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Wood Core Drill

Started by FabberMcGee, December 30, 2010, 10:22:08 PM

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FabberMcGee

My dad has an oportunity to harvest one Sitka Spruce in south central Alaska to be used for guitar bodies by a friend of his in Virginia who is one of the most celebrated guitar builders in the country. Before he cuts a tree he wants to send small core samples to the guitar guy to let him chose. Does anyone know where to get a green wood core drill 1/2 inch or less and hopefully 3 feet long or more.

Texas Ranger

Forestry Suppliers or Ben Meadows would be a couple of sources.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

FabberMcGee

Thanks, I found them at Ben Meadows, but I'm afraid 800 bucks is a bit out of budget for us. Any other ideas? We only need one for a few days so it's hard to justify a big expense.

northwoods1

I am completely puzzled as to how a luthier would choose tonewood from a core sample of a tree. Can you enlighten me to how this is possible? Is he looking for one piece tops? Seems like there are to many variables when sawing and a core sample would not guarantee suitable tonewood, only that a particular tree might yield some good material if sawn correctly. Is your father going to cut the tree and try to saw guitar tops out of it?  ???

FabberMcGee

Northwoods, all I know about guitars  is that if the right guy is plucking the strings they sound pretty good. My understanding is my dad wants him to be able to choose from dense growth rings or wide ones and be certain that the tree is not rotten inside. If he only gets one tree he wants it to be a good one. The trees are in Prince William Sound (site of Exxon's big spill). One of my dad's commercial fisherman friends will haul the log to Whittier for rail shipment or around the Kenia Penninsula to Homer to be hauled to Fairbanks.  By that time I should have my band mill completed and be able to make some thick quarter sawn planks for him to haul to Virginia. Mostly this is a fun project for my 94 (he'll be 95 by then) year old dad and his buddies. I think he's itching to fall a tree that's 5 or 6 feet on the butt before he gets too old. I'm his youngest kid and at 56, I still just do what I'm told and try to stay out of the way. Guitar guy may have to make a trip to Alaska to choose his planks. I have no idea how that will work itself out.

Autocar

Not sure if any citys in Alaska are tree city's but most in the lower 48 our. And alot of them have a forester so most of them have core sample tools but quarter inch is the biggest Ive ever seen. I would think that they could help you out. And as far as growth samples he may want to know how fast it has grown and how close the rings are.
Bill

WDH

I agree with Auto.  You might be able to borrow one, or better yet, act helpless and get a Forester to do it for you since it is a fun project and for a 95 year old luthier :).  That should soften even a Canadian forester's heart  ;D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Texas Ranger

Danny, can you imagine carrying a 3 foot long increment borer through the woods?  How about starting it in a tree? :o
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

northwoods1



I so wish there was some way I could help you out :-[  this is the kind of project that I live for :)

I don't know... short of having a boring tool , is your dad familiar with Sitka Spruce and what it generally cuts out like where there trees are that he will be able to select from? One thing is for sure you can get a heck of a lot of guitar tops from one suitable tree or even one log. Just a bookmatched 2 piece top of SP will sell for $75 or so and that is 2 very small pieces. I do understand now why you might want to try a boring tool before selecting and falling an entire tree in hopes that it will provide suitable guitar tops for your dads friend. You should check out the websites of people who are cutting and selling that exact kind of material up in S.E. AK there are people who do nothing but saw and sell tonewood, maybe there is something to be learned there.  I would be very hard pressed to thing of a way to better utilize wood than by making a musical instrument out of it!! Your dad must be one heck of a guy :) all I can say is if he cuts a tree for his friend in VA and you do as you were describing please please take some pics and post them here :)

beenthere

Best bet would be looking at logs from trees already cut. That would mean going to an AK Indian reservation sawmill. Don't think the US Forest Service is managing any forests in AK for cutting.  :( :(

Might contact the ranger district on the Chugach Nat'l Forest for a forester (if any are left there).
Glacier Ranger District  Chugach Natl Forest
P.O. Box 129 Forest Station Road Girdwood, AK 99587 (907) 783-3242

They may be able to help with the problem (highly unlikely finding a standing tree like what you are looking for is possible).
Also don't think a core will tell you much of anything, even if you could get one 3 ft long.  It would only tell you what the wood was like the one place you pulled the core.
If the trees are 5' diam, then likely there would be some guitar wood somewhere in that tree (I'd guess that anyway).  So find dear ol Dad a tree to cut down, and take it from there. :)


But wish you luck.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

northwoods1

Quote from: beenthere on December 31, 2010, 02:19:10 PM
Best bet would be looking at logs from trees already cut. That would mean going to an AK Indian reservation sawmill. Don't think the US Forest Service is managing any forests in AK for cutting.  :( :(

Might contact the ranger district on the Chugach Nat'l Forest for a forester (if any are left there).
Glacier Ranger District  Chugach Natl Forest
P.O. Box 129 Forest Station Road Girdwood, AK 99587 (907) 783-3242

They may be able to help with the problem (highly unlikely finding a standing tree like what you are looking for is possible).
Also don't think a core will tell you much of anything, even if you could get one 3 ft long.  It would only tell you what the wood was like the one place you pulled the core.
If the trees are 5' diam, then likely there would be some guitar wood somewhere in that tree (I'd guess that anyway).  So find dear ol Dad a tree to cut down, and take it from there. :)


But wish you luck.


been there ...have you actually been there and seen the wood he might have available? I don't understand what you mean when you say it is highly unlikely he would be able to find a suitable tree that is standing for the purposes he needs , , how do you know that?

If it were you ... and you wanted to cut down just one tree and get suitable tonewood how would you go about it? Just guess? That is probably what I would do... but If I fell a 5-6' diameter tree and found that it wasn't what I needed... well maybe I would feel pretty bad!!!!!  :-[ ??? :'( :-[

being able to choose from trees already cut would be much easier but I don't see how that helps.

beenthere

I'm being my "skeptical" self. :)
But the wood in the Sitka spruce trees will be just that....spruce wood.

I think there will be "tonewood" in whatever chosen 5' diam tree of good vigor just as sure as I am sitting here.  Now I could be wrong that the tonewood in the tree felled wouldn't satisfy someone looking for their own classification of "tonewood", but I'll bet it would be perfect "tonewood" for someone else.

Now anyone can argue that their "tonewood" selection is the best. I won't argue that it isn't.  ;D
That is "marketing". And there are many interesting ways to make those marketing claims.

But I will bet that it can't be picked out from a core taken from a 5-6' diameter trees. Very likely the growth rate is pretty consistent for most of the years that size tree has been growing, or at least the growth rate sought for "tonewood" will be there somewhere in that tree.  Maybe this doesn't make sense.

However, if one can find the boring tool then have at the exercise.
I'll be fine with that :)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

FabberMcGee

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll keep you posted on progress and results.

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