New Wood Day

TTony · January 2020

It's handy living nextdoor* to a cabinet maker!

I had a chat with him last week, as part of my hunt for some "raw" Limba and he mentioned that he was putting in an order to his timber supplier over the weekend.

So I tagged on some bits for my wood store too - and it arrived today.

That's 2 lots of 10" wide Idigbo - being the closest the timber yard could find to Korina/Limba - and some 8" wide Utile / Sipo because it was (a) available, (b) cheap and (c) Mahogany-esque!

All 2" thick.

Just cut in half to get it in the car. If the ends are OK, then there's three half-bodies in each plank. Looks pretty clean with no obvious defects.

Some thicknessing and jointing to be done sometime ...

*I say "nextdoor", and technically he is, but he's also a mile away on the neighbouring farm!

Andyjr1515 · January 2020

Excellent!

paulnb57 · January 2020

Nice wood!

skay · January 2020

Every morning is a new wood day;-)

Rabs · January 2020

Sweet.. I personally LOVE Utile, used it on several builds.. Actually harder than "Genuine" Mahogany and can be way prettier if its cut correctly... What you want to avoid really is Meranti... It can be ok but is quite boring mostly, not as good a Mahogany substitute as Utile.

PeteC · January 2020

Very jealous. Still can’t seem to source any limba close to leeds

TTony · January 2020

PeteC said:

Very jealous. Still can’t seem to source any limba close to leeds

I’ll post some pics of the Idigbo once it’s planed @PeteC. It’s certainly light enough, and it appears to look similar ... might be an option if there’s no “proper” Korina about!

Rabs said:

Sweet.. I personally LOVE Utile, used it on several builds..

Yeah, but you use all sorts of odd stuff.

Now, if I’d realised that London Plane is aka Lacewood ...

Rabs · January 2020

TTony said:

Rabs said:

Sweet.. I personally LOVE Utile, used it on several builds..

Yeah, but you use all sorts of odd stuff.

Now, if I’d realised that London Plane is aka Lacewood ...

Well I said the same thing when he asked me what wood I thought it was. I said Lacewood.. Which of course it is, but only when quarter sawn.. Apparently if you cut it in the right way a lot of species have lacewood hidden in there

In fact Utile can be very lacey.. I would post a pic or two but Imgur is having a wobble.

TTony · January 2020

I’m getting confused now, I thought Lacewood was its own species, rather than a feature of different species?

But then there seem to be different understandings, definitions, opinions (etc, etc) about it all. Who knows ....

Rabs · January 2020

Yes, there is also a species called Lacewood which doesn't help does it (a South American wood I think), but according to my boss he says its also what that patterning is called and you find it on lots of different woods. And yes, people have different names for the same thing.. Some of it is just differing US/English terminology...

Ohh its sort of working now.. Check these back and sides

https://i.imgur.com/HIoN9kn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gl4Ai6I.jpg

Rabs · January 2020

Ahh, here we go.. So not all wood... But not confined to one species.

Lacewood is a common name for the wood produced from a number of different trees, with mostly a striking appearance of their "lace-wood“, which gets its name from the lace like pattern: These include:

Allanblackia floribunda, Allanblackia parviflora, West African trees
Cardwellia sublimis, an Australian tree
Elaeocarpus bojeri, "bois dentelle", due to the unique patterns of its flowers
Euplassa pinnata, Euplassa cantareirae, trees from northeastern South america
Firmiana papuana, a tree from New Guinea
Grevillea robusta, an East Australian tree
Lagetta lagetto, a Caribbean tree, lacebark tree, lace tree, "bois dentelle", the inner bark is formed of reticulated fibres so as to resemble a coarse kind of lace.
Macadamia spp., Australian trees
Monoon oblongifolium (Syn.: Polyalthia oblongifolia) Mempisang, a Philppinean tree, yellow lacewood
Platanus spp.; Platanus occidentalis American sycamore, Platanus × hispanica London plane [1]
Panopsis spp.; Panopsis rubescens and Panopsis sessilifolia [2]
Roupala montana, Roupala cordialis Leopardwood, brazilian lacewood, South American lacewood, Ropala lacewood
Sterculia shillinglawii, a tree from New Guinea

TTony · January 2020

Wis’d!

Rabs · January 2020

And more on topic.. Utile lace(ish) type wood

https://i.imgur.com/DS7fnGv.jpg

greggreg66 · January 2020

I’ve had lacewood on meranti also (not sure I’d build a guitar with it as mentioned previously)

Kalimna · January 2020

And on the subject of confusing wood names. To an American, this is sycamore

https://www.wood-database.com/sycamore/

Which is close to London plane, what we call sycamore, which is sort of a maple, but different to what americans call maple. Which really is a maple.

Nice wood haul

Next time I get a free day, I'll pop over to our local sawmill to see what they have. Not always useful, but some beautiful timber every so often - ash/oak/elm/laburnum/hornbeam/chestnut etc.... Also often have burry slabs, so maybe it's time to do a CrimsonGuitars inspired metallic-resin inlaid top?

Adam

PeteC · January 2020

After much searching for Korina/Idigbo I just managed to source 2 x 2.3m lengths of Emeri in 2" thickness 8" boards and picking up next week. Apparently same as idigbo, so hopefully it will be ok for making bodies and practicing some skills .

Rabs · January 2020

Kalimna said:

And on the subject of confusing wood names. To an American, this is sycamore
https://www.wood-database.com/sycamore/
Which is close to London plane, what we call sycamore, which is sort of a maple, but different to what americans call maple. Which really is a maple.
Nice wood haul
Next time I get a free day, I'll pop over to our local sawmill to see what they have. Not always useful, but some beautiful timber every so often - ash/oak/elm/laburnum/hornbeam/chestnut etc.... Also often have burry slabs, so maybe it's time to do a CrimsonGuitars inspired metallic-resin inlaid top?

Adam

Yeah the Sycamore Maple thing... Again according to what I have learned much the same tree as far as we are concerned

Heres some Sycamore we had a short while back.. Lovely stuff.. Not hard enough for a neck really but makes a nice body.
https://i.imgur.com/omfXHxI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OyMYQSa.jpg

Kalimna · January 2020

Thats lovely stuff - the ripple looks fairly subtle, but classy

Even if not strong enough for a whole neck, perhaps a laminate?

Rabs · January 2020

Kalimna said:

Thats lovely stuff - the ripple looks fairly subtle, but classy
Even if not strong enough for a whole neck, perhaps a laminate?

Hmm, probably.. But then I guess you could always use it for the looks and stick a carbon fibre rod each side.. That would probably work.

Kalimna · January 2020

Well, I think that archtop necks are frequently 3-piece laminates, arent they? So, if a thin sliver of carbon fibre sheet or other rigid dark wood was inserted inbetween the sycamore laminates, then the longitudinal rigidity would be there, as would the aesthetics

GSPBASSES · January 2020

TTony said:

PeteC said:

Very jealous. Still can’t seem to source any limba close to leeds

I’ll post some pics of the Idigbo once it’s planed @PeteC. It’s certainly light enough, and it appears to look similar ... might be an option if there’s no “proper” Korina about!

Rabs said:

Sweet.. I personally LOVE Utile, used it on several builds..

Yeah, but you use all sorts of odd stuff.

Now, if I’d realised that London Plane is aka Lacewood ...

David Dyke has loads of proper Korina in all shapes and sizes, including some beautiful figured Black Korina.

Kalimna · January 2020

David Dyke has loads of beautiful wood. Full stop.

A truly dangerous place to visit with a credit card

GSPBASSES · January 2020

Kalimna said:

Thats lovely stuff - the ripple looks fairly subtle, but classy
Even if not strong enough for a whole neck, perhaps a laminate?

Flamed sycamore is suitable for making one piece necks, they do not need carbon rods. Back in the 60s Burns and Watkins only ever use sycamore for the necks.

PeteC · February 2020

Have you had chance to do anything with your idigno yet TTony ? Haven’t done anything with mine yet but apart from sectioned up the boards ready to make 2 piece bodies. I think there is enough for about 5 DCs or Teles.

TTony · February 2020

I've managed to put it away neatly in the workshop, but that's all!

I sort of promised myself that I'd not do anything else until I'd finished the Q1 challenge guitars. So, wood is out of the way until then.

How does yours look @PeteC ;? Post some pics ...

PeteC · February 2020

Just had the urge to start chopping up my Idigbo planks into sections ready for bodies. Did a couple just now and also wanted to see how the mitre saw went through it. It seems to machine easily but with a lovely smooth finish. Very promising and some nice grain too..,

TTony · February 2020

As you say, that looks promising.

I visited a local wood yard - where trees come in, and planks (and all sorts) go out - earlier this week. Explained what I was after ... and was directed towards some Cherry, plenty of Ash (but what I picked up was heavy), some rippled Sycamore and some 18yo 2” thick English Walnut in 12” wide boards. It wasn’t cheap, but it was tasty with some lovely colouring and grain.

Actually, for what it was, it probably wasn’t expensive either.

And of course he could slice the 2” boards into 10mm thick pieces for me ....

I’ll be going back as soon as he’s cleaned up some offcuts that were just dumped in a pile between the wood stacks and the firewood store!

Then he mentioned the “stack” of Birdseye maple that he’d had, but recently sold off cheap because no-one wanted it, and I nearly cried ...

Rabs · February 2020

TTony said:

As you say, that looks promising.

I visited a local wood yard - where trees come in, and planks (and all sorts) go out - earlier this week. Explained what I was after ... and was directed towards some Cherry, plenty of Ash (but what I picked up was heavy), some rippled Sycamore and some 18yo 2” thick English Walnut in 12” wide boards. It wasn’t cheap, but it was tasty with some lovely colouring and grain.

Yes... English Walnut is becoming rarer by the year.. When ever we have some in, it goes almost immediately.. We literally have a waiting list of people who said to get in contact when we have some in. Its certainly our most expensive.

It is an absolutely stunning wood...

We had an amazing batch in a short while back and some beautiful tables got made

https://i.imgur.com/GcJvMY1.jpg

I mean.. Look at dat...
https://i.imgur.com/heK1F3K.jpg

We also got a tree from someones front garden a month or so back...
https://i.imgur.com/MRGuyB7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HeJHYwv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/s7ZLk5m.jpg

And some of what it produced... Of course it has to air dry for a while before we can sell it
https://i.imgur.com/4sgBkI8.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UTTb4EN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hvlTJ9e.jpg

TTony · February 2020

Rabs said:
We also got a tree from someones front garden a month or so back

I think we’ve found 4 walnut trees in our garden so far, one of which is a very old, humongous thing!

Rabs said:

English Walnut is becoming rarer by the year.. When ever we have some in, it goes almost immediately.. We literally have a waiting list of people who said to get in contact when we have some in. Its certainly our most expensive.

Now I’m thinking I should go buy those boards from the wood yard ...

Kalimna · February 2020

Do it. buy the walnut!

Kalimna · February 2020

Here's a chair I made from some Scottish walnut (along with ash and cherry)

https://imgur.com/CklA1Ll.jpg

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