Homemade purfling

[Kevin in California]

Its been very hot here. 105 or more already for 2 weeks every day. Two days of 112. My shop is not air conditioned so im usually done by 11 or 12 noon for tge day if i even get into the shop.
So ive not made much progress on my lstest violin project.

However i was needing to order purfling for guitar and violin and was just hesitant this time when looking at the cost. So i decided to mske some of my own.

I have a variety of veneers to choose from, all .020" thick.
They are 4" x 36" so perfect for making purfling strips.

I was out of black veneer but had some wenge which is a dark brown to pair with holly.

So i glued up a lamination of wenge - holly - wenge. 2" wide by 36" long. I used titebond.
When dry i set up my 12" bandsaw to cut the strips, about .090" wide which makes the strips .060" wide by .090" tall when using them. I got 16 strips. 2 strips is plenty for a violin, and 5 will do the top, back, and ringed rosette of a guitar.

I think the veneer was about $5 per 4" wide piece so i have $10 in the 16 strips. Pretty good.

I didnt take a pic of the glue up but basically clamped it up between the bench and a top board, wax paper under and over.

[John Parchem]

That worked out well. When I tried that I did not think bandsaw and not so successfully used a knife.

[Kevin in California]

John i used a 1/4 x 18 tooth blade and got a smooth cut. I did the "saw into a board and clamp it down" trick so is have zero clearance around the blade. That made the cuts really nice.

The wenge is a bit splintery but using it this way shouldnt be an issue (i hope).