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I think you've misunderstood the problem - it's not about temperature. Your oak has a high humidity content because it's green. Over time it will lost that extra humidity until it matches its environment. Indoors is generally drier than outdoors (we're talking humidity in the air here, not...

I've not found a fill that's a real match, because it always reflects light differently from the wood. Sawdust and glue is bad, even if you use lighter dust and the glue darkens it to match the colour, because the fill is essentially all end grain. For instrument necks and other curves my final...

I'd reinforce the central, longitudinal, member. I bought a slatted bed, and with two on board we rolled to the middle! A 2 x4 added in the middle and, even years later, each side is springy enough for comfort but without sagging in the middle. It's a standard double with 12mm thick slats...

This site is good in my experience. Your timber looks rather similar to this greenheart. https://www.wood-database.com/greenheart/

Thanks all! Lots of interesting and informative info here.

A recent conversation with my wife moved from the new book by Julian Barnes, through John Evelyn's lament about the destruction of woods, to oak framed building construction and thence to ship building. Don't ask, it's all rock and roll stuff like this in my house :) But we then wanted to know...

Toolsntat's instructions were for taking 5mm or more off. In summary, cut the end grain parts to the line, then plane off the rest as described (I think of it as planing a tent, then planing the ridge down). For a small amount, you'll have to plane the end grain too. I'd plane a bevel all...

Too many instruments is a tough calculation. I could get by with 4 for performing: Soprano uke Tenor guitar in GDAE Tenor guitar in CGDA Six string guitar But I do have a few more ukes, just because ... The upright bass is a work in progress. The tenor banjo is useful for recordings. Maybe I...

I like the parlour! Wish my charity shops were as well stocked :) A bolt on can be easy - just possibly loosening the bolts will let you floss the neck joint with sandpaper. If not, the video I linked shows ungluing of the fingerboard extension. This might be one you could try yourself without...

It looks like it's time, or nearly time, for a neck reset. All flat top instruments try to eat themselves through their own soundhole, and that dip looks about right for a guitar of some years age. The slope down from the 14th fret was a deliberate choice by the maker - the alternative would...

If you try again, my best suggestion is to glue up in low humidity. Then the top will only expand, not shrink, unless you take it to Arizona. Expansion is less likely to open up the joins or crack the wood. In theory each panel should move at much the same rate, though there are no guarantees...

Your glue probably dried, but your garage is almost certainly more humid than indoors. Plywood is only (fairly) dimensionally stable along and across its face - it gets thicker or thinner with humidity. See this thread Humidity and wood movement - the basics If you look at your top and work out...

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and say, "save your money until you know what you are going to make". From CoolNik's early posts, I get the impression these are small items, at least to begin with. I use both Western and Japanese saws. For a short rip cut (say 1 ft, 300 mm) I'd choose the...

Softwood is a terror for absorbing more or less finish in places, thus the blotching. My approach is to try to seal the surface with one or two very thin coats first, before applying the remainder. With shellac I dilute it and then wipe one just enough to damp, not wet, the surface, and repeat...

Yes, vertical grain is the ideal. Same for the backs. But trees tend to twist as they grow, so a bookmatched top tends to have vertical grain at one edge and some slant at the other. It's usual to join the two along the vertical grain edges, so that expansion in the centre (where the top has...

I don't think I'd use accoya. For an acoustic instrument there are three main drawbacks: increased density. For soundboards, dense wood is a way of achieving a very quiet instrument. can't use traditional glues which are reversible/repairable. PU is a nightmare on instruments, epoxy is messy...

I think I know the answer (sort of). In liquid form, H20 molecules hang tight together. Thus surface tension which holds water droplets together. As a gas, H2O molecules cavort about solo, or maybe as couples, and so can get through tiny apertures. Most finishes will let the gas through, but...

I've seen quite a few posts recently where the answer was 'humidity has made it move'. Humidity can be a mystery, especially when you're starting out. Because I make guitars and ukuleles, which quickly fall apart if you don't understand humidity, I've had to read up on it lots. So I thought I'd...

I'd say the important thing is to select vertical grain boards (end on view like this: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||). These shrink/expand least across the grain, and shouldn't cup. Flat sawn boards are likely to give you problems. This is the preferred cut for musical instruments, and I have...

These sort of things ...