Went to more trouble than usual for this one: The original box was too shallow to accommodate a block of wood routed for the neck and electronics, so I removed the top & bottom, and made new sides with some hobby store mahogany strips. Had to carefully remove and use all the original edge banding for the newly created box, but it worked!
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Bluesheart -- Stickers and small labels on cigar boxes can usually be removed with lighter fluid, but the paper edge banding (I'm calling it "banding", though it IS like "binding"!) as well as large paper labels are stuck on with a hide or paste-type glue that doesn't respond to petroleum based solvents. To remove it (and re-use it!) requires moisture -- soaking it off, really. But just soaking the box in water can make the paper labels and banding very fragile, as well as have undesirable results for the wood underneath, so I use an old bookbinders' technique (actually, I am a bookbinder, too!) which you can think of as "contolled moisture". You apply a paste (recipe to come momentarily) to the banding, and it imparts moisture to loosen the glue underneath. Usually only takes ten minutes or so for the paste to do its work, and the banding can be gently removed, then rinsed or wiped off and set aside to dry, or, if need be, pressed inside a book to dry very flat.
Here's the recipe for the paste:
2 tsp. corn starch
1/3 cup water.
Put corn starch in water and stir continuously over very low heat till it begins boiling (usually only takes a few minutes). Pour paste into a small container, allow a few minutes to cool, and you're ready to go! Might be a good idea to practice on a box you don't plan on using, to see how it works.
Comments
very nice .
Bluesheart -- Stickers and small labels on cigar boxes can usually be removed with lighter fluid, but the paper edge banding (I'm calling it "banding", though it IS like "binding"!) as well as large paper labels are stuck on with a hide or paste-type glue that doesn't respond to petroleum based solvents. To remove it (and re-use it!) requires moisture -- soaking it off, really. But just soaking the box in water can make the paper labels and banding very fragile, as well as have undesirable results for the wood underneath, so I use an old bookbinders' technique (actually, I am a bookbinder, too!) which you can think of as "contolled moisture". You apply a paste (recipe to come momentarily) to the banding, and it imparts moisture to loosen the glue underneath. Usually only takes ten minutes or so for the paste to do its work, and the banding can be gently removed, then rinsed or wiped off and set aside to dry, or, if need be, pressed inside a book to dry very flat.
Here's the recipe for the paste:
2 tsp. corn starch
1/3 cup water.
Put corn starch in water and stir continuously over very low heat till it begins boiling (usually only takes a few minutes). Pour paste into a small container, allow a few minutes to cool, and you're ready to go! Might be a good idea to practice on a box you don't plan on using, to see how it works.