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The premade b/w/b strips are getting pretty costly for me and I’m looking to make my own. What glue do some of you use for laminating b/w/b purfling?And does anyone have a good method to cut the strips efficiently?
thanks
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

A simple jig with a replicable fine exacto blade and an edge stop works pretty good on fish paper through about .02" thick for cutting the strips out of large sheets. water proof tite bond does a good job as far as adhesive, acetone if using plastic. Stewmac sells a good binding laminator but one is easey to make from UHMW and a couple hardware parts

Someone post that shop jig under the "shop made jigs" thread...

Mike

Nix that... I was wrong

I have only made 4 guitars but have made my own purflings for 3 of them and it has worked well. The main learnings for me were:

- when gluing the veneer sheets together, complete even coverage is important. I did not do a good job the first time, so when bending the purflings on a hot pipe, the layers started to come apart. I use a credit card to spread titebond. I then clamp the veneer sandwich between 2 sheets of 3/4" ply.

- to cut the veneers, I use a veneer blade on my sawbench - I use the same blade for cutting fret slots. I glue a thin straight edge to the edge of the veneer sandwich (see pic below) which I can then hold against the sawbench fence. I also place a heavy length of wood on the veneer sandwich close to the blade to keep it flat to the bench. I just keep moving my fence 3-4 mm on each cut. I use these purflings for the thin rings in/outside the main rosette as well as adjacent to binding.


- I also make my own wood bindings. If I want purfling below the binding on the soundbox sides, before cutting the binding strips, I glue the veneer sandwich to the top of the wood to be used for bindings, so that when the bindings are cut, those purflings are already attached.

Frank

Either white or yellow glue for me, table saw with diablo blade and flat board against the fence (zero clearance on the blade) plus a small block clamped to the fence to keep the stack down to rip the strips.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I also use the thin kerf diablo blade for this with a zero clearance thingy. It is just as easy to go black curly maple black as b/w/b (and sometimes cheaper)! After some delams bending rosettes I only use titebond 2 or 3 and they have both worked great.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I laminate veneers using regular Titebond: it only delaminates if you overheat it. I do find that bending more than three layers is a problem, though.

I do the lamination in my go-bar deck, using every bar I have. Since there is not as much pressure as there 'should' be I spritz the wood lightly with water before spreading the glue. This thins it out a bit and also (bonus) reduces the 'greasyness' of the glue. I have a piece of HDPE on the bottom, and plexi on the top. You have to leave the clamps on for at least 24 hours so that all of the water dries out; otherwise it will curl up because of the different rates of shrinkage of the different woods.

I got a 'Master Airscrew' balsa stripper from Micro Mark. It's a simple plastic thing that has an adjustable rider to hold an X-Acto blade to do the cutting. It's a bit on the light duty side for the stuff I use, and I've modified it to work better by:
1) super gluing a brass shoe along the guide edge so that it won't wear too fast, and,
2) substituting a heavier cutter, and replacing the short self-tapping screws in the cutter holder for longer machine screws.
I set it up to cut about half way through the veneer, and make a couple of light cuts from either side. It works fine, and there's no waste.

For ripping with little waste, for about $20 you can get your local saw shop to "side grind" a plywood blade to reduce the kerf taken. I have one about .040" and it cuts a smooth edge quickly. I put a few strips of double stick tape on a backer of 1/2" mdf, stick the veneer to it, then make cuts every 1/8". Gives me strips about .080". A heat gun or hair drier helps release the veneer from the tape.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com