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I'm using wood purfling for the first time and I'm wondering if I can glue them up first, say a B/W/B at .024" each and then inlay them. I've been putting them in unglued. But it seems like if I could make them up first it would make it easier. So how do you all do it?

I CA my bindings and purflings in place so I just tape it all in place first, loose purfling lines or pre-made no matter, along with the bindings and than wick in the thin CA.

Works for me.

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That's how I glue my plastic bindings and purfling in. I'm getting ready to finish my last rosette ring which will be the B/W/B shell B/W/B.

I find wooden side purflings difficult to tape like Rod describes, they sometimes don't like to bend sideways much before they break... So I prefer to glue them to the bindings first (plastic is much easier).

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Ant do you glue then bend or bend then glue?

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Aoibeann

The total thickness would be .072", you will need to bend them before installing. If you do your laminations at .010" each the .030" stack will conform to almost any curve. Grain direction matters, flat sawn stock bends much easier, and looks better as you will have the 4sawn part visible on the top.

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

I glue, then bend. If I'm making my own binings and purflings I have also glued veneer to the binding blank, then sliced that up on the table saw.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Arnt,

I had a real problem when I glued the bindings together, especially in the cutaway.... They puckered up and twisted. How do you deal with that issue?

Thanks

Jim

Jim, I'm not sure I understand (my English isn't that great...) What does "pucker up" mean? You tried to glue the bindings together in the cutaway? Why, and how?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

If side purfling I use or create a lamination fit all my miters and install the laminated purfling by first tacking in place in several locations using a small drop of ca. Then install my binding and wicking CA for complete bond. If top or back purflinig I have a seperate ledge for the purfling. no mater if individual pieces or a laminated set like Rod I attach them and the binding at the same tine using CA and 3M straping tape.

Hey, I was doing this just last night (will do the top side tonight).

I love the 3M strapping tape, it works much better than masking tape, even the doubled up masking tape. You can pull this stuff so hard, your fingers will really hurt at the end of the job

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

And CA has far less affect on the tape as compaired to SM binding tape.

For you that wick CA in to adhere the bindings, do you seal the top with shellac to
prevent dis-coloration on the edges? I've always used wood and fiber bindings and
purflings, and used Titebond I. But it's messy and slow, so I'm thinking seriously of
switching to CA.

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Gene

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Gene, yes I seal with shellac. CA can seriously discoulor spruce by wicking into the end grain, leaving an ugly yellow stain.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Gene, as Arnt has said, yes seal with shellac. CA can also discolor cedar and I would think redwood too.
See the other edge of that picture, you can see the darker portion of the wood, that's the shellac sealer. The other thing the shellac sealer helps with is the tape sticking directly to the wood and more importantly, pulling fibres from the top wood when taking the tape off. Still one must be careful and pull the tape off at a 45* angle to the grain line..

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"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Arnt,

Sorry for the confusion I may have caused. First off let me attempt to clarify by saying that I am building my first guitar (not from a kit). it is an OM style with a cutaway. The binding is Maple with Maple, Walnut, Maple purfling. On my first attempt to put this together I glued and Taped the purfling and binding together and put it in the side bender. When it came out the cutaway section was warped (puckered) and some of wood had come apart. In talking with some of the guys at one of the suppliers I use, I was told to just tape the pieces together, bend them and then glue them on the guitar with the binding and tape.....After reading some of the other posts it sounds like that should have worked any thoughts?

I glue the purg to the binding with CA or LMI white. I'm still not sure which I prefer. Then I'll bend them on the pipe. For a top purfling, I'll always glue in the purfling seperately from the binding. I like the fact that I can clean up the binding channel after. This way, I'm sure the channel is perfect and leaves no gaps.

I'm in the process of building a new binding jig and hopefully, this will help with the end results and I will be able to glue them both together, but really, I use HHG for binding and it takes just an extra half hour...No big deal when you think of all the hours involved.

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

You said some of the wood had come apart meaning that the glued up purfling seperated? od did a pice break.?

was the purfling the same width as the binding or was the purfling shorter?

This sounds like a sandwich support issue that allowed the seperation to happen. In other words your sandwich allowed some slack between the the pieces that gave room for the purfling to have clearance between the form or inner slat and the binding. It only takes a few thousants for this to happen. If the sandwich was tight this should not have happended.

When I bend the side purfs. sometimes I get some puckering or crooked b/w/b
in the waist area. I just use an old clothes iron to flatten out the purfling and
good as new. I also like using CA to spot glue the purfling in.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I'll 3rd the use of a dab of ca on side purflings. I've found it very useful to secure mitres.

- Flori

you should not get puckering or seperation if the sandwich is tight and left alone for proper cool down time. but an ever so slightly loose sandwich or seek peaks free up room for the thin pieces to move.

I had a tip from Grumpy for applying a bunch of single strips. Gather up the ends of the single strips and apply some CA to the the group and hold them together with a clothes pin or small clamp til the CA dries. That end will be cut off later. Start the rosette or purfling which may a bit tricky or a little fussy. But once you get it started it goes pretty smooth. I used this trick on my center ring of the Rosette and I worked quite well. It keeps the strips pretty much alined and keeps them from flopping all over the place and makes them more manageable. When I did my rosette I put a strip of painters tape at the start and about every 1/4 of the way around to keep the purfling from popping out of the channel before finishing it since I only have two hands.
Here's the result. I used my ablam rosette cutting jig to cut the ablam and my Wells/Karol precision router base to cut the channel and sound hole out. I install the shell and purfling at the same time and used CA to glue it. The shell wasn't cracked to install it and the shell pieces are about 1 1/2" long. This was made possible with my cutting jig that can be adjusted to the radius of your choice.