Official Luthiers Forum!

Sorry JE, nobody cares about this thread anymore.

If you REALLY want to troll some more, you should start a new thread.

I'll chip in with some insults or something to get it rolling when you do, but I think this thread's played out.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Today I decided to get off my lazy butt and get some work done

Cool,
Looking good, Jimmy!
How's Limba compare to Mahogany as far as cutting and sanding?
Dan

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I actually like limba more than mahogany, it's lighter, easier to cut, and easier to sand. When wetting it down to raise the grain for sanding it really pops too, and doesnt take much to get nice and smooth. If this curly limba wasn't so much more cost wise versus sapele and mahogany it would be my new go to wood.

Just had to show off the top carve now that it's finished and that nice mineral streaking on the back. Enhanced the grain with some naptha.

Yeah. That explains all those light as a feather Les Pauls. NOT.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I have used honduran mahogany and african mahogany, which I understood sapele is not mahogany, but I never knew african mahogany wasn't a true mahogany. The things you learn....

Sapele is some heavy stuff though, but I have a good supplier who sells me flawless ribbon sapele cut and sized just how I want it for only $35 a blank. The curly black limba I have cost me $1200 for enough to get 8 one piece body blanks from it, but it's got some heavy figuring and streaking, and no flaws.

How do you like working with ziricote? I have used it a little but the dust tends to irritate my sinuses.

That's the exact thought that ran through my head too.
But I think les pauls are all african mahogany, with the exception of the early years when they used honduran.

IME Honduras mahogany Pauls weigh signifigantly less than the African counterparts.

Also, genuine mahogany carves like butter compared to African.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Limba also carves like butter. I have enjoyed working with this stuff, easy to shape, easy to sand, the pernambuco is also a pleasure to work. Shapes easily.

I thought the orange streaking was from whatever bug bores into the wood and poops there. In all of the limba I have with orange streaks, the streaks start at, or very near to, a hole from an insect. Of course, I don't have hundreds of sets to compare, but still, it does seem to make sense and I am pretty sure Sniggly had written that once.

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PMoMC

Ahh...I see. Actually, the problem was, I couldn't see. I mostly use tapatalk from my phone and, young and verile as I might be, it is hard for me to see the pics clearly. Right-Oh! The black lines are just how limba grows. Not mineral stains.

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PMoMC

Chris,
It's mu understanding that is what makes black limba, black limba, is the mineral streaking, but just so I have all bases covered, you can see a little orange in there too, just a small hue of it, but it's there.
I am sorry you are so hurt you feel the need to e-stalk me. Well, not really, but I'll say it if it makes your hurt feelings better. I just didn't post the picture of my fret board here because it's such a topic of contention and just kind of wanted to get the board away from all the arguing and trash talk back to just being about builds and helping each other. We had our fun, but it's over Chris, let it go. It's nice to see what direction you want it to stay however.

There's two things that cause streaking in wood, minerals, and tannins.

There's probably more, but we'll stick with those two.

The coloration in the heartwood of the trees is due mostly to tannins, which are plant biomolecules manufactured by the plant's cellular machinery based on it's DNA, and are one of the things (along with annular rings, the size and shape of the vascular cells, medullary ray structure etc.) that gives each wood it's distinctive appearance, colors, and aromas.

So the streaks and colors of the black limba you have are genetically determined and ar a characteristic of the wood, not due to mineral streaking specificcally, except for the fact that the tree uses minerals to manufacture the tannins.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

You learn something new everyday. Not that anyone even really cares about mineral streaking, it was just a weak attempt to continue an argument. Thanks for your explanation though Tgw

I'm still saying its beetle poop that causes the orange.

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PMoMC

So then the orange is caused by beetle juice?

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PMoMC

That's what I'm talking about!!

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PMoMC

Jimmy,
The top carve looks great!
Care to divulge the general method you used?
Thanks,
Dan

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DZSmith,
First thing I do get is get a 1/4" rabbeting bit and set it to my final outside height (The height of where you will see the faux binding). However, the 1/4" big hasn't been ideal which I will explain later so I have now bought a 1/2" rabbeting bit. Then I get my hand router with a 1/2" bit and route about 1/8" up progressiveley from my bottom height. And you get something that looks like this.


Then I get a 4" flap grinder with a 40 grit disc and CAREFULLY shape the top, getting rid of the grooves, big thing here is to KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE EDGE. After it is roughed in, then I get my hand DA sander with a 60 grit disc and get the shape to a much finer carve, then I get 120 grit disc and then a 220 grit disc.

I also shape the belly carve with a flap disc and then smooth it out the same way. After that it's what we all hate, all the hand sanding.

Cool,
I rough-carved a bombay chest using a router and "depth" jig.
My drill press is too small for a Safety Planer, so I may give the router a try.
I never thought of using a flap grinder.
Thanks!
Dan

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A rasp would make pretty short of that top....

I prefer a "four in hand" with coarse and fine teeth - flat on once side, convex on the other.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

My method it takes me about 30 minutes to get my top to where I want it to be shaped at overall. I used a flap disc for my necks too. It takes me about 20 minutes to shape a neck too. But I used a little different method than most. On my next neck I will show what I do and how to make short work of necks in the future. I already shaped this one for this build, but I have many other builds on deck so it shouldn't be long before I divulge that technique as well.

What's a "flap disc"?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince