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Hello All;
I am new and have only a single prior post (nothing intelligent to say). However, I purchased a small amount of some very rare CA Sequoia Redwood tonewood. The wood was recently resawn from a massive old growth Sequoia that fell approximately 20 years ago. I have a couple of pieces that are 16" wide, .350 thick and over 5 ft long. I believe that one piece in particular is unique. The entire width of 16" is nearly perfectly quartersawn with almost no runout. I have enclosed a couple of closeups. I counted 36 medullary rays from 8" to 9" on the ruler, and 32 medullary rays from 9" to 10" on the ruler. Question: is there any sonic advantage to making a single piece soundboard out of (part of) this board? I don't recall ever seeing a single piece soundboard. Or should I cut it in half lengthwise (8") and resaw each half into .150 thick bookmatch pairs? That would double my output from this board, assuming I don't screw it up by getting the wood too thin. Even if I had the capacity to resaw a 16" wide board (which I do not) I would hate to wreck such a unique piece of wood. Thirdly, should I cut it lengthwise to make bookmatch pairs, but leave it at .350 to ensure enough wood to prep down to proper final thicknesses?
I have adequate equipment to resaw to .150 without too much worry...I am using a 16" MiniMax w/ a 1" Lenox carbide/.032 kerf blade...
Thanks
Dave Hurd

Alaskan spruce sells full with soundboards and others to. If it´s better or not, hmm have no clue I dont think it would make a big difference in tone, some whom have had this discussion in here say its not better but I would guess there are those who would say it is. I think its easier to sell bookmatched pairs compared to full with though. as this is what most are using. try to not go under 8" if possible

Lars

Don't cut it. Make one piece tops. No tonal advantage, but you have one less glue joint to worry about.

I'd saw it as to get the best possible quartering and lack of runout, I think these two are far more important than the number of glue joints.

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Build log

If you can find someone to slice the full 16" into two .150 one-piece tops, do it. Although it would be better to do bookmatched .150 than one-piece .350, it seems like a waste of potential from a rare board to just cut it down to the usual size. Not that one-piece tops are necessarily any better, just cool factor

I'll take one if you can do it and want to sell any.

Sounds like a pretty cool harp guitar top to me......

Don't know if others have built harp guitars with Redwood - probably have to build it a bit thicker than spruce.

I would plane it down and get 2 tops from it.
Too risky to get 4 tops out of it imo.
Plus, one piece top?
Way cool!

What kind of carbide Lenox blade has a .032 kerf? Sure you don't mean the thickness of the blade?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I like the symmetry you get with bookmatching.

I recently re-sawed 150 sets of .375" redwood with a Kerfmaster steel blade, 0.016" band and netted almost .170" with 95% of the saw marks sanded out. You have to really dial in your setup and have a smooth feed though.

Kerfmasters are here http://www.spectrumsupply.com/kerfmaster-2.aspx

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Maybe someone could get a bookmatch from a .35" blank, but I wouldn't chance it. And you said it was over 5' long, 6' is over 5', so maybe you can get 3 tops depending how long your total body is.

What I would do is keep it full size, a 1 piece top would be really nice. Then, go back and get another piece of that tree.

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Thanks everyone for the comments.
I decided that I will likely do nothing with the one unique board for now. It is rare and I am not yet competent for that wood. I have plenty of other soundboards to get better with. When the time comes, I will likely cut a 24" length for a single piece top and rip the rest for bookmatched set or sets.
Thanks Kent for the tip on the kerfmaster blade. I am going to check it out.
News for you real luthiers (in contrast to myself): I got enthused today and contacted the fellow that sold me the wood. The tree was sourced from the area of the Avenue of the Giants in CA. Estimated at 10-12 feet in diameter. At an average of 30 lines per inch, this tree may be 1,400 to 1,700 years old, or up to 2,000 as I was told. He sold me one more small billet. 8" by 5" by 36". It wasn't cheap and I shouldn't have but given my wood acquisition syndrome... I managed to cut 9 sets from this billet. They range from .170-.210. The wood is still moist after 20 years or so, which is not a real surprise. I am not no expert at judging tone, but the wood seems very musical at .140 or less. Bell like tone. I can't wait to try a set. I am going to post at least six sets to sell in the near future. I was just hoping to cover my expenses for my addiction. I was thinking of $75 each and $10 shipping. I realize that the price is either good or terrible based on the quality of the soundboards. I have attached a couple of photos. All my sets have nearly identical end grain. It looks like this billet has heartwood and sapwood. The quarter sawing indicates to me that it is near the outer portion of this massive tree. I enclose the end photos for comments re your thoughts on the off quarter as it may affect "soundboard-ability" and fair price.
The boards are still very "ringy."
The seller has another similar (better) billet but he is a hoarder, and I don't know if he will ever part with it. So this may be it for the knowable future.
Thanks
Dave

Howard
You are right about the blade. Heck, it is .036 width blade and the kerf is more like .065.

Thanks

Dave

Howard
You are right about the blade. Heck, it is .036 width blade and the kerf is more like .065.

Thanks

Dave

The more I think about it, the less it seems like a good idea to attempt cutting it. Even for bookmatch tops, slicing it precisely in two would be very risky, and one little wobble in the middle and one or both tops could be ruined. Is this the usual Sequoia sempervirens, or Sequoiadendron giganteum? I believe giganteum is lighter weight and more flexible, so it needs to be even thicker than usual redwood.

Might do some deflection tests on snippets of it to see what kind of thickness you'll need, but it seems pretty unlikely to get two slices smooth enough to sand out all saw marks by the time you get down to .125", and that would likely be pushing it for giganteum. Definitely too much risk of blade wobble/drift at the full 16" width nomatter who's running it, so please excuse my earlier suggestion to look for someone to do that. And since it's such nice width and length for one-piece dreadnoughts, it's probably best to just slice it into 3 of them, plane away, and cry over the mountain of wood chips.

I wonder though, could you slice it unequal, more like .200 and .100, to get a stack of ukulele tops? Maybe still not worth putting it near a saw blade to find out.

"Sequoia" is commonly used for Sequoia gigantea, the other California redwood found in the sierras. That what I thought you meant. It's almost never available in lumber. The trees shatter when felled. Where this tree came from is sempervirens country.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Cool wood. BTW medullary rays are not the same thing as growth rings. So you were counting growth rings.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Howard,
You are correct. Now I know. According to Wikipedia:
Sequoia sempervirens (sɛkwɔɪ.ə ˌsɛmpərˈvɪrənz) is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, giant redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living for up to 2,500 — 3,500 years or more, and this species includes the tallest trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.61 metres (379.30 ft) in height and up to 7.9 metres (25.9 ft) diameter at breast height. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850's, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 2.1 million acres along much of coastal California and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.
The name sequoia is sometimes used as a general term for the subfamily Sequoioideae in which this genus is classified, together with Sequoiadendron (Giant Sequoia) and Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood). Though it is one of three species of trees referred to as redwoods, use of the term redwood (alone) generally refers to this species more than the other two.

I have been able to resaw wood as thin as 0.340", using a 3/4-3 TPI resaw blade from Suffolk. The band is 0.025", and the kerf is about 0.045". It doesn't cut very fast, but it cuts smooth and straight. IMHO, carbide or stellite teeth are not necessary when cutting soft woods. Redwood and WRC are about the easiest woods that I have ever tried to resaw.
BTW, the features you are describing in grains per inch are growth rings, not medullary rays. I don't see any sapwood in your photos.

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John

John.
Growth rings...yes.
I'll check out Suffolk.
Here is a photo that I thought had uploaded. I had written my text thinking that this photo was attached.
I thought the lighter colored wood at the rear of the billet was sapwood.
I'll post some photos of sets tomorrow.

Thanks
Dave

Dave, since you are new here, you are probably are unaware of the OLF Classifieds, where all member to member selling is done. Should you move your sales post their, I will consider a top.

Hmm, was that a thread buzz buster? Did not intend it so, just wanted to purchase some through normal OLF channels...

Well, you have a point there. I've often wondered why auctions were not run out of the classifieds...

clip-clop-clip-clop-screeeeeech-click (me tiptoeing out of the room and shutting the door)

Hey Mike and all;
I have 4 sets of this redwood for sale. I have posted the first set of photos. I may have two or three more sets available. I am still posting photos. Go to the Classified section for the sale ad.
Thanks

Dave Hurd

I counted the growth rings on Set Number 5. Set No. 5 are the end grain photos in this thread. 256 growth rings in the slightly less an 8" width. 32 per year on average. These boards reflect very slow growth in two primary periods of about 50 years and 75 years. This tree grew about 2 1/2" in 125 years!

Dave

I meant to say 32 growth rings per inch....not per year. Perhaps I need to slow down a bit...

Dave