Master Grade Instrument Tonewood: Phase 1 - Milling | De Oro Tonewood Mill

A more detailed behind the scenes look at how these logs are quartersawn to eventually become Master Grade instrument tonewoods.
It is not common to find a walnut log which not only large enough to produce quartersawn guitar backs, but that also has no knots in it. This log was a dream, straight and true. It was sawn into slabs and bolts.
With the milling (phase 1) completed, next it will be air-dried, re-sawn, and then kiln dried before being used for instruments.
00:00 Introduction
0:33 Prepping, Loading, and Cut Plan
2:54 Milling, Results, and Thoughts
6:00 Grain Highlights
7:01 Outro
#deorotonewoodmill #blackwalnutlog #blackwalnutguitarback #mastergradetonewood #instrumenttonewoods #acousticguitarback #sawmill #woodmill #sawlogs

[@FiddleSticks800]

Beautiful wood. Nice work.

[@deorotonewoodmill]

Thank you very much! Thanks for watching. :-)

[@TheSgtdrpepper]

would love to see that bandsawing described in the video.

[@deorotonewoodmill]

Great idea. I'll post a video in the future. Thanks for watching!

[@salomonangarita7475]

Hello ther,beautiful wood .I am luthier as well.Would you consider selling some of that quarter s.walnut?

[@jeffhildreth9244]

Define "master grade".

[@DiegoDeOro]

I would define it as containing the qualities of: 1) Perfectly straight grain containing neither knots, nor growth rings which bend as is seen when growing near a branch. 2) No run out ie: as you move across length of wood there is no "dropping" through growth rings. This means the wood fibers are full length which lends full rigidity. 3) Perfectly quarter sawn at exactly 90 degrees to the growth rings. 4) There is also an element of the initial diameter of the log such that you can cut away all the pith and sapwood and have enough heartwood which is still perfectly quartersawn. In walnut, you need about a 25" minimum diameter log to get a good piece of true quartersawn 8.5" width for a guitar back. I'd love to hear you thoughts. How do you define master grade? Thanks for watching!

[@jeffhildreth9244]

@@DiegoDeOro Cosmetics, alone, are no determinate of tone quality. Stiffness and flexibility are also considerations. Martin, as an example, use a system from 1-8 . 8 Being their premier wood. I haveghad and played more grade8 dogs than simple 4s and 5.s I have a few Martins to include a modest (370 built) 0000-1 dated from 1997. The top is funky, not straight grained, bands of darker color with near white/yellow, no silk, 4-5 lines per inch and one of the best steel string guitars I have owned ( 15 Martins , a dozen Gibsons, around 100 guitars since 1961) I also have a Pena Flamenco guitar with a sitka top and Monterey Cypress that is one of the finest I have owned. You never know what's in the Cracker Jack Box.

[@DiegoDeOro]

@@jeffhildreth9244 That's really interesting, Martin makes a great guitar and I'd love to hear yours. For clarification, I am only cutting back and sides, not tops; and #2, #3, & #4 have nothing to do with cosmetics, but rather with stiffness of the wood as you mentioned, which has an impact on the tonal qualities of the guitar. Only #1 is a cosmetic feature, and believe it or not, with the modern state of old growth forests, is increasingly rare to find.

[@jeffhildreth9244]

@@DiegoDeOro I am confused; "only #1 is a cosmetic feature" Those were the bottom the line.

[@deorotonewoodmill]

Point #2 on run-out is a good place to start. Check this out: www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156461