Purfling thickness

[turnertj]

Evening all...

How thick should purfling be? I received some today that seems mighty thick to me...like .10" thick. Seems like that would be way to thick to install in the soundboard. Is there a standard thickness you guys use, or even better, a percentage of the soundboard thickness that you don't cross?

And then as a follow-up. What's the best way to get it to a uniform thickness if it's too thick?

Thanks...Tj

[Tom West]

I limit my purfling in the top to 2/3 thickness of the top.That does not mean it will always be that depth,depends on the thickness of the top. I generally use herringbone on the top and find that the thickness is OK with out modifying.If a substantial amount is proud it is quite easy to remove by scraping in the clean up after the glue has dried.
Tom

[tippie53]

There are no rules on this. Purfling on a D45 is as thick as I think of binding .0625 B/W/B ( .060 ) Pearl ( .0624) B/W/B.060 so that is .245

[kencierp]

I agree with John there are no rules -- however be aware of the dimension stack up -- in other words you don't want to cut so deep or wide that you compromise the glue joint by cutting away too much material (top/back kerfing). About .0625 (1/16") is common.

[turnertj]

Thanks guys...

I meant exactly what Ken was getting at...the depth into the soundboard. I don't want to have to make a channel so deep that I sacrifice integrity of the top. I've got a better idea now.

Tj

[Tony_in_NYC]

TJ,

You only need the channel for the purfling to be deep enough so you can securely glue in the purf, and still have some left after you scrape and sand for your finish. I find that with the B/W/B Stem Mac sells, I only embed about half of the depth into the channel, the rest is proud and gets scraped off. Same on the sides. I make the channel as deep as needed for the binding, then I put the side purfling that deep. Whatever is sticking out gets scraped and sanded off. I prefer to make my binding channels thinner than the sides. So if my sides are .085", the binding is .075" deep. You can go as thick as the sides, but then glue can drip into the box and make a mess inside. Yuck. Not pretty.

Tony

[turnertj]

Thanks Tony...

I'll try that out.

Tj