so after an hour or more you can sand it flat. Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted April 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 Taking a while as I got sick of sanding so I needed a break. I thought I would have a go a tiger eye finish. Its been well documented on this forum as to how to do it so I'll be brief. Stain dark and then rub back so the flat grain goes back to original but the end grain stays dark as it absorbed the most stain. The trick is not to rub back too much. Pretty easy. The contrast will increas when the oil goes on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 Thirdstone, I fear you will have problems with the acetone soaking of binding - when binding is soaked in acetone it will swell up, and it takes a *very* long time to return to it's natural size. If you scrape or sand flush before this, you will find that the binding shrinks past the edges of the wood, so you end up with binding which is narrower than the binding channel. This swelling can occour if you use an acetone based adhesive, so I'd imagine it will be even more of an issue if you're actually immersing the entire binding strip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 I keep a jar of binding scrap melted in acetone which I have used for filler, so I presume it might be possible to use it as "glue" also.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 Looking forward to seeing it after the oil coats, looking good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted April 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 Thirdstone, I fear you will have problems with the acetone soaking of binding - when binding is soaked in acetone it will swell up, and it takes a *very* long time to return to it's natural size. If you scrape or sand flush before this, you will find that the binding shrinks past the edges of the wood, so you end up with binding which is narrower than the binding channel. This swelling can occour if you use an acetone based adhesive, so I'd imagine it will be even more of an issue if you're actually immersing the entire binding strip. I proberbly won't use acetone again but as I have I wonder how long is "a very long time?" I used this method as it was recomended to me by a quality luthier and a rather large guitar company in Australia "Maton" do it this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted June 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Still going on this one. I've been distracted by other stuff such as playing but some progress pics , excuse the dull lighting but the flash just reflected. At present the oiled finish is not buffed. The Back has just a light brown stain on it. I will proberbly make another cover with the grain going the same way as the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Nearly finished but i thought I would try a burst. I had all the stuff so why not Just have to scrape the binding and do a clear over th body. The neck will stay oil finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Thats turning out pretty cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 ooo... that burst is lookin' good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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