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Hey folks,

It’s been a while since this has been asked and previous posts didn’t hold a lot of inspiration.

Anyone care to share how you store binding & purfling strips?

Brad


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Postal tubes.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Me too for the ones that are around 36”. Longer 50+” ones are rolled up in a flat box.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I’ve got a roll-away tool box with a 36x18x4” drawer that I have partitioned off. It’s loaded with brace stock, purflings etc. It works…

This is what I use now. I have them shoved in a corner standing upright. Maybe it’s the best I can do. I don’t have the ceiling height to put them overhead.


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There’s what I do to get by for now, and there’s what I aspire to do in the future . . .

For now, they are in several different tubes, some of which are transparent (baseball bat presentation tubes), others of which are just plumbing plastic pipe with an end cap on one end, and others are still taped to the backing board they were shipped with and are just leaning against something. I am due for a big re-org.

I would like to set up a vertical caddy of plumbing plastic pipes that will hold bindings and purfling strips that are still straight. I would maybe mount it somewhere on the wall, low enough where I can pull a piece out vertically and not bump against the ceiling. Or maybe this would warrant its own little stand-alone cart with casters. I’m short on wall space, but I always have room for a cart that I can roll into the storage area until needed. Sort of like a gift wrapping cart. Compact and handy, and out of the way most of the time.

A limitation on the usefulness of better storage is that I do a lot of work with colored veneers that I laminate to make multi-line edge purflings, a la John Bogdanovich. They are laminated into the shape of the sides. So, they won’t store in such a vertical tube caddy. But the caddy would be great for binding strips and other purfling bits that are still straight. And if I build a cart, I can design part of it to hold bent laminations.

We’ll see what develops when I tear this place apart at some point!

I have a bunch of postal tubes stacked untidily in a corner with both linings and purflings along with guitar plans.

It's one of those things - how much time do we want to spend on sorting out the workshop as opposed to actually making guitars. Hard to find the right balance since inefficient layout/storage can slow you right down.

Dave

If 'postal tubes' are heavy cardboard tubes then that is what I use too.

I hear you there! I’m nearing the end of a fairly significant shop reconfiguration. I can see the light…. It’s a train… no wait…


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Couple of big hooks screwed into the wall up out of the way.

So, currently, my strip goods are in short cardboard shippers, flopping all over the place, a very unsatisfying method.

I've "decided" to use clear, thin wall PET 1 1/2" tubes (and caps) from ULine.
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-21974/Clear-Tubes/Clear-Plastic-Tubes-1-1-2-x-48
I have them in my shopping cart but haven't pulled the trigger, they are $126 plus $40 shipping (oversize by length).

25 each, 48" tubes, and 50 red caps: $116

Shipping $34.64

Total $164

My luthier buddy is going to split the order but that's still $82 and I'm so tapped out from tooling and fixturing.

I still need a cart (rolling tool chest) for my spindle sander, moxon vise hardware and jaws and a neck routing fixture. That should set me up so I can spring for the PET tubes and caps.

This hobby costs more than maintaining my Harley Bagger and gear, lots more.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

The US General line of carts at Harbor Freight is actually pretty good, and not expensive. I have several of them.

1.5” PVC pipe with an end cap for me. The pipes are about 6” shorter than the stock to help see what’s what. I think the bright white of the PVC also helps identify everything easily.


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I've saved mailing tubes of all sizes and use them but don't really like them, being round and opaque they waste space and are dark.

This thread got me to looking and thinking there must be some square tubes for packaging other products making them cheaper.

These came up in a search and would work and the price/pc is right but min order too high. I'm going to keep looking for something along these lines though. Might have to find someone to split an order with to get price breaks.

https://store.visipak.com/1-1-4-x-4-medium-wall-square-clear-plastic-tube/

The right tube and order size must be there somewhere.

Round but these might work, just ran the shipping and they would be $4 each inc shipping - https://www.iconplastics.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=BASK

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

This is what I use, as well.

The PVC seems to work fine, and while I like the ability to easily see what’s inside with the purfling/binding sticking out 6” or so, a few years back I dropped something or was careless in some way and knocked that 6” off the top of some really nice purfling I had made and some binding I had bought. Can’t remember exactly what I did, but it made me wish the pipe covered the full length of the strips.

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sweat the small stuff.

I use Pvc pipe cheap strong and cut to length. You can store it standing lying or any other way

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Whatever round tubes that I accumulate that fit the bill.

white upvc plumbing waste pipes screwed to the roof timbers in my shop. Keeps them nice and flat and out of the way.

Another user here of mailing tubes for purfling. I'm going to get a few of those clear tubes that rbuddy posted a link for though.

My high tech solution for storing my binding is a shipping box that's 36" long that an LMI order came in about 12 years ago. My island bench is also 36" long so it's a perfect fit on one of the shelves under the bench.

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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

I am currently using cardboard mailing tubes leaned against the wall in my store room. But this has been difficult lately keeping things easy to get to. Usually I pull the tubes out and then pull all the perfling and binding out of the tube to find what I need. Not a good solution.

Actually your box under the bench is not a bad way to go... It seems as though most of your material is easy to see, easy to pull out and is out of the way.

My main bench has the perfect place under the bottom shelf. I could easily build a wooden box with dividers that would slide under the bottom shelf. I am pretty sure this would solve my problem pretty well and be easy to get to.

So thanks for the idea Jay,

Cheers,
Bob

The Icon Plastics have a minimum order of 50
I am going to use clear tubes come hell or highwater.
I've done a lot of searching but I agree, something is out there.
If you find something (clear), PM me?

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

OK, going with these -- https://store.cleartecpackaging.com/clear_en/pst.html?Item=PST01021

I was hoping to find 2x2" tubes and did with these.

Shipping price jumps very little from 8 pcs to 16 but going from 16 to 24 shipping goes up by almost double, adding caps costs more to ship the caps than the caps cost. If I want caps, I'll find them elsewhere or make wood plugs.

So 16 tubes w/o caps is the sweet spot for ordering. So it comes to about $140 for 16 - 2x2x48 clear plastic tubes, shipping inc.

I'll probably cut most of mine to 32" leaving 16" pieces for other storage. Some I will leave at 48" for carbon fiber that comes that length.

It should cut my current storage space by at least 60%, be much neater, and easier to use.

I'll tell you whether it was the right move in a couple weeks.

Just placed the order.

Thanks for getting me off my butt Brad to clean up one corner of my shop. You're an inspiration in that regard ya know!

edit -- Trying these caps - https://www.amazon.com/Square-Plastic-Tubing-Insert-Finishing/dp/B0923641KZ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=2+inch+by+2+inch+plastic+caps&link_code=qs&qid=1700783864&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1

I'm happy already!

Brian

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

PVC pipe for me. Copied Hans Brentrup.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks for all the replies on this. Here is where I landed.









1.5” PVC, I used test caps to plug the ends but they fit loosely so had to add a few layers of tape.






Brad


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I like that.