Official Luthiers Forum!

Looking for a source of curly maple for binding and tail graft taken from the same piece of wood so they would match.
Two Questions:
1. Would you recommend hard or soft curly Maple?
2. This is for a couple of tenor ukuleles so a 21"-28" fretboard blank would work I think.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

_________________
Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

Hi Bill

Hard maple, sugar maple, acer saccharum is about 40% harder than soft maple, red maple, acer rubrum and about 50% harder than western big leaf maple, soft maple, acer macrophyllum.

Hard maple provides a little more protection against bumps. But the 2 soft maples "usually" have more striking and regular curl, but not always. Hard maple is better known for birdseye but wood grain varies a lot even in same species.

These guys have about the best consistent selection on hand I've seen anywhere. (I have not bought from them though.)

Here's a piece that would probably suit you -

https://www.curlymaplewood.com/HMTB-6159-1-34x31-Curly-Hard-Sugar-Maple-Turning-Square-Block-Pool-Cue-Blank_p_15553.html

More from them, I think when they don't designate "hard" it's probably soft maple. But you should call and ask. Plenty eye candy there for sure.

https://www.curlymaplewood.com/Curly-Maple_c_78.html

_________________
Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

I've had more luck bending hard curly maple, although any curly stock can be tricky, particularly when highly flamed. I like it, in part, because it's a look you don't see with plastic.

Self-binding with curly sides is particularly fun. It's a trick I picked up from Ken Parker. You bend the sides and dress them to height plus about 1/2", leaving them a little bit long. Use a gramil or marking gauge to cut 1/4" wide strips for binding off each edge, being sure to make register marks so that you can match them up later. Install the liners about 1/8" proud of the edges, and leave as much extra on the neck and tail block heights. When you have the box closed up rout the ledge just deep enough to clean up the edge, and use a flat sanding board to dress off the cut edges of the binding strips. If you're careful a thin black line between the binding and the side will be all that's needed, and you can get the curl to line up across the side and the binding on both edges. It's a nice effect, and it had me scratching my head for a few minutes when I first saw it.

I’ve only used Western Bigleaf for bindings. Haven’t broken a piece yet on my Bluescreek bender but have likely bent nowhere near as much as Alan. Maybe a dozen pieces. All resawed and sliced from billets.

When cutting binding from billets (or boards) does the grain matter (rift, quarter, flat)? Probably a dumb question- I don't know how much it matters...

_________________
Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

I think rift bends easier. You are less likely to snap figured stock. It might depend on how you want it to look. Or on how the stock is cut already.

_________________
Why be normal?

Whatever LMII used to sell

I used all and lets not forget sycamore

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Couple years ago I needed some binding and once I was all set up I probably made a couple hundred pieces of binding and purfs.

As an experiment I even tried some 1/8" wide curly maple (red maple) and even that bent well. You are bound to get some breakage or slight fractures but the slight fractures are workable.

The way I cut them there is only one face that needs sanding. For that I have a MDF sled with a stop on the trailing edge and I double stick tape the leading edges down so they make it thru the drum sander and do 10-20 strips at a time.

Usually the quartered face has the best figure but is is a matter of choice determined by the grain in the board you are cutting. I agree with Ken that the flat sawn binding is probably a little easier to bend but my pics are all with the quartered face showing.

_________________
Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Why stop at the binding?