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Hi, I'm on the part of my first build where I am making my rosette. I am using offcuts of 4 different woods, and doing what I think is called a radial rosette design.

Once I am ready to inlay, I want to use a plastic b/w/b purfling around the inner and outer portion. No, I don't want to buy wooden purfling; this is what I have.
My question is, will Titebond hold the purfling in along with the wood rosette, or should I use something like binding cement (assuming that will work on wood)?
I'm not set up to use CA, as I have no shellac. I could probably get some locally, but it would be premixed from a can.
Best advice is much appreciated.
Thanks.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I've made two radial rosettes that had inner and outer purfling rings made from plastic tortoise shell binding around a rosette ring made of mahogany tiles. I used the old LMI white glue which is basically the same as Titebond and it worked fine so Titebond should be fine with your plastic purfling.

After reading your question again, I'm wondering if you might be thinking of gluing the plastic purfling to the wood rosette ring away from the top and then inlaying the complete rosette into the top. Your question makes it sound like that could be your plan. My answer above assumes you are planning to inlay the wood ring into the top and then route the purfling channels and inlay the purfling around the wood ring.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Thanks, Jay.
I am planning to cut out a single rosette channel with a cutter and a chisel; it will be one rosette, similar to how a classical rosette is made. I plan to inlay them at the same time. Put the glue in, place the wooden rosette, then press in the outer purfling and inner purfling. It will border the wood on both sides, but I have no plan to glue it all together beforehand.
I have watched the process over and over on youtube for months. Actually, anything I can on guitar building I gobble up. I think I have a pretty good idea on the process I want to use, just was unclear about whether Titebond would work in this situation. Thanks a lot for the help.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Duco cement works with both

Thanks, Clinchriver. I'll pick some up.
Is anyone familiar with this glue? I have a ton of it laying around and it is supposed to work well with most material.

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Glue-Fix-A ... B005IDYCOO

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

We mill the ring (we glue the hardwood wedges to 1/64" aircraft plywood commonly sold in hobby and craft shops), then mill the recess in the top .005" or so oversized versus the milled ring, then glue the ring in the recess with fish or hide (although Titebond or medium CA could also be used).

We then mill the inside and outside purfling channels to fit (usually about .001"-.002" greater than the purfling stack), shellac with 1 pound cut, and use thin CA to glue in the purfling. The spray shellac sold by Home Depot is blonde, dewaxed shellac, and will work well for first sealing the top prior to milling the channel for the ring, then for sealing the freshly milled purfling channels.

To sealing, spray shellac along the path of the channel, run the trimmed-to-size tip of a coffee stirring stick or popsicle stick through the channels to evenly distribute the shellac, then wipe off the excess. For liquid shellac used for detail work, or if a brush is preferred for wetting out the channels, a quick spray from the can into a poly container (the type delis or Chinese restaurants commonly use for soups/sauces/etc.) will give you liquid shellac at 1 lb cut which can then be brushed as needed for sealing duties. Shellac mixed from flake has a life of about 6 months, while shellac packaged in spray cans will last years.

For what it is worth, Starbucks coffee stirring sticks are about 1/2 the thickness of popsicle sticks, so are very handy for this task...I save my stirrers after use, so avoid that embarrassing moment when the millennial 'barista' asks me if I need more stirrers after jamming a few dozen in my pocket.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower