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I'm in the process of binding my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th guitars right now. They each have figured bindings on them, one is sycamore, one is koa, and the other is maple. I've started scraping the bindings flush on the guitar with the sycamore, and I'm finding it to be quite difficult. I'm getting a very uneven and bumpy result. Any tips on preventing this? Its going to be a long arduous task at this rate for 3 guitars. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I sand mine and never have any problems.

Finely sharpened scrapers and overlapping 45º/60º light strokes. And a 1/2 round file for tight cutaways.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Are you pushing or pulling the scraper at an angle to the direction of cutting? Also prepping the scraper on your sharpening stones will give you a better edge.

Use a router with a flush trim spiral router bit .
And they come out fine.
Mike

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Mike Collins

Scrapers should be sharp but, if the scraper is parallel to the "curl", it will definitely remove less from the "hard" stuff (curl) and more from the "soft" stuff (wood between the curls). Scrape enough and you'll feel the "washboard". (I see this all the time in curly maple archtop backs if I'm not careful.) If you can, correct by scraping perpendicular, if not - sand....gotta bridge the high spots.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I concur....Angle the (SHARP) scraper so it scrapes and slices at an angle to the binding and grain pattern. I prefer to flat sand the bindings (220) when they are nearing flush anyway when doing curly woods....especially if there is the hint of a chip out. You usually figure that out pretty fast.....and nothing worse than a chunk out below the surface.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

On this last guitar I used my little Stephen Boone Mini plane to get the binding close on the top and bottom, then sanded with 150 until really close, then switched to 220 grit. Worked great! For the sides, I just used 150 grit. Hope that helps.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

As others said, you have to scrape at at least 45 degrees, otherwise the cutting edge of the scraper keeps diving into the softer areas between the curl. Angling the scraper allows the edge to bridge 3 or 4 curls and take off high spots without digging into low spots. Sort of how a long enough plane spans low spots and takes down the highs.

At least that's how I think of it.