milling maple blanks

[Stopstop]

Hello all,

I hope to build an instrument (or ten) someday- archtops are what interest me right now. Among my other endeavors, I run a small milling operation. Mostly we cut softwoods and oak but have some Norway maple on deck right now and I was thinking to mill some of it into dimensions which would be suitable for luthiery. I’m in NY & keep asking my log suppliers after quality red spruce, but no luck so far. The spruce I can get easily are knotty yard trees- junk.

I realize that this particular maple is unlikely to yield the finest instrument-grade material, but could perhaps be good enough for my initial efforts. Probably I’d leave the blanks full length until I figure out what exactly I want to build, unless there are some universally useful lengths (efficient storage is more important to me right now than a little waste later). I expect it will be several years before I have any free time to get around to building so it will have plenty of time to season, and I’ll likely have a sterilization kiln set up by then.

So yeah, basically I’m wondering what are some standard useful dimensions for my speculative projects? Is it generally best to quarter-saw for stability or flat-saw for figure? Is it necessary/important to kiln dry or do people still build with air dried material? Anything I should be considering that I’ve forgotten? This log is 10’ long by ~24” in diameter.

thanks much!

[Richard Mott]

Not a luthier, but flatsawn is said to be a little more flexible, therefore bassier, perhaps a little less stable. Quartersawn may be a little stiffer, as a result brighter and perhaps more stable. Rift sawn is also a possibility. All can shown figure, although quilting is flatsawn only and perhaps just from Big Leaf maple. Dimensions are pretty standard, depending of course whether you’re building a guitar or mandolin. At least for tops, many builders prefer the wood to be split so that the dimensions follow the grain rather than cut across it. Good luck!

[sunburst]

Quartered is more stable, maple stiffness is about the same whether flatsawn or quartered. Curly figure shows better on a quartered surface, birds eye and quilt show better on flatsawn. Flatsawn material of at least 8/4 can yield vertical grain ("quartered") neck and rim blanks. I build with air dried wood almost exclusively because it is what I have, I have used kiln dried maple, and sometimes it is very difficult to carve if it is dried poorly (to fast?, too hot? not sure).
Personally, I would want vertical grain back, neck and rim pieces and it is not easy to saw one log for those features. Instrument wood does not have to be very long, so cutting the log into shorter pieces might be a possibility.

There might be some useful info in this thread. https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...light=firewood

PS
I originally thought the maple in the linked thread was silver maple because of the reasons that I stated as well as my mistaken notion that sugar maple did not grow in the area. Since then, after working with the wood and learning that sugar maple does grow in the area, I've concluded that it most likely is sugar maple. It is too hard and heavy for me to still assume it is silver maple.

[HoGo]

Norway maple can be curly just like any other species. I'd cut it depending on size of log. If it is large enough I'd cut it into wedges 4-5" across bark side, double length of mandolin or neck (plus some extra margin) so you can cut long ribs or two plates or several necks out of it depending on figure or knots. Paint the endgrain with wax or something.
You need to do initial drying in well ventilated area so the wood won't get stained. You can kiln gently to get it to 20% and leave the rest for air drying.