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Well, all this talk about heat pipes, etc, I promised a photo or two of my latest project... authentic harp guitar with candy cain purfling (nobody really calls it that, but someone here did and it is a good descriptor). I tried several ideas for bending this stuff and very little worked. The final idea that worked involved thin black fiber on each side and heat pipe. I did use CA flooding. Hope you like the pics... this has been a real bear of a learning curve!!!!

That is some pretty stuff Mike!
Glad you got it to work out.

Joe

Dang fine job MIke! Is that LMI veneer type green?

Yes, all veneers are from LMI, dyed maple. Yes, green, red, natural, and black. The blue is fiber (from RC Tonewoods). I wish it was darker. I have a vacuum system that I plan to use with transtint dyes to make my own colors. But blue was original. Bending that stuff is "high maintainance!"

Really Nice purfling Mike; by the way, I see you've moved to Huntsville... maybe sometime we can get togother... I'd love to see your harp guitars,
regards, jack

Interesting stuff there. I think I like it.
What ideas have you tried to bend it? Do you know what it was glued up with?
If I'm not mistaken I believe I've read that soaking herringbone purfs in hot water will soften the glue up an allow for easy bending of it.
Did you give that a try or does anyone know if that's correct about the herringbone?

Jack, been here the whole time! Moved here from Boston in 1993. You live in Huntsville???

Chris, I built that purfling from LMI maple veneers. I have posted pics of purfling bar here before. Some good pics are over at harpguitars.net under the makers forum. (slackkeymike). This design was popular in Larson/Knudsen guitars. It really looks good in person! To bend it, I bind both sides with black fiber, then pass through the thickness sander to thin it a bit. Spritz with water and shape on the heat pipe.

Great Candy Cain purf. Surprised you were Abel to bend it at all. It's a real testament to your skills.

_________________
michael propsom
www.propsomguitars.com

Is that natural maple or spruce for the longer segments? And are they one piece or laminated pieces? Titebond for the glue?
If you haven't read it, AL#71 & 73 has a must read two part artical by Eugene Clark on spanish rosettes and dyeing the veneers and making the logs and strips.

The long white parts are laminates of white maple. Titebond glue for the glue up. I bought a section of maple from a local hardwood supplier, thinned down, and glued up in three layers. I'm still learning how to do this the best way. I have about 20 you should not do!

Seems like you should be able to heat the strip on the flat and bend it right into the channel like doing a herringbone strip. Same idea as softening the glue with heat and slipping a fret board.
If I find that artical on bending the herringbone purf I'll post the link.
Maybe Waddy will chime in and give some suggestions on bending the strip.
I don't have much luck with pipe bending and I'm pretty sure there is a better and easier way to do that then with a pipe.
You might even be better off to just make the small segments or tiles and inlay them in the rosettes as in the standard way or build and glue the rosette logs around some pvc pipe the size you want. Another method of making several rosettes.

Well, the purfling will be used for more than rosettes. It's so expensive that it is not worth specializing it. I built a 30"x1.75"x.75 inch bar and went from there. The bar has well over $250 of veneers in it! And I can do many guitars with it. If u asked me to sell the finished bar, I would charge you $500. There is that much effort in it. I used the heat pipe to get the radius close, then a normal clothes iron to fit it in the slot. What was hard was figuring out the correct fiber binding thickness on both sides to keep it altogether while bending. This stuff will NOT bend without it.

Oh, tiling makes no sense either since veneers are less than 1 mm thick. Perhaps one could build up the repeating patterns...

Chris,u can search this forum for "candy cane" to see a pic of the original purfling bar. There were several cutting and glueing steps to get it it's final configuration.

Hi again Mike, nice work!

Chris...
I had to bend some herringbone fiber purfling for my 1906 Gibson Harp Guitar restoration. I soaked it in vey hot water til it would bend. Don't soak it too long or it will fall apart.
Michael

Mike, that looks great! I really like the colors.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Michael S,
Thanks , I'm pretty sure I read that in an old MIMF discussion years ago and maybe 140 degrees water temp. comes to mind but that just might be some cross over from HHG or softening TorTise pickgard material.
Hope to see you at the next meeting.

That's beautiful purfling Mike!
What's the bend radius of the smaller ring?

The small hole is 3" in diameter (measured to the inside edges of the purfling), the large is 5". The purfling is 0.175" wide.

Btw, now is a good time to once again credit Tony Karol for the design of the channel cutter jig (and Rod True for building it for me). That jig makes channel cutting a joy!