Official Luthiers Forum!

OK...I swung by my local lumber guy today...now I have a choice to make
on some 8/4 stock (all 6" long).  Maybe you can help me decide how
to work this to maximize my back & side options (I can resaw 12"
width and thickness 16-32").



Piece #1 is quartersawn 10.5" wide.

Piece #2 is riftsawn 9" wide.

Piece #3 is flatsawn 17" wide.



They're all from the same boule as far as I can tell, so color matching is no problem. 



#1 is really the best for sides; should I rip it down the center and
use it all to mill out 5" wide finished sides?  Or not rip the
whole board and save some of the thickness for backs?



#2 looks nice...what are your thoughts on bookmatched riftsawn stock for backs?



#3 would make a 1-piece back, but its flatsawn and I'd have to have it resawn elsewhere.  What say ye about 1-piece backs?



Any advice from you lumber gurus would be appreciated.

What's the wood? If it's neck-type stuff, the big board is best used for, well, necks.

What kind of wood is it? Also, I am assuming that you meant 6' long wood, not 6" ?

Knowing what kind of wood we are talking about and also some pictures of it would help a bunch in knowing how to advise you.

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=Mattia Valente]What's the wood?[/QUOTE]



Brazilian Mahogany.  The QS plank would make fine neck wood indeed, but it is the only quartered piece in the stack. 



Given my options, wouldn't it be the wisest to devote at least half of
it to sides?  My feeling is I can always make 2- or 3-piece
laminated necks out of flatsawn stock (which I can get all day) and
still wind up with a quartered neck.

Yeah, 6 feet long not 6"...



I don't have any photos, it's all in the rough so judging the runout is
a little tough, but the QS piece looks very good on-edge.

If you have to choose one and looks, and so forth are all similar. My first choice would be #1. You are always going to do better with quarter(not that other cuts will not work, and of course some figured backs look better flat sawn). The dimension is a good efficient one. 10.5" can be sliced for sides(I assume the 6" is actually 6'). Two slices would give you four side sets. After that you would get three backs per. two additional slices. You can work out the math based on the thickness of the wood, and you prefer to saw in terms of thickness. The second board may work out good also. You would need to slice the sides and then split the sides at a taper.

I don't really prefer one piece backs, but if you like it. You can yeild your 6 sides in two slices, and then have 3 backs per. slice for backs. Not too bad either.

Have fun cutting!

Disclaimer: This is what *I* would attempt to do with it... your results may vary.

With the quarter sawn stuff, if it is 8/4 (over 2" thick) I would attempt to resaw it into 3/32 boards. Including the Kerf, this means you would get at least 8 boards that are 6 feet long. Since sides usually only take up ~33", you can easily get a complete bookmatched back and sides set out of every 2 of those thinner boards with some left over for headstocks or whatever. You can get a total of 4 complete guitars out of that one 8/4 board if you are careful in how you resaw it. You may actually be able to squeeze out 2 somplete guitar sets out of every 2 thin boards if you then carefully rip the side sets from this 10.5" wide board. If you are careful, this may double the total number of B&S sets to 8.

The rift cut board would depend on how much rift there is to the board. If it is not over 20 degrees of rift, I would resaw it just like the board above.

The flat sawn board I would use for neck stock or resaw it into strips and use it for kerfed ribbon linings.

Then again, read the disclaimer above. I have got quite good at resawing boards and I have the equipment to do it accurately and cleanly. A lot would depend on your skill and your equipment.

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

I meant use the flatsawn (ie, biggest/widest) board for neck stock, like these guys are saying.

Depending on how straight and well surfaced the boards are. #1 would be able to yeild about 8 back and side sets with headstock veneers. If you can get a clean 10 slices with a reasonably low loss blade(which is not usually difficult, especially if you have sides and backs in the mix. 4 slices for sides would yeild 8 sets. Take the remaining board and cut it down for backs. This will give you 3 billets that should be good for 6 slices each(3 backs per billet) for a total potential of 9 back sets. You could either break up a back set for veneers or just use it as a back set. All of this depends on the boards actual thickness and straightness. Some would push for thinner cuts out of a solid 2" board and get higher yeild, but again it just depends on what you prefer.

If you are going to try for high yeilds, and are using woodslicer or bladerunner blades. Figure on buying a nice fresh blade and spread the cost amoungst 8 sets(maybe $3-5 set additional cost), and reduce the chance of a mishap from a dulling blade that could hurt the yield.

Thanks Mattia....I misread your post.



Yeah, I have a new Woodslicer sitting on the shelf.  And I'm
leaning toward Chris' point that QS is always more difficult to find,
and so saving it all for sides (and going for rift-sawn backs) seems
like a decent strategy.



Thanks Ken for the comments on the degree of rift...the rift-sawn piece
is about 30-40° off-quarter, so I might need to find another billet for
backs.