Where do you get your nut blanks from?

lovestrat74

Going to have a go at making my own.

DannyP

I've been trying this lately with some bone blanks I bought off Amazon. They're the only ones I've tried, so nothing to compare them with, but the bleachy, boney smell is pretty unpleasant when working on them!

BillDL

I've bought bleached and unbleached Ox bone blanks (52 by 9 by 6mm) from here before:

https://www.reidtimber.co.uk/machine-heads/bone-nut

It's wise to buy more than one because with bone you can occasionally encounter a piece that has softer porous areas that aren't detectable intil you start sanding into it.  The nut blanks are cheap enough to buy a few, but this particular retailer would charge £3.35 postage.

I have also bought bone and graphite nuts and bone nut blanks that come with more presized options from here :

https://chguitars.co.uk/product-category/necks/nuts/

but the items are often out of stock and it's usually the ones I'm looking for: 

https://chguitars.co.uk/page/1/?s=nut+blank&jet_ajax_search_settings={"search_source":"product"}&post_type=product

£2.30 shipping costs

WezV

make some



Or you can buy in bulk from aliexpress for very little money.  Even ditching any you are unsure about will get you plenty of decent material to practice with

WezV

the vid is missing a degreasing stage you might need to do if using bone from the butchers.  Ideally you soak in thinners or nathpha for a few weeks first, changing the liquid every few days

lovestrat74

WezV said:

the vid is missing a degreasing stage you might need to do if using bone from the butchers.  Ideally you soak in thinners or nathpha for a few weeks first, changing the liquid every few days

Think I'll pass on that Wez

WezV

tbh it isn't as cheap an option as it used to be anyway, not since marrowbones became popular with foodies

lovestrat74

Thanks @BillDL I'll check those out

Power-Beef

Amazon. I haven't had the need to buy blanks yet but I stick to Tusq. I eat meat, so NOT having bone nuts is not due to tree huggery. Yup, getting bone from a butcher is fine, but these places that are flooding the market with cheap parts... May be I have an ultra hyper imagination, but nope. Just nope. Tusq is more than fine for me. 

BillDL

I think sometimes it's just a fun challenge to make something from absolute scratch and be pleased with the end result.

WezV

Power-Beef said:

Amazon. I haven't had the need to buy blanks yet but I stick to Tusq. I eat meat, so NOT having bone nuts is not due to tree huggery. Yup, getting bone from a butcher is fine, but these places that are flooding the market with cheap parts... May be I have an ultra hyper imagination, but nope. Just nope. Tusq is more than fine for me. 

Tusq is fine.

I prefer bone and decent quality blanks can be purchased from cheap suppliers... its the effort that goes into it after that which makes it into a quality part

I mentioned aliexpress because ive had a few packs of blanks from them.  10 nut blanks for the same price as one from a uk supplier, and the quality is identical. 

About 15 years ago I purchased a bulk load of bone blanks from  America, and got a lot more waste from that than the stuff I have recently had from aliexpress.

Anywhere there is cattle, there is usable bone as waste product

GSPBASSES

This is the place to go, they sell everything you need in terms of bone nuts bleached unbleached, plus every type of inlay you can think of.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/naturalmusicshop?_pgn=1&_tab=shop

lovestrat74

I ended up going with one of Bill's suggestions above in the end. Not had time to experiment yet with other stuff on the go but I am looking forward to forging a few nuts!