Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys, about a year ago I had a patient ask me if I was interested in a piece of maple about 10'x8"x1". He is a cabinet maker and was given the board from a friend who made guitars and had the board sitting in his shop for 30+ years. Anyway, the figure isn't anything special, but I said I would love to take it and hopefully eventually use it for guitars. So, he apparently did some asking around for a good thickness and had it cut before he gave it to me so it's in 0.10" slices now. Well, I have no idea how to best cut this up for backs/sides (nor do I have a table saw or bandsaw) so I was hoping somebody might be able to give me some advice as to how you would go about cutting to get the most out of the wood.

I should mention, I have started my first guitar but it is coming along SLOWLY as I just moved and haven't set up a shop yet. This wood doesn't have much monetary value but I would love to use it if possible.

Here's a couple shots showing an average grain pattern:

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"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill

Find a local well equipped luthier or cabinetmaker that has a large resaw bandsaw and knows how to resaw those into 3/16in or 4 + mm veneers for bookmatched backs and sides. t , he didn/t cut it thicker. if you intend to use this stuff for gtrmaking you won/t have much wood to remove to get to your target thickness.I prefer thicker to cover any potential errors anomalies , and inevitable mistakes.

Make templates for the back and sides and experiment on layout, using chalk.
10" wide is not ideal for the best yield of dreadnought backs, but you can rip it in the center for sides.
If you have four slices, you should be able to get six sets. This is done by cutting one pair into two 24" lengths and two 36" lengths. The 24" lengths will make two back sets, and the two 36" lengths will make four side sets.
Cut the other pair of slices into four 21 1/2" lengths (yielding four back sets), and one 34" length (yielding two side sets).

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John

I did as John recommended and found out that I could only get 2 side sets out of this board - there were large knots that I didn't realize. Anyway, I ended up with quite a few back sets, but only 2 side sets (possibly only OM size sides, maybe 1 OM and 1 dred, but not wide enough for 2 dred sets). I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for some maple sides that will go well with these backs. Thanks for the help, and "hand-holding." If I would have looked closer and measured out before I would have known that getting side sets would be difficult from this piece...

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"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill

You do realize, that when mentioned that the grain was nothing special, that it has a good fair bit of quilt figure? Pretty darn nice for free.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
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