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Laminated Neck problem

I was trying to make a laminated neck that is made from three 1/4 inch pieces of wood. Two of them are red oak, and the one in the middle is going to be poplar. So, when it is done, the lighter poplar will be sandwiched in between two pieces of darker red oak.

The problem is, I need to figure out how I can stain the red oak, and not get any on the poplar.

If I pre-stain them, then the stained part will get cut off when I route the back of the neck to round it off. If I laminate and route the neck, then try to stain them, then I have to mask off the poplar piece to make sure it doesn't get any oak stain on it. I tried that but the wood is so porous that the stain leaked under the tape.

My thought was to try just tacking the three pieces together with just a few spots of super glue, just enough to hold them together for the routing/shaping process, then pry them apart, stain them, and then glue and clamp them after the stain is dry. The problem with that is, I am worried that some glue will leak out along the edges, and screw up my stain job.

Has anybody got a better suggestion? Is there maybe some kind of liquid masking product that I could paint on top of the poplar that would work better than the tape?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Carnright on June 15, 2009 at 4:59am

If you use a high viscosity super glue and only a few spots, maybe that would work? How about trying it on test pieces to establish the method?

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Brooker on June 15, 2009 at 5:32am

Iggy - I might be wrong but to see the difference between the two woods I don't thing you'd have to stain the red oak - You might just try putting some finish on the poplar and red oak and see how they look - You might be peasantly surprised with the results - Otherwise I think you might be trying to solve lot of problems and a getting a result you might not be to happy with - Just something to think about - D Brooker

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on June 15, 2009 at 6:04am

Yea, I would try it on some scrap pieces before I do it on the "Production" pieces.

Michael Carnright said:

If you use a high viscosity super glue and only a few spots, maybe that would work? How about trying it on test pieces to establish the method?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on June 15, 2009 at 6:05am

I actually thought about that, I was just looking to maximize the contrast between the layers. I took my failed experimental neck, and spray painted the middle part with some white paint, just to try to get an idea of how it would look. I will post some pics when I get it done.

Dennis Brooker said:

Iggy - I might be wrong but to see the difference between the two woods I don't thing you'd have to stain the red oak - You might just try putting some finish on the poplar and red oak and see how they look - You might be peasantly surprised with the results - Otherwise I think you might be trying to solve lot of problems and a getting a result you might not be to happy with - Just something to think about - D Brooker

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on June 15, 2009 at 6:46am

Hide Glue. Comes apart with heat/water without hurting the wood. There is a great article here on using gelatin in place of hide glue. Try that. Plus you don't have to remove the glue and if you do, its easy with water. Can be made waterproof too. Once dry, it (is supposed to) stain easier than wood glue or any poly glue.

Iggy has a great suggestion as to try on a few scraps to get the technique right. I'm all about prototyping when I can.

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Permalink Reply by Dennis R. Dehart on June 15, 2009 at 5:04pm

take the center piece of wood,insert or nail some brads in on both sides at least 2 per side preferably 3,then snip the heads off the brads,make sure they are not long enough to go all the way through the outer side pieces of wood,line them up and clamp them enough to get an indentation on the outer pieces of wood.the red oak is hard enough that you will have to drill the holes for the brads,then clamp them together and do what ever shaping you wont to to.separate the pieces and stain the outer oak pieces and do what ever you plan to on the poplar,do not remove the brads,after they have dried enough that the stain wont get on the poplar,clamp them back together and put a couple coats of clear finish on them,just light coats,after that dries separate the pieces,keep the brads in, they will help to line the pieces up for glueing as the wont to slide around on the glue,go ahead and glue and clamp the pieces together.the clear finish will keep the stain where it belongs and alow you to clean the glue off with out damaging the finnish,after the glue dries put some more clear finnish on.
sorry about the lenght of this,i hope this will help you. dennis