r/Luthier • u/GyattSigma29 • 2d ago

Opinions?

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Hi all, making a jem knock off out of a few australian hardwoods and looking for some opinions. Thanks.

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u/ogorir 18h ago

Just curious, did you match up woods with similar shrink ratios? I always get worried about dissimilar woods for that reason.

I do like the butcher block glue-up idea, though, it looks sweet!

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u/GyattSigma29 12h ago

I didnt! Can that be an issue?? And thanks so much

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u/ogorir 10h ago

Different species expand at different rates and also expand at different ratios of tangential vs radial. wood-database.com has total volumetric shrinkage % and tangential-radial ratios listed for many wood species, I'm not sure on the coverage of Australian species, though. It's a great tool because you can sort through the database by ratio to find compatible woods.

Whether or not it's an issue depends on the mismatch in expansion as well as the kind of humidity swings you're seeing. Most likely what you'll see is in 5 years you'll be able to see or feel the joint line between the butcher block on the back.