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The local pet store never had any, but Sunday afternoon I was in Conway. The small one was $3, four inches. The larger, eight inches, was $4. I know Mario bandsaws his own. Then how do you get them flat? Just wondering.

I just hate finishing up a guitar and not having the perfect size saddle blank. Much of the time I end up at the Martin dealer buying a pre-formed plastic jobber. I prefer bone if at all possible. Pics in a few days of the results.

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[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey] Then how do you get them flat? [/QUOTE]

Sander. Double sided tape to a board to hold it. And then use a file for shaping.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

You can also plane bone. It works much better wet: just spritz the surface and plane it off. I've found the Hock irons are too hard and brittle: they tend to chip on bone. My old Stanley low-angle plane works fine if I put in a secondary bevel to make the edge more obtuse.

Bruce, I do something similar to Scott, but I use Elmer's white glue. It's strong enough to hold the bone piece to a backer board, then weak enough to release when you work a pallette knife under it.

But I now look at making my own blanks like changing my own motor oil:
Yes, I can do it, but the mess makes it worthwhile for someone else to do it for me.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Bruce,

You must be "nuts" to "saddle" yourself with that lot

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I use my band saw to get close and then use my disk sander to get to the final shape. I have a zero clearance table for the sander, and a board that run against the T square to push the nut/saddle against the disk. The work piece is wedged in between the stops and can't slip out. When I remove the pressure, the work piece moves away from the disk. There is no need to stick the saddle to anything. I can sand a little, fit it to the bridge, sand a little more, fit it, etc. It goes very quickly.

Bruce,

I use a band saw to cut them and them use my thickness sander to flatten and thickness.

Bruce,
I tried that route, but the smell changed my mind. Hadn't thought of planing, though. Hmmm..... Thanks, again, Alan.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Yeah, it's probably more trouble than it's worth, but the thing for me is finding a nut high enough for initial setup. The dealer charges me $6 for a plastic Martin compensated saddle. (ouch) And, it's plastic not bone which I think is really needed on a hand made acoustic.

Thanks for the ideas, and I'll pull out my spray mask to work this stuff. It does reek.

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The large one from PetSmart is 3.99, the smaller one in the pic above is 2.99. Only the larger one is availble online. They do not show the unbleached ones I saw in the store. Plus the small bone appears thicker and might be a better deal than the thinner side large one?

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C %3Eprd_id=845524441806068&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=253437430202 6203&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&bmUID=114228554 4083&itemNo=1&Ntt=Dentley%27s+Bone&In=Dog&previousText=Dentl ey%27s+Bone&N=2023689]PetSmart Website[/URL]

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[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey]

Then how do you get them flat? Just wondering.

I do it like this..

Hold a semi flat edge of the bone to a belt sander and take it down to give you a flat edge. It doesn't have to be big, just big enough to get you started. Then hold that edge against a fence on the band saw and cut a slab. do this with the whole bone. Then adjust your fence to at least a 1/16" over the planned finish width and recut on the band saw. Use double back tape and space out on a flat board and run through a drum sander, being careful to hold the board against the table. Pry them off and flip over and sand to final thickness. Then just cut what ever pieces you need from the slabs. Yes, it does stink but I wait for a warm day and set up a fan.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

StewMac has such a wide collection now it's hard for me to justify, ESPECIALLY because of the smell. I like the thought of fully "from-scratch" but MAN, that's some seriously funky-smelling material. I guess I should be wearing my respirator when working with it, eh?

Have to agree with Alan. By the time I cut, smoothed, etc. and thrown away half the Pet-Smart bone I might as well have gone to Stew-Mac. From what I've seen they (StewMac) are more consistent in quality, too.

[QUOTE=ATaylor] MAN, that's some seriously funky-smelling material.[/QUOTE]
Heh, heh. The cow's revenge!

I have been rough shaping mine on a belt sander, and finishing up with a scraper. I have found that it's better to have belts for your sander dedicated just for this purpose.

Bruce...

Being that Gryphon is about 20 minutes from my house, I go there occasionally to browse and get things, and have been for the last 20 years. Of course, 'The Man" is usually there, walking around w/ his apron on...Anyway, he has lots of bone blanks. Old stuff. He has sold me bunches of them for $5. Apparantly he got bags full of them years ago, all sawed up ready to shape.

I went in there once to get a nut blank, and he came out w/ all different types, all w/ different price.. He held them in front of me, and says "These are $5 and this one is $10." I told him, I'll take a bunch for $5. And he returns w/ his matter of fact humor, "Makes sense to me".
Anyway, I got a laugh out of it. You might give him a shout, and see if he can help you out...

Frank would help, he's done it a bunch, many times. He just loves this stuff. When I have time I'll saw this up and see how it turns out. I don't relish working with bone, the smell is horrendous. The dedicated sander belt isn't a bad idea. I may move a table and sander outside for this episode of Dickey makes a smelly mess. At least the next rain will fertilize the plants with a little bone meal. Which reminds me, it's time to feed the roses. Grin.

Rich, I envy your opportunity to go to Gryphon. It was a highlight of the trip last May. I got to play one of my heroes guitars, Charlie Hoffman's Cocobolo and Sitka Jumbo. You lucky rascal. Frank was nice enough to let me come into his shop area and show me a few things. He also let me get a pic with him and Michi. Richard and Willie, and the other guys were all very nice.Bruce Dickey38790.3993981481

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Use a new, coarse sanding belt and strong dust collection, and the odor is quite minimal. It gets ugly when you use a fine, or worn, sanding belt and heat the bone.

I'll agree with the many who've said it's best to just buy them pre0made, IF you onmly need a few per year, and if they're always the same size.

But, it's awful handy to be able to cut what you want and what you -need- then and there. And if you're careful and accurate(I do most of my cutting on the table saw, diablo blade to the rescue once again!), you can have $30 worth of blanks from that $3 bone.

All depends on your needs...

I do buy my saddles from Christie, but the last batch have seen a few fracture in use! Not good news...

Mario, I understand the older you get the more brittle your bones get. Must have been an old cow. Can't wait to try this out, just so I can say I tried it. Thanks for the idea several years ago. I finally found a petstore big enough to carry it.

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A couple of points about working with bone that I've read but not tried myself:

1. If it looks greasy, you can degrease it with ammonia, and
2. If you want to bleach it, you can use the hydrogen peroxide that hairdressers use to bleach hair. I think the stuff is only sold to salons, so you might need an inside contact.

I tried once, years ago, to make a bone nut to replace the one on my old guitar. I sure could have used the tips I've read in this thread!

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John Cavanaugh
Saint Paul, MN
"What could possibly go wrong?"

This is the sliced up bone, from the two pieces originally in this thread from PetSmart pet store.



The longer pieces will probably make saddles.



The short thicker pieces will make nuts. I have now hide glued these pieces to a carrier board. Tomorrow I will begin to sand these to thickness. Then toss the backer board in a five gallon bucket of water over night, which will remove them from the backer board.

The smell was tolerable with just a dust mask, I took it outside for sanding. I did get a little smell off the bandsaw but it wasn't that bad at all. I did shower before going out for dinner though!Bruce Dickey38794.002025463

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guys who would know that you can get bone nuts and saddles from the pet store.

love the idea. I will try this.

looks like you got a fare amount of bone there.

usable wow.

Bruce, what will you use to polish it or do you have to polish it ?

Sergio

I have lots of Giraffe leg bone that I make pistol grips from--its the most dense bone I've come across--very important for pistol grips and extremely thick. I have lots of pieces that are too small for my grips. I'll try some for nuts and saddles. If anyone is in the process of making some for a build I'd be happy to send you a piece so it can be evaluated on a good guitar. I am not near that phase yet, but I'd like to hear an experienced opinion. I'll bet its much better than the cow bone thats being used. This is heavier and denser--should produce a different quality??
Please e-mail if interested
s.kolar@att.net

Serge, you sand bone and then polish it on a buffer using Menzerna or other compounds, light in color of course.

You can make bone shine like it has a glazed finish, very pretty. Most folks just sand it and leave it satiny, but I do like the polished look especially on the nut end.



I cut these carrier boards up on the bandsaw and dropped it all in a bucket for an hour or so. I now have the in a pan warming on the stove to remove all the hide glue so I can remount and sand the other side to final thickness. I'll probably save some this fuller size in case I need thicker material.

All in all, it's more work than I want to do. Buying bone blanks just makes good sense, like Steve K. says. But for that special size or application, it's nice to know that it can be done. I would like to try a hand plane on a piece to see what that is like.

As I tossed small pieces of it in the trash the thought of using it as inlay material came to me. An alternative to pearl although not as pretty for sure. ? Would work well for scrimshaw inlays possibly.Bruce Dickey38794.4933101852

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