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Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:23 am
by rhagen
Greetings all.

I've just received my first kit, a OOO-28 from John at Blues Creek Guitars.
Unpacked it last night and it all looks good, except for the sides. There
seems to be a lot of dark sap on them. I'll try and attach a photo.
Is this normal? I'm guessing a scraper would remove it best, should I wait
until the body is together and scrape it off then? Is it likely that more will ooze
out later, or is this the result of the heat applied in bending the sides?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 6:57 pm
by tippie53
that is normal and is caused in the bending process. It will sand off .

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:24 pm
by rhagen
OK. Thanks. Actually, there is a lot on the inside too. I guess I better get that off so that the end blocks and kerfing get a good glue bond when I start the assembly process.

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:02 am
by Tony_in_NYC
Hello Rhagen,
Welcome to the forum and kit guitar building. Like John said, that is totally normal. Rosewood is oily, and when bent, the oils come out of the wood.
Good luck with your build!

Tony

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:14 am
by Kevin Sjostrand
Rick, I second the welcome. You will enjoy the building of your guitar I'm sure. By the way, that is some purttyyyyyyy rosewood. Can you put up a pic of the back too?

Kevin

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:55 am
by rhagen
Hi Kevin,

Yes, I'm quite happy with the quality of the figure on the sides and back. I'll attach a photo of the back.
I've been getting set up to start the build, built some additional spreaders for the body modeled on the one I bought from John. Also built a go-bar deck that I think is going to work great! I'll be ready to start soon I hope.

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:40 pm
by naccoachbob
Man, that's a great looking back and sides set.
Gonna make a good one!!
Bob

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:16 am
by rhagen
I did some scraping and sanding on the sides and got most of the sap off. Good enough for now, will get the rest after the box is assembled.

Question: also in the grain of the sides I see some tiny white spots and streaks (too small to get in a photo). Is this normal in the wood, or is it something else that has gotten on it? They will probably get covered when I do pore filling prior to finishing. That is, if pore filling is usually done on rosewood - never worked with it before.

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 4:09 pm
by Ken Hundley
I may be wrong, but what you are seeing are mineral deposits in the wood. I don't think they will come out, but may darken if you use a colored pore filler.

Re: Sap on Rosewood, normal?

Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 4:39 pm
by tippie53
I know they are not mineral deposits. When you heat the wood ,the resins come to the surface . This will sand /scrape off. Mineral deposits on EIR are often white.