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Double Bass What grit?

togglehead

togglehead

Jul 1, 2009
429
19
San Diego, CA
www.flickr.com
#1
Id like to know what grit paper to start with for doing a fingerboard dressing. Or...if you dont use paper...what should i get? Im assuming start with something a bit rougher (300?) and move to 1200 or up for the final smoothing.

I have blocks, radius planer (for electrics), and a homebrew block made out of a strip of wood for longer strokes....has worked great in the past.

I read somewhere i should treat the board with BOILED linseed oil afterwards...this logical?

Thanks!
 
#2
togglehead said:
Id like to know what grit paper to start with for doing a fingerboard dressing. Or...if you dont use paper...what should i get? Im assuming start with something a bit rougher (300?) and move to 1200 or up for the final smoothing.

I have blocks, radius planer (for electrics), and a homebrew block made out of a strip of wood for longer strokes....has worked great in the past.

I read somewhere i should treat the board with BOILED linseed oil afterwards...this logical?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I remove the nut and use a very sharp 6" jack plane, dialed in so that it's barely taking any wood off - and a straight metal yardstick to monitor the scoop. when I'm satisfied with the shape of the board, I lightly block sand with 600 wet/dry, polish with 0000 steel wool and hand rub boiled linseed into the wood.

- but that's just me.
 
#3
bigolbassguy said:
I remove the nut and use a very sharp 6" jack plane, dialed in so that it's barely taking any wood off - and a straight metal yardstick to monitor the scoop. when I'm satisfied with the shape of the board, I lightly block sand with 600 wet/dry, polish with 0000 steel wool and hand rub boiled linseed into the wood.

- but that's just me.
Click to expand...

Hm...i thought planes themselves were difficult to use for projects without straight edges. Hence why i always took the long route with radius sanders and things. But then again, i had a truss rod to work with also.

Thanks.
 
#4
The nice thing about using a flat-soled plane is the precision. You can work on an area 1/4" in wide or less, and know exactly how much wood you're taking off. I use a jig and #6000 grit waterstone to hone the blade. Not good enough for some, but that's a whole 'nother thread.
 
#6
#7
BOBG- I believe a "Jack Plane" is a number 4? I have one in the garage... too lazy to go look.

I start, depending on how bad off it is, with my really sharp low angle block plane. Dialed in so it is barely taking a shaving in the middle of the board and work my way towards each end of the board. I then take my $40 pinnacle straight edge and turn out all of the lights in the workshop and look to make sure the scoop is pretty constant and there are not real high spots on the board when back lit.

I then follow up with a sharp card scraper, 120 up to 400 grit paper, and follow that with a wipe down of mineral oil.

Now that I have said that, that is on a relatively good quality ebony board. If it is a non ebony board, be wary of it. It will give you trouble. There may be tear out, etc... go slow and be patient. Constantly monitor your progress. It is really easy for you to get carried away!

YMMV, FWIW, ETC...
Brian
 
#8
Also, if you use a plane, pay attention to the way the grain runs out. You don't want to plane into the grain. That's what pulls splinters. On a cheap board - the runout might be all over the place so you have to plane portions of the board in opposite directions. Rosewood can be awful that way.
 
#9
All real luthiers use planes for all but final finishing. However, they require some real training and experience to use properly. I will probably be kicked off this forum for admitting this, but I use an orbital sander to make small corrections on low end basses (what can I say, I have tons of experience doing very precise shaping with power sanders, and almost none with hand planes!) I will use 100,150,then 220 on the sander, then work my way up to about 800 by hand.

Another thing: all sandpaper is not created equal. I find Klingspor stearate (PS33) to be absolutely superior for hardwoods, especially ebony. It ain't cheap, but use it once and you'll probably throw whatever you were using before right in the trash.
 
#10
#11
Biggest difference: a block plane has the blade mounted differently than all other planes. It's mounted bevel-up -- oriented like a chisel -- and there is no chip breaker. A "Bailey" style plane (what almost everyone thinks of as a plane) has the bevel mounted down and there's a chipbreaker.

A good block plane is never very far away from woodworker's hand.
 
#12
"However, they require some real training and experience to use properly. I will probably be kicked off this forum for admitting this, but I use an orbital sander to make small corrections on low end basses (what can I say, I have tons of experience doing very precise shaping with power sanders, and almost none with hand planes!) I will use 100,150,then 220 on the sander, then work my way up to about 800 by hand."

+1 true that,with the off-woods and pallet grade ebony.
 
#13
forester said:
+1 true that,with the off-woods and pallet grade ebony.
Click to expand...

Not to mention hard black coatings on crapwood boards. If I owned expensive hand planes (and the good ones are quite expensive, way more than my Bosch orbital) I'd be reluctant to use them on crap boards. I suppose it doesn't damage them permanently, but after watching a real pro sharpen a plane blade, I would understand if a luthier asked for extra money to plane a crap board based simply on added resharpening time.

Note: I don't do stuff like this on carved instruments. They go straight to the man. I only do repair work on student junk which would otherwise be thrown away.
 

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