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One thing I discovered making bridges out of african blackwood is that it's significantly harder to sand than ebony. It just seems like the wood is harder overall and exudes some kind of sap that clogs sandpaper quickly. Is it normal to change sanding drums, belts, etc. more often when working with african blackwood?

I tried using a file to shape it and the file struggles to even take off a little bit of material...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

African blackwood is rather fiberous, try inlaying into it sometime. Routing it is a pain. You may have some very green AFB also as the stuff I have sands pretty well. Don't have much trouble filing and sanding it, but as with any oily wood, if I run it through the drum sander, it can load the belt pretty fast. Certainly wouldn't go much finer than 80 grit on the drum...
It is usually a lot heavier and harder than ebony and if you drop a piece on a steel table, it pings rather more than ebony.

I don't know, it doesn't feel green at all. Feels kinda dry in fact but it exudes oil when heated (which is invariably caused by sanding)

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Like I said, it's an oily wood. More like BRW or Cocobolo than ebony.

So the question is, how do I glue it? Will hide glue work or do I need to use epoxy?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I don't have a problem with HHG.

So just glue it straight up like any other wood? Or do I treat the surface with acetone or something?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I've used African blackwood for acoustic guitar bridges for years, I just glue them on with hot hide glue, with normal surface preparation prior to gluing (preferably scraped). My steel string guitar bridges are usually only about 1", for guitars normally strung with medium strings, and as far as I know, none have lifted yet, so the procedure seems to work fine. Its also a fine wood for fingerboards, of course. I don't think of it as particularly oily for a rosewood though, perhaps you found an unusual piece? I buy the wood as smallish sticks, from a local shop that sells turning blanks, so I assume they are from several different trees. I haven't noticed much difference between them, it seems like a fairly uniform wood.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I get them from a local lumberyard who just saws them into slabs out of logs. The particular one was part of an offcut and was full of cracks and defects. The reason I used it is because I made a bridge for a guitar I am building out of ebony but messed up on the saddle slot (it's a lot wider than they need to be, and with really rough edges and not particularly straight either). So I decided to just start over and try the african blackwood and see how it sounds compared to ebony...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I ABW almost exclusively for bridges, bindings and headplates .. for bindings I am using CA, but for bridges and headplates, titebond is fine ...

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

Yep, ABW will clog sandpaper in a hurry and especially in a thickness sander. It should glue up just fine with a freshly scraped or sanded surface with pretty much any glue; no need for acetone or solvents... in fact using solvents can cause problems. Treat it like any other rosewood and you should be just fine.

African blackwood is actually a rosewood. It has the oiliness and is difficult to power sand pretty much like most rosewoods. It is also finishes beautifully and takes a great shine but it is the heaviest and one of the toughest woods out there.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust