Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All-

For a change of pace, I decided to use high-flame myrtle for my next project. I assume that it has much in common with high-flame maples, so perhaps some luthiers out there have some experience in dealing with wild grain patterns. I've bent the sides, which went well, with the possible exception of a spot on the lower bout where the grain took a 90-degree jog in the thickness of the side. As a result there is a small bump at this spot. The sides are in an exterior mold & the cauls seem to be keeping the sides reasonably true & the "bump" flattened a bit. I assume that that any waviness or bumps can be scraped away after the box is closed. I plan to put some vertical reinforcements at critical spots in the interior.

Can anyone tell me what issues have arisen & how you dealt with these issues in working with highly-figured woods?

Thanks!

-Steve

Well figure is typically change in grain direction. Curly is a change from a near lateral to a near vertical and back. The biggest issue is when bending getting faceting and related grain separation where the curl or quilt shears and pulls away from the rest of the slat.

In the past I dealt with figured wood by adding more moisture as I bent problem areas. However this lead to a few cases where I got too wet which in turn led to low spots where the slat cupped due to the excess moisture.

For a couple years now I have used Supersoft2 veneer relaxer to make high figured woods more pliable. I coat the side plates with Suppersoft2 3 days before bending and wrap in Kraft paper and sticker. The glycol in the SS2 plasticizes the cells and really does a good job a preventing faceting and figure separation during bending.

The other issue with figure is tool engagement with the figure, you want any cleaving, pearing, cutting and scraping tool to be SHARP!! At all time to prevent gouges and slips

I'll normally thin out sides a bit thinner than normal if they have a tone of figure. Work smart and work slow.

That said Myrtle, even highly figured, is pretty easy to work with, and I've never had any problems with it.

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com