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I'd like to be able to cut thinner slots ocasionally. My 15+? year old LMI blade is marked .023" but measures .024" and has always cut .024" on my set up.
What are those using a relatively recent Stew Mac blade getting?
Anyone have a source for a blade that cuts thinner?

Mine (Stewmac) is about 10 years old, currently measures .024 and gives me .025-.026 slots. Not sure what the original spec's on the blade were back when I bought it but I suspect they were the same as they are now. It has cut a ton of slots and needs replaced as I am finding my slots aren't as snug as they should be.

David, I would be tempted to try thinning the set of the teeth, as long as it still cuts clean.
Its not carbide so it will be easy to remove a few thou with some fine emery glued to a flat backer.
Lay it on a flat surface and give it a few strokes.
Thurston Mfg. or Malco make blades but arbor size can be a problem. Many of these may have too many teeth to be ideal in wood.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Thanks Brian.
Thurston and Malco have .020" blades I could run with a bushing for 5/8". I might try that if it comes to it. It might be too thin.
I don't want to change my current blade. It works fine for most Jescar wire in Ebony. For softer wood and/or skinnier wire, smaller slots would be better. I was hoping to hear Stew Mac's current blade would cut thinner than.024" (the wire of theirs I still have is thinner). I get burnt out having to make or modify everything. Something off the shelf is what I'm hoping to find.

I checked mine too, David. It's .024 as well. Bought it a year ago. Interestingly, I use the jescar medium and thin wire (43080 and 37053) and I still have to use the fret barber to get it to press easily with the jaws 2 into a board cut with the SM blade. (I sound like a SM commercial )

There is a shop locally here that tells me they can make a SM equivalent blade for 40 bucks. I haven't taken the blade out to them so they can see it and confirm, but I plan to.

Brad


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I'd be interested to see how that turns out!

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Pat

David I have few blades left that I had Thurston custom make for me. I think they were .0225 or so with a 5/8 arbor. They are $50 USD plus shipping if you are interested. They are thin so need blade stabilizers as well, these blades are 6" so 5" stabilizers are best.

Thanks
Shane

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Canada

Shane, I'm definitely interested in one. Just let me know how to do the deal. Thanks!

Brad, your blade measures .024, cuts.024" or both? A feeler gauge that size drops right in? I was referring to wire that has a thinner tang/barb, not necessarily thinner crown.

It measures .024 and when I'm using the feeler gauges that come with the fret barber I can fit the .024 gauge but not the .026. The slot is somewhere between the two.



If I try with a regular set of feeler gauges I can't fit .025 either.



So my guess is .024573.

Hope that helps.

Brad



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I'm using a seven year old SM blade and I get .023 slots. Any runout or vibration in the blade will affect slot size, as will dragging the work back through the blade after the initial cut. I made my fretting table saw from two different machines, mixing parts until I reduced/eliminated runout. I make the cut for each slot and then lift the sled, along with the wood and template, back over the blade so as not to drag the blade back through the cut. By doing these things I reduced my initial cut from .025.

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It will probably be alright.

I just dug out the blades. They are .024 as well. I will set one up on the weekend, make a cut and measure the kerf. I will let you know what it ends up as.



Thanks
Shane

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Canada

Shane, I bought one from you some years ago, I just checked my most recent fretboard with feeler gauges and mine cuts a true 0.024". I do use stabilizers with it.

I also bought a fret slotting blade from Thurston maybe 8 or 9 years ago and they gave me the arbor size I asked for (5/8") so not bushings required.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

You guys are awesome.

My LMI blade has a .024" body with no set. You would think it would have to cut a little larger but I think with no set, the kerf immediately stabilizes any runout.
Like Greg, I never drag back through the Kerf.
One thing that made a big difference was using a dial gauge for a few minutes and trying a few orientations of blade and stabilizes. one position was dramatically better so I drew a sharpie line through everything and I can assemble it the same each time.

Unless you hold your mouth just right a kerf made with a tablesaw blade will be bigger than the widest point on the blade because the arbor is rarely perfectly straight and the arbor mounting flange is rarely exactly and square to the blade cut angle. Add to this any warp in the blade and it all adds up to a wider kerf being cut than the blade tooth set as the blade wobbles slightly as it rotates. A blade stabilizer helps with the latter. If you remove the blade and mount it at at different location on the arbor flange "clock" you get a different size kerf so include the arbor location in your registration marks too. It's important to clean/derust the arbor flange on your table saw and measure its runout and then buy a blade with that taken into consideration.

That's what I thought too. But that's not what happens on my saw. There are a few thousandths of runout at the blade rim but those don't get added to the kerf width. The blade cuts exactly the blade thickness. I'm sure it's because there’s no set. Even with stabilizers, the blade get's forced straight.

A few years ago I wanted to be able to better control my slots and made a custom stiffener setup so I could run 4" slitting blades that have a 1" arbor on my 5/8 arbor saw. There are so many more options available at that point. I've purchased blades from .018-.022 since and it works great.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

A vote for Shane's. I can only use an outside stabiliser and that's ok.

How you doing my friend!?

Anyone making a blade for a 1" arbor, and larger than 6" diameter?

Alex

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You'd have to ask for a price but Thurston says they can make one up to 8". http://www.thurstonmfg.com/custom-made-products.html


Burton, the integral bushing is a great idea! You made me realize a .023" bushing would be hard to come by. Yours is the product the lutherie suppliers should be carrying. It leaves all the blade options available to customers but gives them a way to run them on a standard table saw. Do you get enough blade projection on a regular saw with a 4” blade?

Yes- You don't need much for a fret slot and there isn't much to work with, maybe a 1/4 total- I'd have to measure to be sure but I didn't expect to use it for anything else. I can't use the throat plate (or any standard one at least, maybe a dado) but with my fret slotting jig that isn't an issue either.

I have a dream of building a 1/2 size table saw sized like the Hammond Glider but otherwise fairly standard (tilting arbor, sliding fence etc..). It would have the integral sliding table though. I would make the same arbors for that saw. its a dream! Hopefully someday I will have the time, it would be so useful.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.