Baltic Birch cabinetmakers ply is what I use. I get pieces big enough for wheels for free from a local cabinetmakers shop, and I cut and face them on my metal lathe after mounting the hub.
This plywood is almost completely void-free, and the way they lay up the laminates provides a very uniform edge/end grain face to the string around the whole wheel diameter. Of course, you can also band your wheel with holly, but I have found that my instruments can benefit more from other improvements right now than the benefits from banding the wheel. Chris Nogy *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 1/12/2007 at 12:50 PM Seth Hamon wrote: I'm still working on my homemade gurdy. I was wondering what the best wood is to use for the wheel.. Right now Its made of 12mm thick beech plywood and it seems to be the best I've used so far... I tried solid woods but they warped overnight almost...
