snag - no bandsaw to cut out body shape!

axisus

I was relying on my dad's bandsaw to cut out the body shape, but I dropped in to find that it is in a state of disrepair! Fallback plan was to see if they had one at work. I figured that they would but they don't! The body blank that I have is a thick, dense lump of oak (I think?) so I'm wondering how best to tackle it. Would it be mad to try and use the router to get rid of all the excess wood? Maybe that's a daft question, I don't know to be honest.

WezV

It will massively increase your chances of tear out and accidents if you try to remove it all with a router, you will certainly reduce the life of the bit quite substantially 

some people manage with jig saws, usually with a series of relief holes driled close to the body outline   My first was done by hand with a coping saw - wouldn't recommend that

Roland

A decent jig saw, with the correct blade, will do most woods up to 2" if you take it slowly. I'm not sure about oak though. It's a bit tough. There are threads on TDPRI about wandering blades, and the need for relief holes. That's not my experience, so I wonder what they were doing differently

TTony

axisus said:

The body blank that I have is a thick, dense lump of oak (I think?)

Can I ask why you chose oak for the body wood?

It's unusual.

For a reason.

Marktigere1

Get a cheap kitchen worktop router bit.

Using a guide bush, cut in increasingly deep cuts all the way round your body template (if you have one) with the router.

Mind you, I do this with Sycamore not Oak.

guitarcookie1

Find a local timber company and ask for a price to cut it down to size?

axisus

TTony said:

axisus said:

The body blank that I have is a thick, dense lump of oak (I think?)

Can I ask why you chose oak for the body wood?

It's unusual.

For a reason.

The best reason for a hard up soul - it was free! To be honest I didn't even know what it was, it was only when my dad looked at it and said it was oak. Apart from heavy is there likely to be any problem? I wasn't fussy to be honest as It's my first attempt at a body and I thought I might bugger it up.

TTony

It'd be very unlikely to be much use as a guitar, heavy, and not the easiest of materials to work with.

You could get something a lot better for not a lot of ££s, that would make a better guitar and be easier to work with.

Quick trawl on eBay for body blanks, or someone might be able to point you in a better direction.

TTony

Something like this (assuming that it stays cheap) would be much better than a piece of oak.  Even a free piece of oak.

WezV

axisus said:

 I wasn't fussy to be honest as It's my first attempt at a body and I thought I might bugger it up.

you may find you bugger it up because you have chosen a more difficult wood to work with.

I would be looking at some meranti or idigbo which can usually be had locally and cheap.      

axisus

Thanks for the advice guys, is oak really that problematic? To be honest, I feel at the moment that as I've started I'll probably carry on for now and see how it goes. I will certainly bear in mind Wood choice next time around. It's only going to be a beat up old thing with a beat up finish, not a pristine thing of beauty.

octatonic

Oak is pretty hard- there is a reason it is used for flooring- it is durable, doesn't overly suffer from movement.

It will blunt your chisels, router bits and blades.

It is heavy and dense. as well- 700 kg/m3.

By way of comparison, Mahogany is 500 kg/m3.

I'd consider making a neck out of oak (maybe) but never a body.

There are heavier woods- Ebony & Wenge for example- but I also wouldn't recommend making a guitar body out of them.

How much do you want to enjoy this process?

For a first build I would absolutely find something easier to work with.

Get a nice piece of basswood, poplar or alder.

Give ash a miss for a first build- it can be tricky to work.

A5D5E5

I've just had some work done in my garden - building retaining walls and the like.  I had some old oak sleepers which we used for part of it. The guy had to use a chainsaw to cut the sleepers as the reciprocating saw he started to use just wasn't up to the job. 

Old oak is like iron. 

usedtobe

Doesn't oak go REALLY dark, with age..?

Chalky

Maybe you are thinking "oak is wood, so it can't be THAT different". But it is. You will probably end up learning much more about why not to use oak than about mak8ng a guitar body

Roland

usedtobe said:

Doesn't oak go REALLY dark, with age..?

Yes, if you count in centuries.  Other woods do too, but some of them don't last for enough centuries to get really dark.

Sambostar

You can do it with a jigsaw, a decent pone mind, like a Dewalt DW331K at least.  But you have to go real slow and let the blade do the work and move it along.  Even then, with 1.75" oak you would struggle to get it within 2-3mm all round, but you could probably manage 5mm. The convex curves you could just hack at with a tablesaw.

Oak is shit, it splits and shakes, hope it's not a a one piece body and is two/three at least.

axisus

Doh! Ok, I'm a twat. It isn't oak it's ash Apparently! I don't have much of a clue on wood so I was going by what someone else said. Still have the problem on cutting the shape mind you.

Andyjr1515

axisus said:

Doh! Ok, I'm a twat. It isn't oak it's ash Apparently! I don't have much of a clue on wood so I was going by what someone else said. Still have the problem on cutting the shape mind you.

In which case a decent jigsaw with a good blade would do it, @axisus. The alternative is the cheapo Clarke bandsaw they sell in machine mart. Very basic, portable-ish, but works ( I use one on all my builds)

WezV

In that case, if its English ash, its still going to be pretty hefty.

axisus

Yeah, it has a bit of weight about it. I'm going to persevere and see how it goes.