Official Luthiers Forum!

I got to say,This is the best forum I've found.I have learned a lot of tricks of the trade here.There's so much great info. so THANKS GUYS!! My question: What would be a good way to cut strips of wood binding to get
the right height and thickness?

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Cut from a piece of stock, remember having them quartersawn is preferable, and then run them through your thickness sander. Leave them a bit tall so you can scrape them back, and even the tiniest bit thick won't hurt. I use 1/16" bindings, but make them just a hair thicker. Cut them more like 3/32"+ thick, and sand back to just over 1/16".

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

[QUOTE=highdrawlicks] So far they offer bindings only in Framed maple, and Brudwood (sic)
[/QUOTE]

ooooohhhh!   

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Michael P

The more you post. The more I like you.

Funny guy

I use my table saw to cut bindings. I use a zero clearance fence. This avoids alot of tearout and chipping problems and you can get a very clean cut using a planer blade and good fingerboards.
   Rib a board to the thickness of the binding doubled plus the blade. Then using a new rip blade or at least a very shape obe rip the strips so the quarter is showing to the binding and as thick as you want the biniding. 1/16 is .063. So I co just a tad heavier.
Then reset the saw to do the binding width and rip using a planer blade. Some woods look better on the quarter and some face sawn. Most do look best quartered.

Being a cheap bastid, I usually cut my binding material from the sides. Most sides I have bought are about 5" wide. Being a classical builder, The widest I need is 4", so this gives me two 1" x 30"-something offcuts. I then set the fence on my bandsaw so that I'll be taking about 0.200" cuts or so, and then I run the offcuts through the bandsaw. This gives me 8 to 10 pieces that are the thickess of the side (usually around 0.150" or so) x .200".

I will thickness the binding strips later on my drum sander, usually after I have glued the purfling to them. This gives me at least one good show face for each strip.

If I want to use contrasting binding, then I will cut pieces from a blank on my bandsaw, paying attention to grain orientation and RUNOUT. I have blanks of bloodwood, walnut, and curly maple that I use for contrasting binding.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Thanks for the suggestions everyone,I appreciate the help on this.Now to decide what wood to use!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I use a table saw and a thin kerf 7-1/4" x 24 tooth Freud Diablo blade. Then the strips are run through my thickness sander to final dimensions. Then to the Fox bender and lastly stored in a Stew Mac box until needed.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com