The scourge of ebony dust

[mooshalah]

Hi fellow luthiers.

I've been asked to build a guitar with Sassafras back and sides, Quandong soundboard, and Purpleheart fingerboard and trim. (The aesthetics have been leading me a merry dance, but that's not the issue here).

I've made and installed the bindings of ebony, and I'm dismayed to discover just how "invasive" the dust is proving. Both the Quandong and Sassafras are constantly being stained by the dust, as I try to progressively sand down the instrument in preparation for finishing. The Quandong and Sassafras are both somewhat porous, and it's disheartening to keep trying to keep these elements of the instrument clean. Sanding keeps pushing the ebony dust into the other woods.

I've had experience with making classical and flamenco guitars, using ebony as bindings, but don't recall ever having had this much hassle.

In the back of my mind I seem to recall having read someone's solution to this problem - but I can't seem to find the article. It might have alluded to things like tack cloths, scrapers, shellac or somehow, masking tape!

Does anyone have any ideas? What do you do to avoid dirtying a pristine white soundboard?

Frank.

[Mark McLean]

Yes, the black smudge that gets everywhere.
Part of the solution is to keep sandpaper away from the ebony. Use a scraper on it, and then leave it alone. Maybe also seal it with a wipe of shelac while you work on the sensitive pale timbers.

I have used ebony bindings and felt your pain, as well as experiencing the problems of bending them - but in the end they looked great. At the time that I was struggling with this a wiser and more experienced builder pointed out to me that ebony bindings, if treated perfectly, end up looking indistinguishable from black plastic bindings - and black plastic is so much easier to work with.

[kiwigeo]

When working a top with dark coloured bindings I sand up to the bindings and use a scraper on the bindings. If you have to sand on the bindings then sand along the bindings only....ie avoiding sanding onto the top. If you brush off any dark coloured dust straight away theres less chance of it getting worked into the top.

If french polishing then make sure you run a couple of seal coats of shellac on the bindings being careful to expose a clean section of the cloth after each run.

[lamanoditrento]

Ah yes ebony dust!

My second build I tried to pair ebony bindings with paua purfling which meant I couldn't scrap the bindings. I had to sand them and the ebony dust just turned the SB into a muddy mess! In the end, I had to sand from centre out, cleaning the sandpaper with a dust brush between each stroke to get it clean. Good luck!

[Steve.Toscano]

A combination of sanding outwards and then cleaning up with shelite works well.

[mooshalah]

Hi everyone who has replied.

Thank you for your advice and sage words. I'm going to try all these things and see what works best for me.

I'll post photographs of the finished instrument reasonably soon.

Thanks and gratitude,

Frank.