When making a tailblock should you stain the various woods to produce a richer color or will that have adverse effects during glassing? Should I just leave the woods their natural color and let the glassing help pull fuller colors? Any suggestion/advise is much appreciated. Thinks Andy
When making a tailblock should you stain the various woods to produce a > richer color or will that have adverse effects during glassing? Should I > just leave the woods their natural color and let the glassing help pull > fuller colors? Any suggestion/advise is much appreciated. Thinks Andy…DON’T STAIN THE WOODS!!! it will cause delamination.Herb.
Whatever wood you use, the resin will make it appear slightly richer…or at least a little bit darker. To get an idea of what it will look like when laminated, just lick your finger and wipe it on the wood. There’s no need to stain when you find a good wood. Just be sure you use a non-oily hardwood. One of my favorites is Walnut. When glued together with a lighter-colored hardwood, such as white or red Oak, it provides a great contrast, which in itself makes the natural colors appear richer. If you need help picking out wood, there’s a great book to check out at Borders or Barnes & Noble, it’s The Encyclopedia of Wood. It’s got great pictures that show the color and texture of most woods around the world. Once you’ve got your wood choices narrowed down, go to a lumber yard and pick through their junk pile. You can also ask if they’ve seen any of your favorite wood laying around. You can find some great specimens for free! Also, since it is so strong a wood, they use Oak a lot for the braces on their pallets and usually don’t mind getting rid of one. I wasn’t sure you needed this much info, but I figured every bit helps. For more info search the archives. I know there’s stuff in there on this.
When making a tailblock should you stain the various woods to produce a > richer color or will that have adverse effects during glassing? Should I > just leave the woods their natural color and let the glassing help pull > fuller colors? Any suggestion/advise is much appreciated. Thinks Andy Don’t forget to brush on a thin cheater coat of lam. resin (on the tailblock)and allow it to dry before you do your actual lamination. It seals and prevents oils from leaching out of the wood and giving you those spots of delamination that look so crappy after all the hard work you’ve put in. jim dunlop
When making a tailblock should you stain the various woods to produce a > richer color or will that have adverse effects during glassing? Should I > just leave the woods their natural color and let the glassing help pull > fuller colors? Any suggestion/advise is much appreciated. Thinks Andy I used basswood and mahogany glued together with the basswood attaching to the blank. A good tip Herb gave me was to use a glue gun to attach the block to the blank. Jim’s tip of coating the block with resin before putting the cloth over it is also good. On my first attempt I didn’t put the cheater coat on and I had a big bubble over the mahogany wood, result of the oil in the wood I guess. The next attempt came out a lot better. Good Luck, Frank.
Thanks for the advice thus far. I am currently making one out of pine and cedar. I don’t believe these woods to have an oil factor, but I’m not sure. Will these woods work for a tailblock? I figure they will. Any thoughts? Thanks Andy
Thanks for the advice thus far. I am currently making one out of pine and > cedar. I don’t believe these woods to have an oil factor, but I’m not > sure. Will these woods work for a tailblock? I figure they will. Any > thoughts? Thanks Andy I don’t know why pine and cedar wouldn’t work. However, artistically I would choose differently. Cedar and pine don’t provide very contrasting wood tones. Pine grain is wide and uneven. Some very hard, some very soft… hard to work with. Pine’s grain is also large, and needs a large surface area to show itself. Tail blocks are relatively small. But it’s your choice.