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What Do You Think Of This Maple Top


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what do you thing its 8'' x 20'' 5/16 thick im not sure if i like the grain

IM001809.jpg

They are nice pieces but not book matched. If they are supposed to be book matched, then you got screwed because whoever did the resaw and surface did it wrong.

MK

Edited by MiKro
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Hey MK, I would say he just has one piece flipped over wrong because the grain looks very simliar but not consecutive.

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It can be really hard to get a good bookmatch with very flatsawn wood. That could be what you are seeing. Even the best resaw is going to burn about .060" and very flat wood sometimes looses a tight match.
Rich,

I understand what you are saying and I have had that problem ( mainly with ambrosia maple because it is a stain and not grain), but I would not sell that to anyone as Book matched. Maybe as slip matched which is what it looks like at best, but I wouldn't call that book matched.

Sorry I'm not trying to be negative but, It just don't JIVE with me as to what I am seeing in the pic.

They are still nice pieces but not as a joined top in my opinion.

Sincerely,

Mike

Edited by MiKro
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Yeah, if they are bookmatched, they're not "well" bookmatched.

But y'know....

I find bookmatching highly overrated anyhow. I like the old-school look of slight mismatches and mediocre figure. :D In this case, the figure's far too nice to be called "mediocre", so not entirely up my alley. !

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Maybe it's just the way it looks in the picture, but the color seems profound and dark. Is is wet? Should be fine with a dark dye though. Those large dark growth rings will show vividly with a light dye, or no dye finish. Maybe a dark cherry, or deep black might be good. Using blue dye on yellowish color wood makes it turn green so be sure to test.

Book matching flat sawn wood is a challenge at best.

-Doug

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Y'all are on dope or sumpthin. This wood is great. There are all kinds of fun little things in there.

For example: Cyclops Demon Pear!!!!

demonpear.jpg

A graven image of demonic posession of fruit, depicted in wood. That goes right next to the potato shaped like Abraham Lincoln and the Fiji Mermaid.

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Y'all are on dope or sumpthin. This wood is great. There are all kinds of fun little things in there.

For example: Cyclops Demon Pear!!!!

demonpear.jpg

A graven image of demonic posession of fruit, depicted in wood. That goes right next to the potato shaped like Abraham Lincoln and the Fiji Mermaid.

haha I didn't even see that. Thats pretty funny.

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It can be really hard to get a good bookmatch with very flatsawn wood. That could be what you are seeing. Even the best resaw is going to burn about .060" and very flat wood sometimes looses a tight match.
Rich,

I understand what you are saying and I have had that problem ( mainly with ambrosia maple because it is a stain and not grain), but I would not sell that to anyone as Book matched. Maybe as slip matched which is what it looks like at best, but I wouldn't call that book matched.

Sorry I'm not trying to be negative but, It just don't JIVE with me as to what I am seeing in the pic.

They are still nice pieces but not as a joined top in my opinion.

Sincerely,

Mike

Mike,

I see the same things you are seeing. It is possible he has one of the pieces flipped over, or that whoever cut that may have had a sloppy cut. Then again it could have also been a wonderful cut, shoot this may even have something to do with how the wood was surfaced after recieving it, it is possible to get that look from very flat wood also. Depending on the spacing of the growth rings, and how flat the grain is to the surface. Flatsawn has never been idea for getting a flawless mirror image(homogenous quarter is easy). It is certainly not slipmatched, and I see no reason why it would be wrong to sell it as bookmatched(it is cut bookmatched). The grade of the set and price should have reflected the look. This is why quartersawn curly maple with even vertical grain and full even figure sells for the highest price. It makes the most homogenous match. As far as you selling that set(if you had cut it), I am sure your price would reflect the look, but I doubt you would call it something it is not(slip vs bookmatched flatsawn).

I think it is a cool looking top. Make sure you have the faces correct, nothing flipped. Then trace the shape of your body on the top (taking into account where hardware and such will be placed), and see how it will look as a finished product.

Peace,Rich

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Uh, that's as bookmatched as a set of flatsawn wood is going to get. Bookmatching isn't aesthetic, it's a technique, and those two piece are.

+1 Those pieces are *obviously* consectutive slices cut as a bookmatch, and the grain is quite clearly symetrical, or as close as possible. You're simply not going to get a pefect bookmatch in flatsawn stock with such defined grain, unless you devise a way to make a 0 thickness kerf. Those pieces are bookmatched perfectly well, and I actually think it's a very nice set - not wild flame, but very attractive grain.

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>snip<

Mike,

I see the same things you are seeing. It is possible he has one of the pieces flipped over, or that whoever cut that may have had a sloppy cut. Then again it could have also been a wonderful cut, shoot this may even have something to do with how the wood was surfaced after recieving it, it is possible to get that look from very flat wood also. Depending on the spacing of the growth rings, and how flat the grain is to the surface. Flatsawn has never been idea for getting a flawless mirror image(homogenous quarter is easy). It is certainly not slipmatched, and I see no reason why it would be wrong to sell it as bookmatched(it is cut bookmatched). The grade of the set and price should have reflected the look. This is why quartersawn curly maple with even vertical grain and full even figure sells for the highest price. It makes the most homogenous match. As far as you selling that set(if you had cut it), I am sure your price would reflect the look, but I doubt you would call it something it is not(slip vs bookmatched flatsawn).

I think it is a cool looking top. Make sure you have the faces correct, nothing flipped. Then trace the shape of your body on the top (taking into account where hardware and such will be placed), and see how it will look as a finished product.

Peace,Rich

I gotcha Rich, :D Yes I believe that it was most likely poor surfacing that makes the faces off. I will usually resurface from the outside of both pieces first after the cutting so that any possible off angle from the resaw is then trued to the faces. Then surface the book match faces to minimize material loss, thus making for a better book match. As I stated, they are nice pieces and I would use them for many other projects with no hesitation, just not as a book matched set for any project whether a guitar or door faces or whatever. As stand alone pieces they are great.

You are incorrect that I might call that a slip match cut, since a book match face in relation to the back face of the other piece is in fact a slip match. Since the book match is not as good as I would use, I would most likely move it or use it as slip matched.

Mike

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Oh, and just to add - he can't have one face flipped wrong, or the pieces wouldn't mirror like that.

He might, however, have the whole thing upside down - ie: he's looking at the front and back cover, not the centre spread :D

:D VERY TRUE!!! LOL!

It is a nice set of flat sawn maple and I wish him well!!!

MK

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Y'all are on dope or sumpthin. This wood is great. There are all kinds of fun little things in there.

For example: Cyclops Demon Pear!!!!

demonpear.jpg

A graven image of demonic posession of fruit, depicted in wood. That goes right next to the potato shaped like Abraham Lincoln and the Fiji Mermaid.

It looks like the perfect accompaniment to a:

hypnoToad.png

...hypnotoad!

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Thats probably my favorite subcharacter of that series, lol. When all the judges clap in unison, I crack up everytime. That maple figure should be renamed: Cycloptic HypnoPear figure!

BTW- Maple looks fine to me, in cutting a matching quartered cavity cover, even the minor wood removal I needed varied the figure, or drifted I guess. With such pronounced flatsawn figure I can't imagine it easy or common to get a perfect or close bookmatch. Though the HypnoToad could probably sway all our minds to think otherwise. J

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