purfling size recommendation

Aloha, would like to try adding black or white purfling around my rosettes. What size do you guys use or recommend? And where do you guys buy them from?

So far i found lmi website carrys them but not sure what size to get

Thank you

This is a question that bugs me too. I used to do thin rosette with thin purfling thinking it would look finer and now I'm doing thick rosettes (shell) with thick purfling and I think I like that look better. But I could change back.

Below earlier thin 3mm rosette with super thin purfling. Personally I think the look is too thin on a tenor uke.

I use .030 BWB purfling on the outside and inside of the rosette. There is method to the .030. If you use a .030 router bit to cut out your rosette you can at the same time cut out the actual rosette of wood, shell, or recon stone. Then the rosette will be the thickness of the router bit (.030) smaller on the inside and outside. Then you slip in the .030 BWB and it fits perfectly every time. You can even make a eccentric rosette this way with a shifting board to route the top and cut the rosette. It is always a good idea to have a black line where the rosette meets the wood as it will cover any slight misfit. So using a .030 black fiber woould work nicely as well. Also you never get any tear out with a small router bit like that.

I dont buy bwb purfling any more I can never get exactly the sizes I require so I make my own
I buy 600 X 600 black and white ABS sheets at various thickness .25mm -1mm and slice off thin strips with my card cutting guillotine/office trimmer...and it works out a lot less expensive than buying the ready made stuff.

mahalos everyone. now i know which sizes to try, since there inexepensive.

now why didn't i think of this. i have a card cutter sitting on the shelf. hmmm thank you for the idea

Timbuck said:

I dont buy bwb purfling any more I can never get exactly the sizes I require so I make my own
I buy 600 X 600 black and white ABS sheets at various thickness .25mm -1mm and slice off thin strips with my card cutting guillotine/office trimmer...and it works out a lot less expensive than buying the ready made stuff.

Click to expand...

I found these on AliExpress. They may be too wide for use with a multi-piece rosette, but should be ok used alone or as binding. Might even look fairly nice as two concentric rings, sans the filler. I do like the pearl filler in between the as in Sequoia's rosette. Michael's rosette is cool too.


[h=1]100 strips violin inlay wood material strips /purfling materials (black+wthie+black) strip1.3x2.5mm thick; 970mm long[/h]Price:US $16.99 / piece


Seeing how Ken has repurposed a card cutter for slicing his purfling, sounds like a good idea.