Thread: If you need wood blanks for scales.

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

I think i would very much like to try and make a set of scales out of the cocobolo. Sign me up.

I am not making a list on this. Everyone can order what they want when they want it. I have the wood and will resaw it this weekend.

LX, just e-mail me what you want, your e-mail address and the Country where you want it shipped. I will paypal you an invoice and use the address from the paypal payment for shipping. It will be easier because I buy the postage and have the label printed on-line.

If you are learning I would suggest go with Purpleheart it is cheaper for practice. Get the Cocobolo at the same time if you want to save on the S&H, but use the cheaper wood for the dressed rehearsal.

Just a thought. No reason why you can't start with Cocobolo, but don't forget to wear a dust mask when you sand it.

What a good idea! I've got two exotic wood stores within about 30 mintues of my house and a good friend of mine imports exotic woods from South East Asia, so I never even thought that finding good woods would be a stumbling block.

If anyone is interested I've got some woods in stock that are available too. I don't know prices right now but they would be similar to what vlad is posting. The prices seem quite reasonable for a pair of scales.

I've got...

Bloodwood
Red Heart
Macassar Ebony
Gaboon Ebony (blackest wood on earth)
Mun Ebony
Black and White Ebony (very little)
Blackwood (black and gold, nice graining)
Amboyna Burl
Afzelia Burl
Zebrano (Zebra wood)
Cocobolo with Sapwood
Curly Maple
Quilted Maple
Birdseye Maple
Two Tone Quilted Bubinga (this suff is amazing musical instrument quality)

If anyone is looking for something specific I'm travelling to an exotic wood store saturday morning and can ask around. They stock stabilized woods in several types but stabilized wood is much more expensive than non treated wood. The trade off is that stabilized wood is virtually water proof and is strengthened by the process. Oily woods like cocobolo can not be stabilized.

you can check out "A&M exotic woods" which I visit about once a month. I can ship from within the USA also, to keep prices down. I'm glad to have found a forum which encourages DIY work and an open resoration/creation category. It really exciting to see everyone sharing contacts and info openly and freely, with less concern on $$$ and more concern on promoting creative works. Good job SRP!



Matt

Matt,

You have a nice selection of woods in stock. I need to stock up.

I got some Bubinga but the grain was irregular with a very nice pattern. Looked like it was figured. This was the first Bubinga I ever saw and assumed that this is how it always looks. Got a rude awakening when I went back for more. No other piece looked like the one I had. All had the common wood grain and nothing spectacular.

I can almost imagine what the quilted Bubinga looks like. Must be awesome. I'll go back next week and ask if they have or can get some. I think a box out of that wood will be mind blowingly beautiful.

I also have Zebrano but did not offer it for the scales because it is a PITA to plane. Chips out and needs to be thickness sanded instead of planed. I don't have the equipment to do that.

For 1/4" thickness I plane in to 5/16" then sand on the belt sander the rest of the way.

For 5/32" I don't even know if my planer would take even bigger chunks out of it. So would probably have to plane to the same 5/16" and sand the rest.

How do you thickness it after resawing?

I've got some woods that are more trouble to work with than they are worth! The palm series, red and black palm are very very difficult to turn and tear out if you look at them wrong.

Depending on the wood, I'll cut it on the table saw or band saw. I don't have a planer, I thought I'd thickness sand to about 1/8th. That's what I do for my works.

I've got some woods that wouldn't suit a razor scale, due to the size or shape of the pattern. I've also got purpleheart and some beautiful Padauk with some great curl figure.

If you like we could work out something for a bubinga piece. I picked up a piece about 12"x18"x2" (maybe 2.25") that has a live edge and the sapwood/heartwood combination, but the both wood types have amazing figure. The piece I bought came from a 50"x10ft slab that had perfect figure and two live edges. There were 4 slabs available. 1 slab was parted out and 3 slabs went to a well known guitar maker on the west coast. And yes, bubinga can be quite boring too. It is used in some semi exotic plywoods at a much cheaper rate.

Matt,

I am open to the idea of that bubinga, but would prefer to wait until I can afford to splurge on wood unless you are open to a trade deal. Do you have a picture to tease my visual senses?

The bubinga grain that I was talking about is in the table below. I scanned this one. Irregular, wavy grain pattern and nice colors.

I had another eureka moment. Realized that we are talking about the woods as if everyone will know what they look like. I know I had no clue when I started and have little more today. Everytime I pickup a wood I think I know, I am surprised to see yet another pattern or color.

I am adding an image here so that people can see what these generally look like. Some I scanned from the pieces that I had, others took off the web.

The bubinga does not normally look like the one here. I got lucky with a single board. Others vary greatly too. This is one reason I like to pick out my boards in person. Ordering over the web is a stab in the dark.

I've spent half an hour going through a rack of boards looking for the best grain and color. That is a rack of boards of the same wood. Makes a huge difference in the appearance of the wood and the final piece.

For some boxes I may go further and pick different grain pattern for the frame and panels. If I get lucky I can find it all in one board.



All are in their unfinished state. Will be darker when finished as a general rule. Also the type of finish will affect the final color.

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

... I thought I'd thickness sand to about 1/8th. That's what I do for my works.
...

I'm guessing that you have a thickness sander?

I think I would have prefered that to a thickness planer that I got. Both boxes and scales are thin by planer standards. 1/8, 5/32, 1/4. Planer is usually better on thicker boards.

Bubinga looks just like that in most cases, at least on guitars Here's nice example of exotic woods at use:



Cocobolo, Maple, Purpleheart, and Mahagony.

Nenad

Nice Guit Box Nenad!

You're right, Bubinga usually does look like that. I picked up this Quilted Bubinga from my friends shop and if it wasn't outstanding I wouldn't have broke the bank on it. I've got a few picks of other woods too...

Amboyna Shave Set, Square Bowl and 30mm Brush in Super
Padauk Platter w/ Sapwood
Padauk Platter Rear, Please excuse the Carpenters Thumb
Quilted Bubinga, Two Tone Heartwood/Sapwood
More Quilted Bubinga
Cocobolo W/ Sapwood

Perhaps we should start a thread in this category where we can post photos of woods we find, or have available. That way guys will have an idea of what they like, and we can get examples of different wood. I have seen Gaboon Ebony (blackest of black) with many different variations, and even more examples of Cocobolo and highly figured wood are available.

All of the woods pictured are available now, but including the finished pieces. I have stock left from each of those projects. PM or post if anyone is interested. It may take a few days to get anything out in the mail as my carpenters thumb is slowing my down.


Matt

You can also check out wood and other materials used in my past work.
Yahoo Folder w/ photos of horn, ivory, woods and inlay materials...

For the curious, I am posting the yellowheart scales here to show off what this wood looks like when it is finished. You'll have to pick your stock for the perlescence though, not all pieces or even the whole plank will have it. These ones were finished with CA - (cyano acrylate, aka crazy glue).

I resawed cocobolo, purpleheart, yellowheart and kingwood for scale blanks and got a better yield than I originally estimated so I lowered the prices at the begining of this thread by $2 to reflect my lower cost. Kingwood I lowered by $4 because my fears that it would chip out during planing did not come true.

Shipping is $5 in a bubble envelope for up to 4 sets to US and Canada. $8 for Europe.