Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all.

I've always thickness my saddle blanks using my belt sander, just holding them by hand, going back and forth from the sander to the bridge slot until they fit just right. That method as ruined a fair share of saddle blanks by bringing then too thin (not to mention burned fingertips!).

Now I was wondering if any of you guys had figured out a way to do this using either some jig or some wise setup to bring your saddles to proper thickness.

Using double side tape on some backer board through the drum sander was quite efficient if you only worry about the precision of the result. But it was extremely tidious as I had to unglue, check if it fits, reglue and pass through the sander again, repeating that process until I was happy with the fit. I figured there had to be a better way than this. But I haven't been able to come with anything better yet...

So, any suggestion?

Thanks!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Alaine: I rough mine out with a belt sander. Then adhesive backed abrasive on a flat surface and a set of dial calipers.Get it to within a few thou of the slot then gradually fit it to the slot itself.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I take mine down close with a Gilbert drill press disk sander and made a little holder to hand sand on a glass plate. Sometimes the difference between too tight or too loose is a couple of swipes.



This picture shows a nut in a similar holder.



I still waste blanks on a regular basis trying for the perfect fit.

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

I use a plane jig. I learned about them from Brian Burns back in '92 or so.

Take a piece of scrap plywood of an appropriate size and glue a couple of low rails to it of some sort of wood, just far enough apart so that your plane will run between the rails smoothly. Glue a couple of narrow shims inside the rails that are the thickness you want the saddle to be, or just a hair more. Glue in a stop at the end.

Smooth out one side of a saddle blank, and drop it into the jig with the rough side up. Plane until the plane stops cutting because it's riding on it's side rails on the shims. The bone blank will now be the correct thickness. I like to make mine just a little thicker and wet lap them on a diamond stone. Remember that water makes bone swell a little, and don'er make it at all loose, or it will be sloppy when it dries out.

The best plane I've found for this job is an old Stanley low angle block plane. The steel in the iron is softer than that in my Veritas plane, so it doesn't chip cutting bone the way the hard steel does. You have to use a shorter than normal bevel on it, so the edge is backed up well, but it will cut pretty nicely and for a surprisingly long time.

PM me your email address and I'll send some snaps of mine. I find posting pics here tedious....

Double-stick tape one to a backer board and run it through the thickness sander, removing it, checking it, etc..., until within .010" of your final goal. Lock your height adjustment, tape a dozen or so to the backer, and run them through. Repeat until you have as many as you want to do, then place them in storage... The final .010" is removed by hand-lapping for a precise fit to the bridge.

Thanks guys!

Lots of good suggestions here.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I get it close on my belt sander then lap it on my granite plate for final fit.

i'm in the minority - i use a milling machine and a coated carbide endmill. +/- .001 is no problem.

Inspired with what I've seen so far, I think I have figuered out a way to make a jig that will hold the saddle down while I pass it through my drum sander. I don't have the time to do this now as I'm about to start exibiting in a big Art & Craft show here in Montreal for the most part of December.

But I'll get back to you with my solution in January.

Again, thanks for your help!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I don't use a backer board. I use a 3" drum sander in the drill press, with a block of wood clamped to the table as the vertical feed bed. This block has a 1/4" strip of wood attached to it as a bottom edge guide. The strip is sanded (scooped) out to saddle thickness where the drum sander is located.
I use a push stick to feed the saddle blank through......against the rotation, of course.
By offsetting the clamp from the drum, I am able to adjust the thickness by tapping on the block. With practice, the adjustment can be made in very small increments. I generally thickness the saddle 0.002" or 0.003" oversize, then sand and scrape it by hand to fit in the slot.

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John

I got a Luthier's friend some years ago. It didn't turn out to be as useful as I expected but it does work nice for thicknessing saddles; pretty much the same as John's method just store bought.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"