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I am planning my first bevel and wondered what you guys use for the chunk of lining, and what thickness of veneer you use?
Thanks

For the inner lining of the bevel I use ultra exotic 2x10 (from lowes/home depot) to keep the weight down. I also bevel the inside of the liner to remove more weight. For the laminate, I use a standard .020" veneer from a veneer supplier. I have also cut my own up to .060".

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Ha! That's great, Chris. That bevel on your avatar is yummy-looking! How wide a surface do you leave for gluing the top by the time you thin the inside of the liner?
Thanks for the help!

I've used both Spruce and Cedar. I like spruce better because it's less prone to splitting at the pointy ends. I probably don't need to mention this but if you buy lumber yard Spruce make sure it has time to get the moisture content down. I think the amount left for top glue surface would ideally be the width of a lining. The more working top surface the better.

Though I have yet to complete a beveled arm rest I think both balsa or willow could be used. Both are light and have the strength for the job. Also easily carved.

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I suggest watching this video from Kent Everett, I did my 1st bevel before checking out Kent's video and picked up a few pointers that made the next ones easier to do. http://www.everettguitars.com/stuff.html

As for wood I used mahogany so far but I will use spruce on the next one. I try to leave about 1/4" surface for the top glue area. If you use Kent's technique for pre cutting the top and sides it makes things easier to get minimal size on the inner support.

Fred

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I aim for a 1/4" of surface left for the top. I don't precarve the outside of the insert, just the inside. I also don't precut the top or sides for purfling. That would make things easier, but I like to be able to finesse the shape a bit more. I use templates to route for purfling/binding, then I carve the armrest to shape. There are tons of ways to do it, this method works for me.

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I have used cedar (lumberyard), mahogany scraps, I have also made them by laminating layers of .090" maple strips. Pretty much anything will work but I prefer some thing that carves easy (the maple strips did not)

I agree on avoiding the maple. I'm carving a maple neck right now and it's killing me and my edge tools
Hey Sam, how's the weather there? I'm from WI and I know they were getting hit with some amazing T-storms.

Beth if you get your englemann spruce from homeless depot , which is where I get it .Check the moisture content, I know that in az the humidity and emc are low. You can check by weighing your part on a gram scale for a few months until the weight stabilizes , and get one from harbour freight or use a moisture meter that is calibrated to az humidity . Which should be an emc of 6-8%, 11 here in KC. I checked the stamp on the 2 by 3 sourced at h . depot it comes from stimson lumber in the coast mtns of Oregon.When I checked the spruce it was 20% moisture.It is now drying in the bsmt.

Spanish Cedar is usually available at most wood suppliers, but I'm not talking about the evil home centers like The Smurfs and Agent Orange... It would be great in this application, and machines/carves easily.

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