Official Luthiers Forum!

I've read recently about techniques to use CA to stabilize Brazilian and other rosewoods, when they are showing cracks.

Who can share the appropriate technique. "Flooding" the wood has been mentioned. What's the proper technique for this? Does the CA change the appearance of the wood? Do you need to be cautious about the edge of the 'flooded" wood - e.g. does the borderline of the CA show? When to do it? Prior to or after bending for sides, or before or after joining and bracing backs? Use thin CA with or without acclerator? How to spread?

Thanks!

I don't flood unless I find crack. You can find cracks in one of several ways... some are obvious but others can be found by gently flexing the wood and looking for spots that open up, and you can always wet one side with naptha and see where it runs through on the other side. The cracks are obvious, they show up on the other side as a line of solvent. Mark those areas and shoot in a little water thin CA. I only put the CA in the crack itself I don't flood the entire piece.

The CA gets sanded off, you won't see it.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Its good insurance to examine all woods carefully before the glue up starts.A bit of a heartbreak to discover a crack after starting the finishing process.We won't discuss how I'm aware of this fact.....!

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I flood the following woods prior to pore fill .... and of course solidify any cracks/wormholes when I see them at any time during building.

BRW, mad rw, ziricote, cocobolo, any ebony ...

I simply squirt some of the thin stuff on, and then swish it around with a piece of parchment paper .... sand it back to the wood. Larivee mentions doing this on BRW years ago.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Tony and Todd's methods work great, I use them except if the cracks are a bit wider, I'll place
the CA and use a cabinet scraper without a turned edge, just flat, and work the glue into
the crack. Seems to force the CA further into slightly larger cracks....

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Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

I agree. The razor blade would work well. Leaves a very clean surface with little sanding needed...

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Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Tony, do you cover the entire surface? I recently started a mad rose OM. The wood bent with no issues but a day or two later, I started getting splintering around one side of the upper bout--top layers of the wood splitting off from the lower layers. Wood was well quartersawn. I used CA to glue the splinters back down, but got a little spooked and wondered about hitting the entire rim surface with CA.

If I should hit the entire surface, should I do it prior to closing the box or after closing the box and before leveling the rims?

Thanks,

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com