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I cut a guitar shaped clock for my grandson in PA. I like the idea of the pattern but not happy with the cutting. May as well share my failures with the group.
Wood: Bad choice. I had a wide slab of solid 3/4" Aspen that I bought at Lowes. It was a glued up piece (end-to-end) that, once cut, displayed feathering on curves at joins. I sanded these curves as best as I could but apparently not good enough. I'm wondering whether 1/2" wood would work (whew...try saying that aloud 10 times as fast as you can!). I had originally planned on using some 3/4" red oak but my stock got used up on several trivets.
Pattern: A similar pattern can be purchased. Being stingy, I made my own so it is slightly different that the purchased one. The long cuts in the guitar neck were much thinner on my original pattern. I thought these might not show up very well on thick wood so I widened them. Bad idea. Once these were cut, I found that the remaining center line in the neck bowed to one side. Perhaps this was also due to the direction of the grain. On any future cutting, I'll make these lines narrower as I had them originally or add a bridge in the middle if not too distracting.
Cutting: Used an Olson 7R blade. Aside from the neck issue above, the cutting is acceptable. However, I did have to hand-file many areas where the kerf came back around to the starting point and left a nub. I don't know if this is avoidable or not. (Perhaps I'm drilling the gate in the wrong place.) Will have to either make or invest in some good files and sanding aids. What sanding tools are folks using for such tight areas? I seen one called a Flex sander that is shop-made and two others using a bar of (perhaps) spring steel.
Finish: Golden Oak as that is all I have on hand at the moment that worked the best. Tried antique Walnut stain/poly and BLO on scraps but neither did anything for the wood. Had trouble getting the stain into the small areas on the lettering. The cut surfaces really soaked up the stain, making these areas quite dark when compared to the surface area. Finally used an oad paste stain that seemed to work better. The back of the piece came out better than the front (of course!). Completed with 3 coats of poly.
Wood: Bad choice. I had a wide slab of solid 3/4" Aspen that I bought at Lowes. It was a glued up piece (end-to-end) that, once cut, displayed feathering on curves at joins. I sanded these curves as best as I could but apparently not good enough. I'm wondering whether 1/2" wood would work (whew...try saying that aloud 10 times as fast as you can!). I had originally planned on using some 3/4" red oak but my stock got used up on several trivets.
Pattern: A similar pattern can be purchased. Being stingy, I made my own so it is slightly different that the purchased one. The long cuts in the guitar neck were much thinner on my original pattern. I thought these might not show up very well on thick wood so I widened them. Bad idea. Once these were cut, I found that the remaining center line in the neck bowed to one side. Perhaps this was also due to the direction of the grain. On any future cutting, I'll make these lines narrower as I had them originally or add a bridge in the middle if not too distracting.
Cutting: Used an Olson 7R blade. Aside from the neck issue above, the cutting is acceptable. However, I did have to hand-file many areas where the kerf came back around to the starting point and left a nub. I don't know if this is avoidable or not. (Perhaps I'm drilling the gate in the wrong place.) Will have to either make or invest in some good files and sanding aids. What sanding tools are folks using for such tight areas? I seen one called a Flex sander that is shop-made and two others using a bar of (perhaps) spring steel.
Finish: Golden Oak as that is all I have on hand at the moment that worked the best. Tried antique Walnut stain/poly and BLO on scraps but neither did anything for the wood. Had trouble getting the stain into the small areas on the lettering. The cut surfaces really soaked up the stain, making these areas quite dark when compared to the surface area. Finally used an oad paste stain that seemed to work better. The back of the piece came out better than the front (of course!). Completed with 3 coats of poly.
Any chance you would share it ? Why not just add some "frets" to the neck ? They would strengthen it and add some character I think . I agree with da moose on the 1/2 oak
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