Wenge for binding?

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:49 am

Morning all,

My son had a soccer game at Richmond last weekend so we had to stop at the local purveyors of sticks and lumps of wood. I ended up with a few things and one is this 30mm x 30mm x 1250mm stick of Wenge. Aha he thinks...... binding!

The stick is cut along the grain so I could cut binding flat or on the quarter. the light/dark contrast is quite marked so i think either would work visually. Has anyone used this stuff and made it work?

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:17 am

Wear gloves.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:33 pm

bob wrote:Wear gloves.

and the Guinness...., before or after?

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:21 pm

Just before you pull out all the splinters

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:34 pm

I have not bent any wenge but I think that I remember reading posts from those that have that it is not only splintery it is also difficult to bend with lots of spring back.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:38 pm

Sounds like this wood might benefit from a veneer softener before bending.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:28 am

sounds like it might be better for laminations or inlays......

Taffy Evans · Post by **Taffy Evans** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:31 am

Hi
I bent a difficult binding timber last night, I needed it twice the thickness to normal. I gave it away at the first attempt due to splitting and springback. However after a bit of thought [beleiving in the saying "in every difficulty lies opportunity"] I had another go. What I did was make a mini Fox type bender. I used it for the waist and cutaway areas as both bouts would bend if taken slow and with more steam, I did use a metal strip on top ot the timber tho as insurance.

I sandwiched the wet timber trip between two lengths of thin aluminium and wound down the top form of the mini bender using ordinary clamps. I kept the wood hot with a heat gun, I have three heat guns of different heat ranges starting from a hairdrier up, I used the hottest gun. The hole thing was mounted in my 'island vise' and took ten minutes to knock up out of scraps. Might be worth a try, if you havn't already.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:11 am

Thanks for the tip Taffy!

Sebastiaan

joel Thompson · Post by **joel Thompson** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:55 am

Hello there,
my first post here but i have been lurking for a while.

I cut alot of wenge for bindings and find it makes a good option.
its plus's are that is very strong and the latewood very dense.
It also bends ok at about 2mm

The minus points are that it plinters easily and can split along the grain when bending abit like snakewood does.
it also has the largest pores i have ever seen which need to be filled which can be a problem if you body wood is non porus.
The early wood is pretty soft and wears away quicker than the late wood and this is even worse if you get close to the sap.

Apart that it can look wonderfull with the tangenital face displaying nice partrige wing figure.

If you can get past the minus points it makes fine bindings.

joel.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:33 pm

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum Joel.

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:58 pm

Let me be the second, welcome Joel.

Cheers

Kim

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:09 pm

Let me be the tird.

Welcome Joel.

Bob

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:32 pm

G'day Joel , Welcome down under

WaddyT · Post by **WaddyT** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:46 pm

Welcome Joel. Look out for Bob, I think he has a spelling problem. Don't, however, know if he meant to hit a "u" or left out an "h".

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:50 pm

bob wrote:Let me be the tird.

Welcome Joel.

Bob

That goes without saying Bob

Cheers

Kim

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:12 am

Thank you for the comments Joel, I think that visually the stuff would be fabulous,

Also, welcome to the forum! what do you build? we are suckers for photos, do you have any of Wenge binding?

Sebastiaan

cool avatar Bob!

Larry Davis · Post by **Larry Davis** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:55 pm

joel Thompson wrote:The early wood is pretty soft and wears away quicker than the late wood and this is even worse if you get close to the sap.joel.

Hi Joel, you are probably referring to the light and dark bands in Wenge as "late and early wood"? I'm only surmising on this here. The whitish bands are parenchyma and neither late or early growth.

Wenge grows in West Africa in tropical forests which do not produce early (spring) and late (summer) ring growth patterns as that is a distinction of temperate forrests in the northern hemisphere. West Africa is tropical forests. The flooring industry rates Wenge very high in abrasion resistance, but you can drive a tractor thru the courese texture. Happy filling

joel Thompson · Post by **joel Thompson** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:51 am

Larry your absolutly right,

where wenge grows the seasons are preety much dry or wet so it doesent realy have early or late wood but i find its a good way to explain the striping in a way folks visualise even though it is not accurate.
my bad i should have made this clear.

i think wenge makes pretty bindings but its a pain to work and it will split on you if hand bend.
but with a blanket its pretty much ok if dont count the evil craters it has for pores.

Its a trade off between visual beuty and function.

Thanks for the welcomes folks i build mainly steel string acoustics and the odd electric.
but not profesionaly.
i used to work in the music industry servicing pro-audio equiptement ,mixing consoles and fitting out the large english recording studios.
i wasent happy doing this so i went college, first part time for a year then full time for two to study guitar building in london.
i started selling a little wood to other students as a hobby at the same.

now i have left college i work with wood full time whilst making about 5 guitars a year to sell to my old contacts in the muso trade.

I am by no means an expert on any matter and i am here to learn.
I have many years ahead of me before i have the experience of folks like larry but i spend alot of time reaserching wood and its properties in relation to guitar making and i am currently collecting data for a book on the subject.
but i love wood and with work it on a daily basis now.
at last i am happy in a job i love

Sorry for the spelling folks i have problems getting my words mixed and repeating myself.
sorry if this confuses you,

Joel.

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Wenge for binding?

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