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I really like the look of wood bindings laminated with thin contrasting strips like those pictured below (LMI).



A friend of mine uses the excess trimmings from sides to make laminated bindings by gluing tiny perfling strips, one at a time. Tedious...

I documented this method several years ago. It's not new or revolutionary, but I thought someone might find it useful.

I wanted to make laminated bindings in bulk, so I decided to glue a full side that was too thin (for a guitar) to a resawn billet of curly maple. I then ripped it into thin strips and thickness sanded them.

I used Titebond II so that it will resist heat/moisture while bending. Titebond III is not recommended for luthiery, but it may be better in this case. Definitely DO NOT USE TITEBOND OR WHITE GLUE. It will come apart when you bend it.

You will need:
- thin kerf saw, preferably a bandsaw (tablesaw not recommended)
- thickness sander (or a handplane and/or scraper if you're hard core)
- jointer (or handplane) for squaring stock.

You could use a tablesaw to rip the board, but the wide kerf wastes a lot of material (roughly half) and you can't resaw wide material. I don't recommend it.

The stages below show the general concept.



1) Laminate two pieces of contrasting materials. The thicker piece should be at least 1/4" thick x 3"+ x 32"+ with quarter-sawn grain. The thinner piece can be any thickness, but you should try to make it slightly thicker than the desired final thickness (if sanding is required). Grain orientation on the thinner piece is less critical, but you can make it quarter-sawn also (or not). If you understand wood movement due to moisture content, feel free to adjust for grain patterns. Glue them together using a water/heat resistant glue like Titebond II or III and clamp with pressure distributed evenly over the glued surface area.

2) Sand the thin side to desired thickness. If you are using a pre-thicknessed wood or fiber veneer, there is no need to sand further.

3) If desired, add another layer and repeat steps 1 and 2.

4) Using a thin-kerf saw, rip lengthwise strips slightly wider than desired thickness (about 1/8"). Always rip with thin laminations facing up, so the blade won't tear them from the main substrate.

5) Sand both sides of strips to ~2mm or 0.10". Most thickness sanders will not work well under 1/8". I use a backer board, such as a piece of plywood or MDF.

Hope you find this useful.

Glenn

I do something similar using an orphan side and pieces of veneer. I slice with a table saw using a 7 1/4" Diablo blade

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Those have about 1/16 kerf right? That would save having to sand them afterward. That might be a wash on productivity vs waste.

My local big box stores carry a 2-pack of 7 1/4" thin kerf Avanti blades for $10. I tried grinding one down to make a fret slotting blade but the carbide flattened my sharpening wheel. I have a green wheel for carbide but couldn't find it at the time. One day I'll try again.

1/16" sounds about right. I use a zero clearance insert and the strips come off nice and smooth.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've got a few orphan sides. Hmmm. What to use for the contrast... Would colored thick stock paper from an art supply store (red for example) work? I could rip the strips on the bandsaw.

Unfortunately not, at least not the one I tried with multiple layers (paper between wood). I was experimenting with a chevron pattern, but the paper just falls apart. Better to use colored veneer or fiber sheet.

Here is original blog post.
http://glennaycockwoodworking.blogspot. ... trips.html

I am planning to do this and am looking for a small table saw blade with very thin kerf. Hollow ground planner by Irwin I see, but you seem to be talking about a 1/16" kerf carbide blade. That might work better. Hardly seems possible.

" Hardly seems possible." Do you mean the 1/16" kerf blade? You can get them at HD or most bldg. supply stores. The 40 or 60 tooth
ones from Freud are what I use.
Ken

I got one last month and have been using it to cut thin strips of boards as well as slice perfling off veneer sandwiches.

I have been cruising the isles at HD since its inception here in Atlanta. I become numb to new products and 1/16" curf table saw blades slipped up on me. I have found mine cuts ruff but it works ok for cutting of bindings off of the above glue up.

As for perfling, I've not got that down yet. I think tough it is due to my simple hold down set up. I destroy half what I cut off. I have now made a throat plate of clear plastic and slowly brought blade up through it about 1/8' high. I saw a hold down here somewhere made of old fashion cloths pins. I'm now focusing on one of those.

I bet the little table saw by Model Makers would do a dandy job for this.
http://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/tablesaw.html

I don't own one - Somebody else here shared the link - but this looks super slick for binding work..... My 14" band saw works fine but I loose a LOT of wood to kerf, wander, and start/stop..... I loose over half of what I start with when cutting bindings.

The 7 1/4 Diablo's kerf is more like .075-.080 iirc (on my DEWALT portable). I can get closer to .055 on my bandsaw with a Woodslicer. I have heard of people using the power fretting saw for the thinnest kerf, at least for purflings. Possibly bindings in non-abrasive woods?

What tooth count do you like to use? I Have a 14"bs.