What is the width on fret saws .23 ? Where is the best place to obtain one?
What is the width on fret saws .23 ? Where is the best place to obtain one?
The kerf on Stewart MacDonald's fret saw is 0.23" I have seen 021" also.
I like my slots to be 0.024”. I bought one of Stew-Mac’s saws many years ago, and it had no set and was difficulty to use. They may have changed them since then. I later had a Japanese-style one (LMI?) that worked much better. If you’re going to be making many fretboards a tablesaw will save a lot of time.
Andrew Mowry
Mowry Stringed Instruments
http://mowrystrings.com
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You can measure the tang on your fretwire and have a saw filter adjust the kerf on your saw to be slightly smaller, to get a good, snug fit.
If you can find a good saw shop.
It helped being in the trade to find people.
Not all the clams are at the beach
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I've got LMII fretsaw and has no kerf (there ws a hint of kerf when new but after few boards it's completely flat) and the 0.023 slot is a bit tighter than I like as well. I resharpen before each two boards and cut relatively shallow slots which helps. I file the fret tangs a bit to make frets easier to seat.
Adrian
Like Andrew, I do best with .024" fret slots. I also bought one of the older Stewmac hand saws, and it had no set, and it was nearly impossible to use. I added set to the saw, resharpened and jointed it, and it has been a fine dovetail saw ever since, but it was never a good fret slotting saw.
I moved on to the Stewmac table saw blade, there was no set to the teeth, and the kerf was too small, so I added a little bit of set to the teeth and got it cutting .024" slots.
Kind of looks like a pattern to me. If I want something specific (like a .024" slot), I have to modify (or make) a tool to get what I want. It seems I can't just buy a tool and expect it to work perfectly for my purposes.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
rudy44
The Stew-Mac Japanese fret slotting saw is a great saw for cutting fret slots or any other backsaw-type duties.
varies, typically .020 to .024 and sizes between. the common slot width is .022, and i have tools that will increase or decrease the fret tang, for a custom fit to an existing fretboard tang slot.
Mandolins are truly *magic*!
There is a new-to-me saw company l learned about from Highland Hardware: Bad Axe Tool Works. They are expensive, but they are a saw company and offer tune-up and repair to their saws and others.
nfi for either company
Thanks for all the help guys
FIRST, it's important to understand terms. "Kerf" is the slot a saw makes. "Kerfing" is a corruption of that term, used by our crowd as applied to "kerfed linings," typical of factory made 20th century guitars.
It is easy, almost to the point of being a "no-brainer" to adjust the kerf of a handsaw, by rubbing same against a carborundum stone, or other flat abrasive, thereby reducing the "SET" or offset of the saw teeth that allows cutting without binding as the saw cuts deeper. It's a perfectly reasonably process to make a hand saw cut a narrower kerf, and one that doesn't cause much trouble for fret saws because the cut is so shallow. As with any hand sawing, a bit of paraffin lubrication (i.e. an old candle rubbed against the saw teeth at each cut) makes the job go much more easily.
Same thing goes for circular saws. . .
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