Official Luthiers Forum!

I got the bright idea to use Verawood for a guitar finger board even before I started building guitars. Well, now that I'm on #2, I got some to try out.

This stuff is DENSE and VERY VERY waxy. I just spent 25-30 minutes resawing a 4 x 1 x 36" piece on a Laguna 20 with a carbide blade. It seemed like I was doing a centimeter a minute.

The blade was coated with resin and the inside of my "filets" was like feeling a candle.

Anyway, would it help to bake this stuff to get this resin/wax out of it so I have less gluing problems, or would it be better to just leave it just clean it before I glue it up.

I was thinking baking it might make it a little less dense so when I tap on it it might ring a tad rather than go thud.

I have a few tiny slivers in my oven now. Smells like christmas in here.

bbeardb, you are plowin' new ground on this one.
Never heard of it before. Christmas around here would mean one thing, Wassal!

B-
if you can spare a few inches off of the piece you resawed today, it may be worth a shot to throw it in the oven with some aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to catch the drippies. Cook it up and see how that small piece behaves and if it does, indeed spit out its lovely contents to any degree that may help you out. Sand it back, stick it in the sun, get it green, and finish it and see what happens. Sounds like a lot of work, but like Dickey said, you're breaking new ground. Worth a shot to guinnea pig it, doncha think?

Search for a thread a month or so back on baking tops, backs and sides. Pretty interesting reading.

Let us know how it goes.

*edit* Duh, I should have finished reading....thats what you're doing. Baking it should get some of that goop outta there. I wouldn't go any higher than 250 degrees or so. Better to get it around 200-225 and let it go longer. At least thats what I found helpful with my spruce tops I baked. Too hot and it burns them.

-j.
j.Brown38738.8146296296

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

What every process you use, I would be wiping it down with acetone to remove any leach just before you glue, and I would be gluing a bit to some scrape wood of your chosen neck before trying it on an instrument.

Cheers

Kim

I guess I should have given some more specifics of the wood. It is second in density only to Lignum Vitae. It's botanical name, if anyone is interested is Bulnesia sarmienti or Bulnesia arborea (seen it listed under both).

So I guess if anyone has ever used Lignum Vitae, Ironwood, for a guitar, it would be very similar to using this. Anybody used Ironwood before?

Here's a drum made out of it:

http://www.stanbridgedrums.com/Pages/verawood_13.html

Those slivers in my oven did put out some pitch, but now it's a pain to get off. It really dried on there hard and it looks burnt. I think I may put a headstock chunk in the oven, as opposed to slivers, and see how a little plank does.

I've never baking anything beside food and the occasional car part before (don't ask), so could someone tell me if this amount resin seepage is normal?

200F for about 1.5-2 hours






Compared to what it did look like




This stuff dries on hard. Resin rock candy.

Nice wood but must be tough on a TS blade?

Serge

Wow! My spruce had a bunch of speckled spots on it that sanded straight out, but that is nutz.
Lots of goop left in that one, for sure. Is it scrape-able when its oozing?

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

I thought about trying to wipe it off occasionally but I didn't want to "rub it in." I thought if I let it collect on the suface it might pop off easier when I try to scrape it. I also didn't want to get it on my hands. I said rock candy before and it reminded me of a time I stuck my finger in a batch of molten candy. Ouch. It's like when you eat a pizza that is too hot and the cheese gets stuck to the roof of your mouth and just burns and burns...