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Is there a trick to making clean splices in BWB plastic purfling strips ?

Butt joints with weldon ?
miter 45deg and splice ?
admit it can't be done and celebrate the joint with a piece turned on end or other decoration ?

thanks,

-jd

Acetone. Most plastic binding are PVC. You can splice them together with acetone. Be aware this is not always easy to do without really over melting the PVC so moderation is a key.

Now some are not plastic but rather celluloid like tortoise and ivroid.

yes 30 or 45 degree miter keep clean!!!!!!!!!!!

Splicing binding is always a PITA and sort of a crapshoot. That is you can't exactly tell how well you did till you sand it. Mitered joints on F5 mandolins are the worst. I mix some acetone with cutoff pieces of ivoroid binding and make a "goo" out of it to use for the job. I just butt joint guitars on the treble side and most of the time it is barely detectable.
I should add that it's very important to let the joint dry very thoroughly...

Purfs in question are PVC, so they are definitely soluble in Acetone.

Is Acetone preferable because it evaporates off faster than the weldon, or is there another reason ?

Any Issues with the WBW bleeding together to make GGG at the joint ?

thanks,

-jd

Tri color PVC is difficult to avoid bleed over; you can not use the past or goo method. Do you want to make a piece of purfling longer or are you joining at a mitered seam.

If jointing at a mitered seam the wipe a tad bit of acetone on the inside of the mitered edge, push together and align well and tape in place back from the joint. You just want to melt the two miterd pieces ever so slightly togather.

If you are trying to lengthen a piece of tri color purfling, good luck making an invisible weld. A single color is simple enough but multi color is tuff

Remember you have three pieces of PVC that have been bonded together. When you apply the acetone it is going to melt all three, making a splice of any multi color purfling longer by melting together is a crap shoot in terms of getting an invisible clean melt together.

Ah, purfling, I missed that. I threw away any ABS plastic purfling I had a long time ago because it just doesn't work as well for me as celluloid. It's too soft and mushy.