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Hi all,
I recently had a birthday and I want to build something special to commemorate the big 4-0...
I found this Ziricote... I've never worked with it and have found most people find it a PITA to work with. Chips, cracks, the whole nine yards. I recently got a Fox style bending machine along with a silicone heating pad.
I'm always up for a challenge, but am I just asking for trouble?
Also, I'd appreciate any input on the wood... I love the look of it, does anything concern you from looking at the picture? Questions I should ask the seller?
I should add, I want to build a cutaway....of course
Thanks for any advice!
Raúl

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I've only built one with Ziricote, but I love it as well. My first concern with the set pictured is it looks decently flatsawn- which may exacerbate ziricote's inherent problems.

When I built with it, I flooded all pieces with thin CA prior to bending/jointing. This helps with stability. It's a nasty process and adds some noxious fumes to the bending process (plus will require barriers between the wood and blanket/slats), but helps to fill any small internal issues you can't see.

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I'm another fan of ziricote. I've only built one guitar with it so far. The back and sides set I used presented none of the problems on your list, but maybe I was just lucky. The only thing that stood out was that the sides took more effort to bend on my hot pipe than other woods. I pre-treated the sides with SuperSoft and they bent without cracking or cupping.

Here's a photo of the wood I used to compare with the wood you have:

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Thanks for your advice. How did you like your results? Was it worth the trouble?


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WOW! That's gorgeous!
About 70% of what I've read online talks about those problems... The rest say they've bent like butter. SS is a product that seems to come up a lot for a successful bend.
I love the look of it!


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I think I might build with ziricote for my own use, but never commercially...we've repaired too many cracks not to understand why the wood deserves its reputation.

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I've only built one with Ziricote and was fortunate to have a set that bent like butter. Would love to use it again.

Thinned sides to approximately .080"
Light misting with water on both sides
Wrapped in kraft/butcher paper
Sandwiched between two metal bending slats
Heated my silicone blanket to roughly 300°F
Was patient with the preheat
Bend smoothly with no cupping/splitting or creasing.

Planing the back/sides to thickness was the only area I needed to exercise caution. Use a very sharp smoothing plane on a skewed angle or cabinet scraper as its very hard and almost crumbly. If my plane was the least bit dull I would get slight crumbly tear-out.

With a sharp plane or fresh cabinet scraper it finishes like glass.

That's beautiful!
How was it gluing?

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It doesn't seem oily all (so that was not a concern), but on any wood with this hard of a surface, I usually wipe with naphtha to be sure there is no surface contamination before gluing. I used both hot hide glue and Titebond I without any issues.

Well worth the insurance to flood it in my opinion (same goes for BRW and others that tend to crack with time). I'm happy with the results:






I used it for the B/S, bridge, fingerboard, and headstock overlays. I'll echo what Daniel said- it sure is crumbly. I found it unpleasant to carve for my bridge.

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Sooo lovely... Thanks for your advice!

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I've built one and just closed the box on a second ( a commission) it bends OK, I bend it @ 295 and that seems plenty.. Cracks and splits easy until closed up then seems fine.. I don't flood with CA but do use a few extra side braces.. My first was for me and it is 4 years old no issues just left sitting on a a stand..

Kerry

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I had none of the problems expressed and did nothing differently than I have with mahogany or EIR.

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Tim Benware
Creedmoor, NC

I've built two. The first is 4 years old the second 3 years old, no issues with either one. Both sets were well-seasoned, no problems with splitting nor bending. These were steel string, but I'm considering a classical or two with Ziricote.

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