Binding channels

 Here is Bob's Zircote OM in a holder.  The device on the far edge of the guitar is a laminate trimmer with a ball bearing guide and carbide bit that will cut the binding channel.  The cutter is held in a vertical column so that it rides up and down vertically.  I turn the guitar under the cutter to cut a grove in the edge for the binding.

Here you can see the channel cut in the side of the guitar

I can never seem to get the sides to come out exactly flush on the end.  This gap will be cut away by the next operation, so the only problem the gap presents is that the cutter shown above, which uses the sides to reference the cut, might dip into this gap and make an uneven channel.  So, to overcome this minor irritation, I usually just super glue some balsa into this gap.  The balsa fill provides an even surface for the cutter bearing to ride against.  No uneven binding channels

This shows another channel being cut, right over where that gap was in the picture above.  This channel will have a piece of decorative wood glued in place to tidy up the joint and look purty

This is what that channel looks like.  Tomorrow I will glue in the End Graft into that channel