Flush routing binding

[Ig9]

I started building a guitar back in high school about 10 years ago and never finished it and I finally have time to work on it so I’m getting back into it. Looking back over what I have, it seems I bought .09” plastic binding, but I only have a router bit and bearing to do a .06” channel. Can I cut a .06” channel, glue in the .09” binding, and use a flush cut bit to route it flat? Or will the plastic melt and/or look messed up afterword?

 

thanks

[Bizman62]

Rather than routing it to thickness, I'd use a simple cabinet scraper to get the thickness right. Or even a single edge razor blade used as a scraper. Plastic is a nice material to scrape as there's no grain directions to worry about and as it's also relatively soft the scraping wouldn't take too much time. You'd also have a much subtler control on the process without having to worry about melting or burning.

After having roughly scraped to the desired thickness continue with the normal route of sanding through the grits.

[Ig9]

Gotcha that’s probable a better idea. Thanks!!

[mistermikev]

not to contradict bizman... his advice is sound... but I have done this a lot with just an orbital sander.  you have to keep her moving to prevent it getting hot but that's what I've done on every bound guitar I have made so... as a possible alternative... works for me.

[Bizman62]

Ummm... After re-reading this I paid more attention to the measurements being in inches and noticed I was talking about the thickness rather than the height. The advice still applies but I think it's time to do some high end technical drawing using the trusty Paint...

So... Sanding the binding flush to the top with an orbital sander should be safe and easy enough as @mistermikev said. Then again scraping such a narrow strip of plastic takes no time. Doing it in an angle also would save the top from being unintentionally sanded. Using an orbital sander on the sides can be tricky especially if the plate is large and the sander heavy as mine is.

Another trick is to let the scraper only protrude the length needed between your fingers, be it a cabinet scraper, a single edge razor blade or the blade of a utility knife, using your hand and fingers as a depth gauge.

 

 

[Norris]

I'd probably get it close with a cabinet scraper. Then a razor blade with half the blade covered in a layer of masking tape could do a nice job. The masking tape will help to protect the guitar body 

[ADFinlayson]

cabinet scrapers make very short work of plastic binding, so I'd get it close with that same as Norris suggests, I also use curved cabinet scrapes (sometimes called kindney scrapers), they're ideal for shaping along the edge of a carved top like a les paul prs etc, that'll let you selectively reduce your binding height without gouging into the wood. If the height of the binding is way to too tall though, you could just trim it down on your band saw so it's only just over dimension before you glue it on.