Where to get black vulcanized paper?

[matthew]

Did anyone end up finding a good supplier? I was just about to put an order with LMI for two sheets ... $80 shipping FFS!!

[Mark McLean]

To make my black purfling I just soak strips of veneer in a bath of vinegar and steel wool for about a week. Nice and black, all the way through.

you probably know that old trick.

Indeed, an old trick - but a goodie. "Ebonizing" wood with vinegar + iron works well if the wood has enough natural tannins in it. For wood that doesn't have much tannin (like pine) you can add it by pre-soaking the wood in super-strong black tea, before treating it with the ebonizing mix. Or it might work if you just throw in a handful of tea bags into the iron/vinegar mix and brew it up together for a few weeks.

[routout]

I see red on eeebay from china .I used a lacquer based black Ink on maple walnut and various other woods to good effect no bleeding when tested with many solvents no fading . John.

[ckngumbo]

Well ... I can find bugger-all about fishpaper on the internet other than what a good product it is! nothing about its manufacture. So I guess its just another way of keeping organic fibres bound in an organic glue, a kind of artificial wood, anyway. Bother. I wanted to find out how it was made. Useless Internet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanized_fibre

[Lex]

Mathew,
I got some a couple of years ago out of Singapore,I cant remember what I paid, but it wouldnt have been much (Im Tight ) I use it for pickup flatwork and not sure if its exactly what your after but here's the link http://www.professionalplastics.com/FISHPAPER if you scroll to the bottom of the page they tell you all the trade names that its manufactured under, Peerless is the one that I use http://www.nvf.com/forbon/peerless110.htm hope this helps.

[slowlearner]

Did anyone end up finding a good supplier? I was just about to put an order with LMI for two sheets ... $80 shipping FFS!!

A few years back I got in touch with these guys (from memory). They've got a whole different selection of veneers...

http://www.briggs.com.au/

I never ended up buying any at the time, but they were very helpful and competitive price wise. Should be even more so with the AU$ so bad atm.

http://www.briggs.com.au/veneer.php?t=1&s=1&o=1
http://www.briggs.com.au/veneer_skateboard.php

You can choose all manner of things.

Re Fish paper/fibre paper. I looked into this too and heard lots of reports of it 'swelling' a bit after a few years. I've seen it on a few guitars. The edge is definitely noticeble under your fingers. So I went with dyed veneers.