Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:16 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:05 pm 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:03 pm
Posts: 35
First name: Michael
Last Name: Perkins
City: Charleston
State: SC
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
I bought three flat-sawn hard maple boards from Bell Forrest online. Their dimensions are: 1-3/16" x 4-1/2" x 36" and they are sold as "Instrument grade" neck blanks. They arrived, and I am very pleased with their grain pattern, their lack of blemishes or knots, and pretty much everything about them.

However... I am a newbie to neck making, so I am a little paranoid, and possibly overthinking things. The boards were obviously run over a jointer and planed into perfect S4S squareness. But when I stack the three boards up and turn them on their side, as I will be doing when I glue the three boards together to create the three-board lamination... they are not 100% dead-on flat against each other. They are not twisted, or bowed to any bad degree. But unless I grab the stack with my hand and squeeze the boards together with some light pressure, there are a couple of places where I could maybe slip a business card between the boards.

I know that if I glob on the Tite Bond, bust out my cauls, and clamp these suckers together, they will close up and form a solid board. But I don't want to be gluing in known tension into the neck. I don't know if such a small amount of "tension" would even register or make a difference. I can imagine that if I ran the boards back across a jointer, and planned em all back into an absolute zero-micron tolerance machinist-grade flatness... by tomorrow out in my shop they would move just a little again, and not be perfect. But... again, I am a newbie.

Can any of you guys with more woodworking and building experience tell me if it would be foolish for me to glue these boards up with a tiny bit of not-flat'ness, or is it probably fine, and you will never get three boards to remain dead flat against each other for more than a couple of days considering ambient conditions?

Thanks for your help all!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:43 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:02 am
Posts: 3227
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
First name: Barry
Last Name: Daniels
A little bit of open joint is acceptable if it will close up with a bit of clamping pressure. However, they need to be freshly jointed if you want the joints to survive long term.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:19 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:12 pm
Posts: 3290
First name: Bryan
Last Name: Bear
City: St. Louis
State: Mo
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
What Barry said. I wouldn't worry about the small amount of stress that would be induced by closing up gaps that are as small as you say but I would want to know that the gluing surfaces were freshly prepared to get the best glue joint possible. Who knows when those boards were jointed, there certainly is some degree of oxidation on the surface and perhaps other contaminants that you can't see. I would scrape, joint or sand the surface before gluing.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com