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Looking for suggestions. I am looking at the Stew Mac jig. Thanks!

Mike

Go with the japanese saw with it, much better than the other.
I just ordered the slotting box a few days ago after making do with a homemade one.

Here is my method Mike, for good or ill.
It's based around a homemade wooden 'rule' with the fret divisions not just marked but cut with the finest Zona saw. That makes marking the positions quick and foolproof. It's just a case of engaging a knife into the 'slot' and leaving a knife mark on the board, no squinting or using magnifiers. In fact you can do it with your eyes closed.
The knife is then positioned in the mark on the board, a square butted up against the knife, the saw then replaces the knife which is also guided by the square. I tilt the square up a fraction to avoid the set on the saw.
The description sounds a lot more complex than the reality. It may not be as quick as a table saw but it's still pretty fast.
The actual saw is also important. Many of them sold for fret slotting are hopeless. I just cut up a blade sold for hand mitre saws and glued it into an old Gents saw.
The actual 'rule' took me the best part of a whole day to make. That's largely because it has 4 different fret scales and the constant checking to make sure it was as accurate as I could make it. Once it's done it should last a long time.

Do you own a table saw Mike? If you do I would recommend that method. Way too easy.

Cheers,
Danny

I use and like the LMI fretting templates with the SM 6" table saw blade. As
said, very simple, very consistent. If I were buying another blade, I'd buy it
from Shane at High Mountain Tonewood. Half the price of the SM blade, and
Shane's a great guy to deal with. If you want to save money, you can get a
good 36" machinist's rule (you'll want one anyway), and make your own fretting
templates from plastic like LMI's, using a standard 1/8" kerf blade to cut the
guide notches.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Yes, I own a table saw. What kind of blade? Aren't thin blades a pain? Also, how do u line up the cuts (visually)?

Mike

Ok, so I looked at the stew Mac blade. What about templates? I need one for a 17" scale ukulele. And one other thing: should I use a zero clearance throat plate?

Mike

A long while back I bought the LMI blade and stiffners as well as the fret templates and index pin. Built the sled described by Sylvan wells on his website. This combo has served me well with no issues for 9 years. The only big mistake I remember making was cutting the fretboard to length before slotting. As the first slot is the nut there were obvious problems.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Table saw here. Shane's blade. I think my stiffeners are from Lee Valley.

Templates can be bought, or are easy to make.

Makes it hard to screw up.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

I also use the LMI templates and built the LMI sled. A couple things I noted along the way...

The LMI template has 17" on one side and 13~1/?" on the the other side. The 13+/-" scale is exactly the same as the 17" minus a few frets. I use the 17 minus 2 frets for concert scale. It would have been nice if they actually gave a different scale on the other side , just to have another option. I've never checked, but I imagine the low end of a guitar scale might just give something very close to an ukulele scale.

I started with the LMI blade and stiffners, but the unthreaded portion of my tablesaw arbor is too short to handle the stiffners, and the blade slipped into the threads. Had to manually align the blade each time. Major PITA. Now i'm using the StewMac blade.

I don't use my zero clearance insert, the sliding table takes care of that. I just leave the insert out after changing blades until it goes back to sawing mode.

I never did try slotting by handsaw and am glad of it. I'm sure it saved some money in the long run and so easy to get it right on the tablesawn. One less thing to lose sleep over.

Steve

Ok, so u will have to excuse my ignorance here. Just how go these templates work? I have a nice table saw, no sliding table, just the standard stuff. How is the template held? Keyed? Etc?

Mike (and can I purchase a template that will do 18 frets on a 17" scale?)

The 17" ukulele template has well over 20 slots, 25 maybe, more than I could ever use.

The template has little triangular notches that key into an index pin. I double sticky tape the fret board to the template. The sliding table is basically a piece of plywood with runners that go in the miter guage slots on the table, and a fence that is set square to the blade.

The LMI website has some pics. I took some pics when I built mine, I can post if want.

Steve

Steve, Todd, thanks. And all of you!

I get it now. I see where LMI has a large selection of templates including the 17" ukulele template.

Also much appreciate the tip about NOT cuttin FB to size until after slotting.

Mike

(double post error)

I've had that same issue Steve and just lived with it. So that hollow ground StewMac blade works just as well without the stiffners?
Thanks
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Mike,

I use the StewMac fret saw blade and their steel templates. Here is a tutorial I did on creating and using a table saw sled.
http://www.infinityluthiers.com/tutorials/index.php?id=tutFretSled

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Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

Love a timely thread, my Stew mac blade will arrive later today. Here is a Fox version, super simple, no notched template, he just line up pencil marks.

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Yup.

What does "hollow ground" mean? Sounds religious.

Mike

Religious or not, here is a very good description. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grind

I've heard that term forever, but never stopped to understand what it meant. I thought it was more of a "process" than a "result". It is more of a "result". And matches what Fillipo said.

So, the Stew Mac blade has essentially a built in stiffener.

Mike

Thanks
TK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

BTW, I thought the price of the SM blade was high till I realized what kind of processing it went through. Most good table saw blades are in that range anyways.

Mike

I am currently using the LMI blade with stiffeners. When I first tried it, the blade slipped into the threads on the arbor. This made it wobble up and down,and the only way to check the height of the cut was to make sample cuts to find out where the 'high point' was. After cutting the first fretboard this way, the wood residue on the blade only appeared on the few high teeth that were actually doing the work.

To remedy this, I applied Bondo tho the first couple of threads of the arbor and trued it up with a bit of sand paper when cured. This works well and doesn't get in the way when I switch to a standard blade, although I need to add a spacer between the dampening washer and the nut. This is so the threads on the nut don't cut the Bondo out .

The up side is that the thin blades are a lot cheaper to replace when that time comes.


Mark

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A world without music would Bb.

Has anyone had an issue with the arbor using this blade on Delta Unisaw? The saw is about four years old years old.