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I am building a koa OM cutaway and was going to use EIR binding. I realize that EIR is one of the easiest woods to bend, but I didn't have the easiest time with it. I had no trouble bending to the typical OM shape. It was the cutaway that gave me trouble. I even used Supersoft II (although, maybe I didn't use it right). I suffered some breakage in the cutaway portion. I am now considering using tortoise binding, but I have not used plastic binding before. It there anything I need to know about using binding? What about sanding to make it look good under finish? I have been using Z-poxy and Tru-Oil with satisfactory results...
Steve

Nothing special to do in my opinion and worked with plastic bindings quite a bit. Don't know what your doing wrong on the wood. Heat or taking it out of bender wrong may be somehting to look at. Shouldn't be a problem. Do you bend them with your sides? If not try on some scraps from sides. Almost all of my binding in wood is cut off of the sides.

It's a good idea to use a full height white purfling line behind the tortoise binding. Otherwise it won't show as well, and may show the line where the wood changes behind it.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks Howard. Good suggestion.

Can I finish the plastic the same way I would finish wood binding (I haven't used plastic before)?

What's the prevaling opinion of tortoise? Do people like it?

I like it. Boss finishes it the same. Most of his in black and white, but some of the tortise color he did it all the same. I had a bunch I think from Martin and it was very different and lot darker than what I got I think from Stew Mac when they had it (may have been LMI) I have had the rolls about 5 years. I see now have to pay the $20.00 extra for shipping.

My experience was that the purfling lines showed through.

I love it, btw!

When I used it I set the router a little bit shallow, enabling me to scrape it slightly thinner. Being thinner made the variations more prominent and much prettier. Definitely put the white behind it, looked awesome against a medium brown mahogany. Highly recommended!
Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Steve:
A couple of additional things; make sure you use the special glue and let it sit a day or two as the solvents make the plastic soft until they gas off............. Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Holy Cow! As Stan mentioned, I just noticed that LMI charges an extra $20 for shipping tortoise binding! Does anyone have some that they want to sell? ...presumably, without the extra $20 fee?

I get all mine from Martin. Last order a few months ago did not have the extra fee.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I like the Martin stuff better. As said darker and to me just looks better. Howard (others) thanks for the tip on the white binding thing. Never thought of that and with the darker color may help that out.

Okay - I'll get it from Martin. ...by-the-way. I was thinking about putting a maple strip behind the tortoise to make the design in the tortoise stand out (per Howards advise). I expect that I will need to use Duco. I was also thinking about using a black strip underneath the maple strip (underneath the tortoise). Can I use Duco for all of it? I assume the Duco will bind wood to wood okay?

Duco is certainly not the best glue for wood to wood adhesion. I would use Titebond for the wood purfling, and then Duco only for the plastic to wood joint. Or you could use plastic for the white/black purfling and then you could use Duco on all the layers.