Cutting wood binding...

[Robert Hosmer]

Hello to all!

Cleaning and reorganizing around the place, and that always entails organizing the scrap, offcuts, etc. and deciding what to keep and what not to keep.

I've decided a lot of the longer stuff is suitable for processing into binding, but I'm kinda stumped as to how to orient the grain. Given the small sizes involved, does it even matter? Not so much from a viewpoint of stability, but more with bending. Would one way be "better" than another?
Or is it a case that with some woods it might matter, and others no matter?

Here's what's on the list so far:
Several types of ebony
Holly
Bloodwood
African blackwood
Purpleheart
Yellowheart
All of the "mohaganies"
All of the maples- my largest concern with this is that the "curl" is most pronounced when quarter-cut, at least with what I have.
Several types of walnut
Cherry
Several types of rosewood

Just wanted to get some input from others before I started setting up. Also, some of this might not be worth the effort to cut into binding if it's not a wood "suitable" for binding. Some of the mahogany will be processed into linings or kerfings.

Thanks,
Rob

[Kevin in California]

hey Rob, sounds like a great selection of wood colors to choose from for bindings.
I have cut my own from walnut and from hard maple. Both were oriented quarter sawn. I have used the maple, not yet used the walnut.
The maple has a silky look to it that I like, but you don't get any curl. The maple bent perfect in my bender this way. I expect the walnut to bend just fine too. I'd love to have the variety you have. I say quarter sawn will probably give you less trouble when bending, but you might get more figure if you go the other way. I say cut some and see how it looks. Mahogany binding can look pretty good against EIR or Walnut B & S!

Show us what you come up with.

Kevin

[Ken Hundley]

I think you do what makes it look best. I have done basically, Koa (flat sawn), maple (quarter and flat sawn), and wenge (quarter and flat sawn). Quarter sawn yeilds nice, even grained binding. Flat sawn yeilds fantastic figure, especially in wenge, but as it cools and stabilizes, the figure could become prominent, compromising a good glue line with a little waviness that requires some extra sanding or scraping prior to installation. Otherwise, sounds like you have some great binding options there.

[TonyinNYC]

What Ken said. Orient it so it looks best. If you want it to bend easily but don't care so much about looks (i.e. curl) then quarter saw it.

[ken cierp]

Bloodwood is difficult to bend even the thin binding strips -- and it seem it has a mind of its own sometimes the flat sawn material will bend just fine -- but most time it will de-laminate peeling at the grain layers. The Mahoganies will at times do this too. Maple, Rosewood, Walnut, Cherry bend easily any grain orientation. However, don't throw caution to the wind, make samples and bend them before making piles of strips. I thickness bindings to about .075" +/- Bloodwood and a few of the other very hard woods tad thinner.