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Alaska specialty woods offers both sawn and split brace wood. I'm a bit confused as to what the difference is, and which is better. For my purposes, lets call better "that which will require less futzing about gettin good quarter sawn sticks to brace guitars with"....

Thanks

when wood is split, it tends to break along it's natural stress lines/grain lines, so the theory is that there are less "hidden surprises" or weaknesses in a piece that has been split versus a piece that has been sawn. thats my understanding anyway. i've split lots of cedar kindling with a hatchet, so it seems to make sense to me
also splitting is more labor intensive and less productive than running it thru a gang saw or however they do it, so split is more costly

It all depends on how the bracewood is prepared. If it's split then sawn, like Shane's, then it's nice to have that process already done. I have never seen a piece of his brace wood that was more than a couple of degrees off quarter. If it's sawn without first splitting to determine grain verticality, then sawn isn't worth much. Just consider the source. I have bought sawn bracewood from a number of other suppliers, and most of it has become wood for tentellones/dentellones.

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Waddy

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I'd go for the split wood, although the sawn may be good too. Most luthier suppliers sell little 1x2" sawn bracewood billets, which are usually pretty terrible in IME. They look fine until you split them and find that there's major runout in the invisible direction. Sometimes it's so bad that you can't even get full length X braces of continuous grain.

That said, I've bought from Alaska Specialty before, and got a free bracewood chunk (about 5" wide), which is sawn, and has practically zero runout. If it's all like that, then it's even more convenient than working from split stock, since it doesn't require as much planing smooth. But judging by the fact that the sawn wood is so much cheaper, I probably just got lucky.

If you want to do a group buy on split wood to save shipping, I'd be in for 10-15lbs But I have enough lutz to last me a few years already, so no problem if you don't.

This has been my experience also. But I have to temper it with saying I have not used Shane's or Alaska Specialty sawn stock. I prefer to get split billets and saw my own..................rather then saying to myself.. "Self, I told you so, I told you so".
Tom

'

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

+1 on getting split billets and then sawing my own. Quarter sawn and no runout = happy builder

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Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au

I'm feeling that I should use the split stuff for more critical applications such as X brace, and sawn for back braces...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

So...
I have built basically all of mine out of 2x4 dimensional lumber....

I *Really* like to split it out... as this is how I discover "Surprises" inside the wood....

Like... Say.... It splits perfectly for 4"... then - breaks completely in two cross-grain....*snap*

Or... That beautiful, perfectly quartered billet runs COMPLETELY out across the entire thing within 6".....

Now.. If you are buying from a reputable tonewood supplier who just saws it out of split billets... Probably no danger of going sawn... and a whole lot less waste too... as YOU are going to saw or plane off ALL that beautiful medullary ray split face anyway.... It's a whole lot easier to saw braces out of Squarish shapes than out of wedgey, tapered shapes with grain sticking out here and there...

But... I don't build many guitars.. so it's not like the waste from splitting it out is of any consequence to me....

Thanks

If you know who you are going to deal with, you might ask them what the difference is and how they process the wood to get to that point.

I usually split sawn billets and then saw brace stock off the split face after smoothing it on the jointer. If I was certain the billet would split true to the sawn face I guess I could skip that step. Some of my brace wood comes from "reclaimed" lumber so no telling how it will split until it is split. If I was doing "production" I would want something less labor intensive and more of a sure thing - no sense splitting a bunch of scrap lumber to get a few good braces.

You want split brace wood, and you want the split face to be ninety degrees to the grain lines. There's no point splitting the wood parallel to the grain lines--you can see those, and saw accordingly. In the other plane, the grain is very difficult to see. Runout in this plane is what causes a brace to crack or split at a very modest load.

It surprises me that some big name suppliers sell brace wood with extreme runout. Sometimes they offer "split" brace wood that is split parallel to the grain lines. This is pretty useless. Buy a split billet, and confirm the runout for yourself.

I have even seen flatsawn braces in cheap guitars...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I bought a box of his sawn bracewood because I thought the price was right.

Some pieces "appear" perfect - vertical grain, grain lines perfectly parallel to edge of board.

Other pieces have side runout and are off quarter with twist - grain lines vertical on one end but not on the other.

IMO the $$$ saved is payed in time & wasted material.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.