Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello,
Have any of you used the black or white veneer fiber sheets for main block pattern and wheat design>
How do they stand out next to the regular wood veneers, how do they blend?
Ronald

Oh I see..
It is like planing edges from cardboard; albeit stronger.
Ronald

I made a whole batch of wheat with the off white fiber as the white. I threw the whole batch out. It might have worked, but the fiber wanted to separate when cutting the tiny strips. It would break at the fiber lams, leaving fiber on both sides of the joint. The stuff is just not very strong. It also looked like .........well..........fiber, and not at all like wood.

If you want nice white fine line wheat, I recommend the white, natural they call it, thin, LMII veneer. Expensive? Absolutely, but it is really nice stuff and looks great. Very easy to cut, and looks very natural, IMO.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hi I made the wheat strips from real veneer .6mm walnut, mahogany, and maple from veneer packets at woodcraft. I also used one piece of homemade veneer as well to complete the design. Never tried fiber, sounds like its more suitable for (health food) than luthiery ?

Yeah, fibre is a bear. It tears out if cut with a table saw and prefers to be sliced with a sharp knife, which tends to be difficult if you laminate sheets together. Some fibre also tends to turn greyish when scraped, and not jet black.

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

Any suggestions as to what to use instead of fiber for reagular only purfling strips (not marquetry) if a guy wants black (and doesn't want to make ebony strips)?

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Most veneer dealers have an ebonized version of something. I have used LMII, and Constantine's, and I know others have black veneers. LMII is the only one I know that sells a very thin veneer.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

The LMI maple veneers are the way to go. For some reason, they can be difficult to laminate, I am still perfecting my technique. But the results are amazing. Fibre has it's uses, this is just not one if them. If you find the price of dyed veneers too high, and plan to do a lot of this work, you can build your own vacuum dying system for $300-$400. Then add the cost of dyes (transtint).

See Joe Woodworker's website for this project.

Mike

I use fiber all the times with no issues whatsoever. Mainly for neck lams and backstrap veneers. In fact I find it stronger than wood veneers. Apply a good amount of glue and give it a minute or so to soak in than clamp it...

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Peter is right, fibre is tough material.

For sources of excellent quality veneer (not all veneer is equal…):
http://www.wood-veneers.com/
http://www.certainlywood.com/

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

I use the black fiber for most of my purfling lines and I like it. I get it in 6 x 36 sheets from Bob C. I wouldn't use anything thicker than .02 in the fiber though. At that thickness I would use wood. I have used the white and off white in the past but now I just use maple for the lighter lines, I think it always looks better than the white. I do have problems with finish sinking into the fiber lines, no matter what the finish is. I thought it might be the titebond I used to laminate the purflings together, and it might be, but I do think it is the fiber. It has never delaminated on me, just showed a very slight dip on those lines. I find the fiber much much easier to use than the dyed poplar or maple lines.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.