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How thick do you like your wood bindings to end up after all the sanding is done?
I'm at .075" with my bindings, and figure I'll remove .010" when I scrape and sand to get everything flat with nice crisp purfling lines.
This is thinner than I usually get, but on my last build with bloodwood bindings, I had to take them to .065" just to be able to bend them for the cutaway. I backed them with .020" of black fiber though so it looked wider.

Kevin

I think they will look good at .065. The problem I have had is when they are not of even thickness when finished. I have had to route out binding and reinstalled them where I thinned them more than even I could accept. Now on John Halls suggestion (in some previous post), I am routing the channel so that the bindings are slightly below the sides. Then sides can be sanded to the bindings, and the binding stay full size.

+1 what John just said

I like to glue them in just flush with the sides, and take a little bit off of everything. I have glued .030" BWB side purflings to these bindings, and then ran them through the drum sander which took them down to the approx. .075" thickness to make everything flush, however on one of them there is about a two inch area where the purfling is still a skosh low, probably .005" and I just hate to thin these anymore to take that in, but...that said, I will have to thin it once installed anyway, so perhaps I should just do it now before installing them.????

Kevin

Routing the channels slightly deep is fine, as long as you plan ahead and leave enough material on the sides to allow for the additional thinning. (don't ask how I know this :p )

Of course the ideal solution is for your channels to be the exact depth of your bindings all the way around. :p

The most common dims for "finished" bindings wood or plastic are .20" x .0625" -- I do like the idea of routing a tad deep to allow room to sand "up to the binding" so it is at full size all the way around. I have always used an adjustable routing device so any size binding or purfling can be fabricated and use without concern of limitations due to guide bearing choices. KMG wood bindings are about .25 x .072" unless some custom size is requested.

Well I should end up okay then, so I will go for it with what I have.
I have put tape around the perimeter at .010" so I'll cut shallow with my router/bearing set which is a .150" and a .090" and I'm putting .063" BWB purfling around the top and back. Should come out just right.
Thanks for your input, its always nice to hear what you all are doing.

Kevin

One other thing I was going to say is that at .075" vs .090", these curly Koa bindings are going to bend alot easier.

Kevin