Official Luthiers Forum!

Got some good stuff and wanted to give my hand tool skills a test. For those of you that split and shape wood mostly by hand Id like
to hear from you! Waiting on a dust collector untill February. Not going to sit around!

So how do i split it by hand?

Thanks

Chris Paulick has some YouTube videos on splitting brace wood. This is part 1 of 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUhM71Xsh-k

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Not that much to it... for small pieces, I use a relatively dull 1" chisel. Hit it with a hammer to start the split, then when I run into the handle, pull it out and replace it with a wood wedge, and hammer that on through.

For big pieces, saw a slot 1" or so deep to get it started, and then hammer the wedge in.

One thing to keep in mind is that you should always split into two equal size pieces when possible. Splitting a thin brace off the edge of a larger billet usually doesn't follow the grain, due to the thin piece bending outward and stressing itself. If both pieces are equal size, they bend equally, and the split follows the grain.

Then make lots of plane shavings to get the pieces squared up and sized

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=24665

About Bracewood anyways.
Shane

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Canada

What Dennis said. I use an ax because it has a better shape for splitting than a chisel. Split slowly to avoid jumping grain lines. Once you are close to final size, true them up with a plane and away you go. It is not hard at all. However, splitting produces a lot more waste than cutting, but also produces braces with as little runout as possible. Some of the waste is made when the split jumps grain lines, or when there is a lot of runout in the wood. Many builders will split the billet once, then saw off of the split face to minimize runout, but end up with less waste and more braces. Both ways are fine in my book. Braces with minimal runout are easier to carve.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I used to use a 2" chisel. It works OK but it does tend to wander to one side or the other, because of the asymmetrical chisel ground edge. I found that a big 'survival' knife makes an excellent splitting froe. It's much easier to control. Obviously, an actual splitting froe would be a good choice. A hatchet would probably work OK too, but I don't have one.

The most important thing is starting with pieces that either: a) don't have much runout, or, b) are pretty big. If starting with the typical 1x2 brace stock pieces sold by vendors, you can easily waste half the wood.