Tom Jr. - Posted - 12/15/2008:  05:08:39

I finished my first reso from scratch and am slowly working into the second. I found a tree yesterday that I liked, took the chainsaw to it and with a little help from a planer and table saw, (really wish I had a nice bandsaw) I will have pieces for the top, back, sides, and neck.
The last guitar was black locust and really tough to bend. This new wood is Osage Orange (hedgeapple, bodock) and is even harder than locust. Right now it is green and as flexible as it will ever be. Are there any pros or cons to bending the sides while the wood is green and letting it sit and cure in the shape of a guitar?

Don''t squat with your spurs on.

phil dean - Posted - 12/15/2008:  07:00:27

How much will it shrink? You might end up with a very small guitar.

masteresoguitars.com

meldooby - Posted - 12/15/2008:  11:42:00

May not shrink too much, but those Osage Orange fence posts have been known to last a hundred years. How long do you think it will take to cure?

Mel

Tom Jr. - Posted - 12/16/2008:  05:33:01

Curing should be similiar to other woods, at least a year of air drying, or I could speed the process up with some kiln drying though I believe slow air drying is the best.
The neck will have more mass and possibly need a little more drying time. The last one I did, I rough cut the shape of the neck and that helped speed up the drying process.
The shrinkage will not be along the length of the sides but side to side. A four inch wide piece should shrink about 1/4" in width and next to nothing in length. The dimensional stability of osage orange and resistance to changes in humidity account for it's longevity as a fencepost and hopefully will make the instrument tuning more stable.

Don''t squat with your spurs on.

John Timpany - Posted - 12/17/2008:  12:33:03

Natural seasoning (drying) takes a year an inch thickness of the plank irrespective of wood hardness.
Shaping wood while it's green means parts are still wet while other parts have been heat dried.
That means it will warp and maybe split. Hardwood splits through warping are more difficult to rectify.
I stacked my wood with 1/4" seperaters (spacers) about every 6-8" apart to allow even airflow. The top ones would always warp, where those in the stack stayed flat.

Kiln dried wood is taken down to zero humidity where natural seasoning still leaves some moisture in it. This is useful since it doesn't suddenly suck moisture when you work it into an instrument and then change shape overnight, so overall it's more stable, plus when you bend it the water helps cool the wood stopping it from scorching (if you are bending round/over a hot iron) and the water internally steams and makes the timber more flexible.

If you use kiln dried, it's always best to leave it open to the air for a couple of weeks or so before you work it.

Hope this is of use.

Kind regard.