Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Barsymes Cratchnee on December 19, 2013 at 9:35pm

Ok So I'm panicking a little.

Decided to try something simple and went with a lemon oil.  Picked up some Old English Lemon Oil at Home Depot today.  Just started to apply to my fret board prior to putting in frets,  (Note: the neck has no finish on it, fret board is purpleheart and neck is a dark walnut) when i started to notice the entire neck/fret board was bowing.  Not sure if this is normal, but I doubt it.  I swear this neck and fret board were very straight prior to applying lemon oil.  See pic below.   Thinking I'm gonna have to throw this one.  I did start to apply oil to the neck as well to see if would straighten but no luck so far.   Can anyone explain what happened or what I did wrong?  I'm assuming no fix as I have some experience attempting to straighten warped lumber but any suggestions would help.

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on December 19, 2013 at 11:00pm

Unseasoned or poorly sawn timber, or it's been stored at one humidity level and brought into a different environment and warped due to humidity and temperature changes. Nothing to do with oiling the surface of the timber, that won't have any significant effect. You built many necks? The reason I ask is that it's happened to me, but only a couple of times and I reckon I've learned from the experience . Throw it away or burn it.

Permalink Reply by Barsymes Cratchnee on December 19, 2013 at 11:29pm

Yep, guessing this is right.  Wood was stored in my cold garage for a long time.  Will try again with different wood.

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on December 19, 2013 at 11:39pm

I bought a cheapo digital weather station with a remote sensor, tells me the temp and humidity in my studio (in my house) and outside garage. I always try and store my timber in the house to stabilise the humidity - depending on where you live, you may be alarmed at the huge variation between internal and external humidity once you can see it on a read-out!! You might get away with planing off the fingerboard, letting the neck stabilise , re-planing and putting on a new fingerboard..but that's a lot of work..also it looks like you've notched the neckstick for the box and added a heel, so it looks like firewood to me....

Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on December 20, 2013 at 6:12am

Ouch. That's terrible. If I had to guess I am thinking the fretboard shrunk probably a moisture problem. was the wood kiln dried? Green?

Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on December 20, 2013 at 6:57am

Wierd... I didn't see CbJ's response.  Sorry for your loss.  Thanks for sharing, that'll probably save me one day...

 

John:  Have you had issues with warping due to expansion/contration of differing wood types?

Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on December 20, 2013 at 7:20am

I feel your pain man. This happened to my first 2, although I think it was the string tension that killed them!

Permalink Reply by Barsymes Cratchnee on December 20, 2013 at 10:33am

Well...I just hashed this out with my dad who is a professional cabinet builder/wood worker and his theory is pretty much exactly what CB said.  I did all my cut and glue-ups in the shop where its been pretty cold as of late (in Colorado).  Then brought the piece inside my nice warm, cozy (likely more humid) home to apply the lemon oil.  I'm thinking the exposed (non-fret-board) side basked in the heat and humidity, expanded and....you know the rest.  I have to assume the fact that the two different species of wood reacted to the environment change pretty differently added to the problem.

My dad's plan for the next one was to get all my cuts done in garage, bring the pieces in the house for a few days to acclimate, then do glue ups in the house, only taking the piece out to garage to work on it after my space heater has warmed the garage up a bit and bring it back into house when not working on it.  Any other suggestions or advice are welcome.

Will definitely be storing my wood and pieces I'm working on for future pieces in the house like CB said.

This was all well seasoned wood, none of it green, but had been stored in my garage/wood shop which stays cold for most of the time.  I usually turn on a little space heater when I work out there otherwise colorado winter cold (during this season anyways).

I never had this issue in past, but most of the woodworking I've done is large furniture, so everything is pretty locked in by the time I bring it into the house.

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