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When I was installing my bindings and purflings, I had attached my side purflings to my bindings before bending. I wanted to miter my purflings on my end strip with the side purflings, so I needed some kind of jig for getting a clean angle on the purflings, without cutting the binding too. Anyway, here is what I came up with.

It is a pretty simple item. I took a piece of pine(could have been anything), and cut a 45* angle on one end. Then I slotted it on the top edge, 2 passes, needs to be wide enough to get bindings in, so a little over 1/8". Then I turned it on it's side and cut a slot across the block fairly near the angle cut on the end, but only as far through as the depth of the slot. Then I used a chisel, and knocked out one side to provide a place to hold the bindings. in the jig.

Here it is with a piece of binding in the jig, purfling up, for cutting. See how you can get your thumb on the binding to hold it.

Here I'm cutting through just the purfling, using the flat surface of the angle cut as my guide.


Here are a couple of shots of the purfling after using a chisel to knock off the cut section of purfling, and a slight scrape with a scraper to clean off any glue or bits of purfling left attached.


Here is a shot of my end strip and mitered purflings. I had some problems with the black veneer chipping out a little, so not purfect, but the miters worked.

The jig is simple, easy to make, and seems to work. Hope it helps someone. Thanks for checking it out.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice and simple, yet highly efficient jig Waddy - good stuff.

I'm not sure it's such a good idea to do the angle cutting on top of your beautiful guitar back though

Perhaps you were just demonstrating how you make the cut for the camera - right?

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Waddy,

Thanks for the tip on this cute little jig. Getting the mitre angle right on the purflings has been a recurring issue for me. I will give this a try on my next build.

Thanks again,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

I use the "shiny chisel" method for this. It is sometimes hard to measure and mark exactly where to cut these things, but if you sneak up it by shaving a teeny bit off at a time you can get really perfect mitres with this method. Use the chisel back as a mirror to get the angle of the cut right. This is especially helpful when the angles are not 90 degrees; I think the standard F5 mandolin has about 15 purfling mitres, none of which are right angle, but this method makes cutting them a lot less difficult.

Shown in the picture below is only some BWB purflings, but I use it also to cut the side purflings that are attached to the bottom of the bindings. I picked up the trick from Frank Ford's "Frets" pages, from his Santa Cruz Guitars field trip. Like Frank Ford writes "If this little trick won't save you a lot of time, I don't know what will!"

<edit>
I think I messed up the picture upload. The purfling cutting image is from Santa Cruz via Frank Ford, the end graft is mine (sorry about the dust!). I can't seem to edit the pictures...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thanks guys.

Arnt, I'm familiar with the shiny chisel method, and my chisels are definitely shiny, but I was having trouble when the purfling was already glued to the binding and the end strip, and since I was working a 90* angle, it seemed to work. Still took a lot of fitting to get the binding tight. Thanks for contributing, another method. Particularly for non 90* angles.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I use the shiny chisel method, too, but this little jig could be useful. Its simple enough to make to be worth trying out!

Glad to see that you're making progress.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
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Dave, the dude is confident in his jig...give him his due

Nifty Waddy and thanks for sharing the idea.

Dave, it was for demo purposes only!!! However, I do find myself doing things like putting a square down on it, or my roll of tape, or something. It's on my bench, and that's where I put stuff! I need to be more careful.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[Lazarus]

This place is a goldmine. Bumping this in case it helps others.

Brad


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I'd recommend using a chisel for this process. I do see a jig like this being useful for the binding butt joint so long as a very fine razor saw is used. However, I just don't see how this can yield great results for cutting purfling. By good results, I mean something that would pass inspection at Taylor or Martin.

I sure hope my words don't come across as rude !!! I wrote something 3 times and then canceled each time because I hate being contrarian. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I did want to add that I feel using a chisel is the only method that will give you all excellent results. It is challenging and takes time to develop your skills. Some tips:

1). Experiment with doing the tail inlay before or after you add the top and back binding/purfling. I prefer doing the tail inlay after the binding goes in. I have a special chisel that I've narrowed specifically for cutting the side purfling miters. Specialized tasks require specialized tools.

2). Shine the back of that chisel up like a mirror and ensure that it is razor sharp throughout the process.

3). Good lighting and a magnification visor can also help immensely.

Binding work employs the most skilled workers in a guitar factory for a reason !!!

I'm not a dictator and I'm not God Do what works best for you but my gut feeling is that this method will always yield inferior results to the chisel method. But I also love being proven wrong too -- if you can do perfect purfling work with this method, let us know.

No worries and no offense taken.

I do use the chisel / mirror method when the purfling isn’t attached to the binding in advance. When it’s pre-attached I’ve struggled with getting a clean cut. This little thing worked perfectly.

Note: I used a chisel even with the jig.


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If you struggle with the side purfling and like using this jig - then I'd probably recommend using this jig but adding the tail inlay after the binding goes in. The reason the chisel method works so well is that trial and error of the miter angle is normally needed. A few degrees is the difference between a small gap and no gap and a chisel allows you to perform that adjustment very easily and naturally. Anyway, just my opinion and I've been wrong plenty of times before

b

simple and elegant jig - the best kind

Maybe you alluded to this in your last comment, but in similar circumstances I have found that cutting off the bulk with the saw, then running a chisel down the angle of the jig to refine and get rid of any saw marks and unevenness is easy and works great.

And your bench looks just like mine

Ed