Methods of thicknessing soundboard and online tutorials

[paul berry]

I am currently deciding whether to buy wood from a guitar wood dealer or my local timber supplier

If I buy from the lumber yard, a significant amount of wood will probably have to be removed

I do not have a drum sander thicknesser, so is it possible to remove centremetres of material in another way? e.g. an electric hand planer?

with either purchase, I would imagine at least an orbital sander will be needed

is it possible to get a flat enough finish with a hand plane and/or electric hand plane?

As it is my first build I am not sure whether it is the right time to invest in a drum sander thicknesser

could you guys help me with these decisions? Is it worth buying the more expensive wood from the specialist dealer? where do you guys buy your wood and why?

thanks

also, does anyone know some good online resources for guides on building?

[Waddy Thomson]

Unless you have a pretty good understanding of wood and resaw capacity, I would buy from reputable dealers who understand run-out, etc.

[Mark Swanson]

I agree, a top is not that much. You don't need to buy premium stock, just get a decent top. If you are going to spend all the time to build a first guitar then this is a small investment.

[Chuck Tweedy]

I agree with Waddy & Mark. Definitely go with wood from a tonewood dealer for a first instrument.
However, you will still need to bring the wood down to final thickness from how you receive it. The top, back, and sides.

The thing to do is to get a decent bench plane and block plane. Learn how to sharpen, setup, and use these effectively. These are skills you will need even AFTER you get a thickness sander.

[paul berry]

thanks all

I agree with Waddy & Mark. Definitely go with wood from a tonewood dealer for a first instrument.
However, you will still need to bring the wood down to final thickness from how you receive it. The top, back, and sides.

The thing to do is to get a decent bench plane and block plane. Learn how to sharpen, setup, and use these effectively. These are skills you will need even AFTER you get a thickness sander.

so I assume hand planes produce a more accurate result than electric hand planes?

[Waddy Thomson]

When working wood as thin as we do, electric planes tend to crack boards with their vicious attack.

[Doug Shaker]

Gore and Gilet describe a method of thicknessing backs, sides, and tops using hand planes. Briefly,
-Use a flat workboard, ply or MDF, on a flat surface. Put an edge stop of some kind at one edge.
-Use a long plane, #7 or #8, well-tuned and exquisitely sharpened, if possible with a blade that is slightly convex so as to not leave plane marks at the edges of each cut.
-Do the bulk of the thicknessing on the diagonal with hardwoods, with the grain on softwoods. Flip from one side to the other and choose a direction of planing to avoid tear-out.
-Measure thickness frequently at several spots on the board. When you are getting close, readjust your plane to take very thin shavings.

This is described much better and more completely in their book. My summary inevitably simplifies their method. Their book is expensive, but much cheaper and more compact than a thickness sander.

[Steve Senseney]

A toothed plane blade will take very fine cuttings and allow you to progress to your final thickness with a little better control.

[Chuck Tweedy]

I second Steve's suggestion for s toothed plane.
I've thicknessed heavily figured bubinga with a tooted #4 Bailey and card scraper.
This wood was so hard, and so figured that I would never have thought it possible, but it worked great.

[Trevor Gore]

If I buy from the lumber yard, a significant amount of wood will probably have to be removed

I do not have a drum sander thicknesser, so is it possible to remove centremetres of material in another way? e.g. an electric hand planer?

Guitar panels are normally sawn close to thickness, so best if you can find someone with a bandsaw to do that for you. If you have centimetres to remove, you'll have a few opportunities to get it right! Aim for 6mm unless you know someone who's good. If you don't know anyone with a large enough bandsaw, consider a 4 piece top/back. If you must use a power plane, stop at 6mm and use hand planes from there. But honestly, AA grade tops are not expensive and plenty good enough and will save you a lot of aggravation.

with either purchase, I would imagine at least an orbital sander will be needed

If you're good with planes, not necessary. If average with planes, scrapers and hand sanding will get you there.

is it possible to get a flat enough finish with a hand plane and/or electric hand plane?

With a hand plane certainly, with an electric plane no.

As it is my first build I am not sure whether it is the right time to invest in a drum sander thicknesser

With a drum sander you'll also need the dust extraction. I've never had the room for either.

Is it worth buying the more expensive wood from the specialist dealer?

Definitely. You'll find it cheap compared to the full cost of processing wood to that specification yourself.

where do you guys buy your wood and why?

Try the sponsors

[paul berry]

Thanks everyone for answering my questions

I am now ready to order some wood and tools

Just need to find some good quality planes

[Doug Shaker]

Most planes will need to be tuned up: soles flattened, throats adjusted, and certainly blades sharpened. I tend to buy beat-up used planes as cheaply as possible and then tune them up to my satisfaction.

[Waddy Thomson]

The other option is to buy either Lie Nielsen or Veritas planes which are ready out of the box, but significantly more expensive.

[paul berry]

Most planes will need to be tuned up: soles flattened, throats adjusted, and certainly blades sharpened. I tend to buy beat-up used planes as cheaply as possible and then tune them up to my satisfaction.

how do you flatten the sole, with a file?

I sharpen my camping knife with 3 japanese water stones 800, 1200, 6000, a belt and a glass edge. Can plane blades be sharpened in the same way?

[Doug Shaker]

I used to flatten the soles with a piece of thick glass and some wet-dry sandpaper. I draw on the sole with a marker and when the marker is all gone, the sole is flat enough to go on to the next grit.

However, Woodcraft recently had a sale where they sold a granite flat for about $30, so now I use that instead of the glass plate.

[Paul E Buerk]

Just adding a bit to what's already been said. I'm using a drum sander, but prior to getting that I've used a couple #4 planes. I splurged a little bit and got a Hock Iron for one of them (Record #4), then toothed the stock iron from the Record and put it in an old Stanley #4. To cut the teeth, I just used a triangle file. Both the Record and Stanley needed a bit of tuning up, flattening the base and the usual frog screwing. FWIW, I can recommend the Hock irons, and I've also used their radiused set of iron and cap for a couple shop made round bottom planes that get a lot of use.

#4's are available on craigslist and ebay all the time. I should say that they're mostly "users", may have had cracked and repaired handles, etc., but there's nothing functionally bad about that. Just doesn't make them collectible.

[Doug Shaker]

Oh, man, Hock's plane blades are the best!

[Randy Cordle]

I use a rotary planer (Wagner Safe-T-Planer in my case...) in a drill press to do ALL of my planing operations. This includes everything from planing entire slabs cut from a tree to make natural edge benches to thicknessing head plates, sides, backs, and tops. My hand planes haven't left their boxes for 30 years. There's a shot of thicknessing a Uke top at my website if you want to see an example of the Wagner in use.
Just throwing this out as an alternative!

[Jason Rodgers]

Plus one for the Wagner. Once you get your technique down, notice when to sharpen the teeth, and a figure out a good method for sharpening said teeth, it's a great tool. I've also made a sanding disc to follow the Wagner and take out the swirls through the last few thou of the thicknessing process.

[Nick Dingle]

Yeesh, for a cheap alternative, I used my hand-held belt sander and a random orbital sander until I built my drum sander. Worked fine, but needed a lot of care to avoid gouging a hole thru the timbers....ask me how I know...