tklaavo's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[PHawley]

Originally Posted by emoney

I think I will call it "yummy"

+1

[CarlosN]

Hmm, very cool idea with the modeling epoxy clay, looking forward to seeing how that turns out. Do you know yet how you are going to finish your pine top? It tends to be a very soft wood, and dents pretty easily. I have a CV BSB tele with pine body, but that has a thick hard coat of poly on it, and it resists dents pretty well (still has a few, but that's part of the life).

[tklaavo]

Originally Posted by CarlosN

Hmm, very cool idea with the modeling epoxy clay, looking forward to seeing how that turns out. Do you know yet how you are going to finish your pine top? It tends to be a very soft wood, and dents pretty easily. I have a CV BSB tele with pine body, but that has a thick hard coat of poly on it, and it resists dents pretty well (still has a few, but that's part of the life).

Yeah, I stole the clay idea..

The finish - not quite sure yet. I've been doing some tests on scrap how to apply epoxy to harden the surface first, but I'm not that sure now. I'm afraid it won't cure hard enough for sanding. More testing needed. A very thin coat of epoxy applied with a credit card might work, but I have to test how it sands down and how the subsequent finishing options will work on top of it.
I have no spraying equipment (and no place either), so the finish will be done completely with stuff I can apply manually. I have some brush-on poly lacquer, which looks promising. My testing is still in process.

Yes, there will also be some colour, but I won't reveal my plans yet..

[RogerC]

That's looking really sharp. I missed the clay binding last year, so I'm glad you used it in this thread so I could see it. Seems like a good way to do it actually.

[Commodore 64]

Originally Posted by tklaavo

It's amazing stuff. As a kid I dreamed about something like this - modeling clay that really hardens. I couldn't believe what they promise, and made some tests two days ago. Yes, it's hard and strong. And yes, it sticks into wood. Yes, you can machine it.
At least it should stick, because I left the surface quite rough after the routing.

My dad is a taxidermist, and he's been using that stuff since I was a kid, so at least 25 years. There's another consistency called "smooth out", and it's more like a paste. All of them can be worked pretty well if you add a little water while you are trying to get it into shape. We used to rebuild fish throats, eye sockets, fins, you name it with that stuff.

[tklaavo]

Originally Posted by Commodore 64

My dad is a taxidermist, and he's been using that stuff since I was a kid, so at least 25 years. There's another consistency called "smooth out", and it's more like a paste. All of them can be worked pretty well if you add a little water while you are trying to get it into shape. We used to rebuild fish throats, eye sockets, fins, you name it with that stuff.

Did you get any of that stuff to customize your toys back then..?

I ordered mine from a Finnish taxidermy supplies webstore, by the way. Seems to be popular in that field!

[tklaavo]

Today I smoothed the neck after the repair.



Sanded most of the oil finish off from the back of the neck. There's some little scars from the surgery:



Mixed some dust and titebond trying to patch them. Put some on the body too, there was a deep spot:



When that was dry, sanded and went on with the Danish oil again. The imperfections will be visible but I don't mind. I'm going to post a pic later when the finish is ready.

I want to wait another day before shaping the body binding, just to make sure it is completely cured. More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime I started preparing for the next one..
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home...ml#post4049164

[ItZaLLGooD]

Good save on the neck.

[nosmo]

Can't even tell you made a repair. Nice job.

[adirondak5]

Nice repair on the neck tk

[tklaavo]

Thanks, not perfect though.. some rough spots to remind me of my mistake.
Hanging after second new oil coat:



I went on with the binding stuff. I didn't know how easy this is to shape when cured, so I was very gentle at first. Put my good sharp pattern router bit on the table and starterd taking very easy passes, first just smoothing it out. Soon there was this grated cheese everywhere:



I'm concerned about the colour. This is supposed to be white, but looks like cyan or light green??? Especially next to the wood.

This is what it looked like after some routing:



The bit doesn't cut all the way, because when the bearing warms up it starts to look like this:



Almost there:



I sanded the upper edge. First by hand, and when I started to believe this stuff sticks to the wood and doesn't break, took the orbital sander with my favourite 120 grit disk. Incredible, I must say:



This stuff is amazing, but it has one negative side: the shavings stick everywhere (static charge..)



Finished the edges with sandpaper, the tricky spots at the neck pocket corners with files:



Cleaned with white spirit, this is the end result. I can't believe this worked... Very happy except for the colour:



I must think how to proceed from here. I'd rather have the binding to have a warm hue, not cold. Maybe it can be painted over somehow? I could have mixed some dye into the paste, but now it's too late.
Any ideas?

[nosmo]

Will the binding material still take a stain? What's the plan on the rest of the finish. Maybe you could mask the top & sides and stain the binding with a rag, or spray a tinted sealer on it.

[adirondak5]

I think it looks great tk , I would leave it as is , but it's your baby , you've got to be happy with it , I hate to even suggest this but you could route it out and mix up a new batch colored to your taste , I would experiment with the color first , mix a small batch and let it dry ?

[tklaavo]

I'll have to test how it will take different kinds of stains and lacquers..
Next week is very busy, maybe I have some time again in the weekend.

[ItZaLLGooD]

I think that it looks beautiful the way it is, but if you want to, maybe mask it off and apply some stain or dye. Try it out on a scrap piece first though.

[tklaavo]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

I hate to even suggest this but you could route it out and mix up a new batch colored to your taste

This option is very much possible too, it would be really easy to route it off with the same bit as I used for the original channel. The final shaping I did today wasn't that hard either.

[tklaavo]

Ok. I made some tests with Apoxie Sculpt, adding a bit of dye powder to the mix. Doesn't take much! Here are my fresh test snakes:



The background is a white sheet of paper, neutral cloudy day's light from the window, colour balance adjusted...

On the left is the original colour, and it is definitely green. The rightmost one is what I started with. Then split it, mixed with undyed stuff, split again etc. I think the one next to the original is close. Maybe mix a little more undyed to that to get a kind of ivory hue.

I wait until these are hard and check if the dye causes any trouble on the structure etc.

If all goes well, I'm gonna do the binding again.

[nosmo]

....And that's why your guitar looks so good. You, my friend, are a perfectionist!

One day I will try binding and I think the way you do it with putty is the way to go.

[tklaavo]

Originally Posted by nosmo

....And that's why your guitar looks so good. You, my friend, are a perfectionist!
One day I will try binding and I think the way you do it with putty is the way to go.

Thank you, but I am not... Ask my wife
Yours doesn't look bad either!
With my limited experience I highly recommend this putty for binding. It can be had in other colours as well and looks like it takes dye easily. It's much easier to shape than wood or soft plastics, it really gets quite hard and sticks to the wood. And you can make your binding to any size. Grandad's old router bit took just about 1 mm and the standard binding material is thicker. But I like this thin look.

[tklaavo]

Today I had a quick visit at the workshop. I'm going out on a trip for some days, so I wanted to do this before that:


And I sure did:


It came out very cleanly:


Mixed the new dyed putty and put it in. A hint to everyone trying this: make enough of the dyed stuff before you start. Make much more than you think you need. It's not nice to try to mix more of the same hue. How do I know??
Also, the more you play with it, the dirtier it gets. Wet hands help when shaping.
This is what I have now:


Can't work on this until next week, maybe Tuesday. Then we'll see what it's like.