Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a blade I got from Shane 8 years ago it comes in at .023 on the rim & the teeth read.025
When I have used it it is very hard to hammer frets in on EIR & AB even though I bevel it a bit with a triangular file.
I have a arbor press too now but still had difficulty getting a perfect seat. Should I buy a new stew mac one? Can they be sharpened & teeth set. I have seen a number of videos now where this operation looks pretty straight forward...?

_________________
Mike McNerney

What do your slots measure after cutting?

I had the same problem and went to a .028 blade. The frets now slide in beautifully. I always use black epoxy on each end to insure they don't lift and to fill the little void at the bottom of the fret slot but I doubt it's necessary. This is with the medium frets from StewMac so your results may vary. It's a trial and error problem, get a scrap piece of ebony and try different sizes of slotting blades until you find the perfect one for you.

Do you have anything to compare it to as a reference? IE, other fret saws? What are the specs on your fret wire? Tang, Barb's...

_________________
Pat

Nothing else to compare to. The S.M. blade says .023 I will research where to find the .028 blade and check the specs on the SM wire I am using.

_________________
Mike McNerney

Maybe get the fret barber. It works pretty well actually. I use it to get the tang to the same size as the slot the SM blade cuts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

You can find all kinds of slotting blades on the internet for around $12-$15, the problem is they normally have a 1" arbor hole so you need to find a machinist to make you a device to reduce the diameter of the hole to 5/8" for your table saw. I had a friendly machinist make my arbor reducer for around $20 if I recall correctly (it may have been less).

I talked to Stewmac about this last year. The Stewmac blade can't be sharpened, and there's no set to the teeth. I've used my blade for probably 15 fretboards now (katalox, pau ferro, maple, bocote, walnut). the key is keeping it clean.


Also, you typically (at least on the one's I've seen) have to have blade stiffeners as well. I've not seen a ton of them out there either. I've seen the ones that are 2.5" in diameter, but they're pretty much useless.

Do an internet search for "slitting" blades. I use the 4" diameter ones ranging from .023 - .028. Last ones I bought last year were around $12.

A crazy idea might be to use very slightly tapered shims between the stiffeners and the blade to make it act a little bit like a wobble dado blade. It wouldn't take much to widen the kerf a few thousandths.

If you leave off the blade stiffeners you might pick up another thousandth or two of kerf - stiffeners are supposed to take some "flutter" out of the blade and make it run true.

I recently went though this problem of Stew-Mac fretwire not fitting into a Stew-Mac fret slot. Over on the MIMF I was given the perfect solution to use fretwire with a narrower tang. Jescar wire has a tang width of .020" and LMII carries it or you can buy online directly from Jescar. Fits perfectly into the .023" slot.

I also made my own fret barber to trim the tangs to get an even easier fit on the fretboard extension where I tap them in.

I have re-sharpened my Stew-Mac blade and it is definitely doable. However, trying to set it is not worth the effort. The blade is so thin that the teeth will bend back into a straight line after a few boards.

I've used 5" slotting blades for 35 years. They come with a 1" arbor hole. I have .023, .028, .051, .057, .063 for various tasks. You can get almost anything you want. Oddly enough, some machinist catalogs call them Jewelers Saw Blades. Cheap and last quite long because of the small cut. On oily woods you have to clean the teeth occasionally with a small wire brush. Done on the saw. You can get 1" to 5/8" reducers for the arbor at Ace hardware for about $0.75. The reducers will be too thick to use on thin blades, but you can run them through a thickness sander to thin them out. These small blades are best used with blade stiffeners. Most blade stiffeners are recessed and you won't need to thin the reducer to actual blade thickness.

_________________
“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Has anyone come across 7" or 8" jeweler's blades with 1" holes for fret slotting? A 6" blade won't project above my table saw top.

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

You need a different table saw. 4" work fine on my Jet.

It's a big General, John, and too valuable to me to replace. Maybe I'll get a used bench top saw, instead.

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I had the Blade Manufacturing Company (http://www.blademfg.com/) make me a 10” blade for slotting with my SawStop. They can make whatever you want. It’s what they do.

Well I can certainly understand that. I'd love to have a saw like yours. You can probably find a usable bench top for minimal expense.

Alex I picked up an 80/s rockwell TS in great condition for $75 us it has a stand , and is way better than the saws made today . Got it off craigslist. locally. It gets a lot of use. I added an extended wooden fence for ripping. There must be a few around in s. ontario. Then you could use it as a dedicated fret slotter . I have a union 3hp Ts I shlepped from vancouver it/s 30 yrs old and still works. I had a machinest friend make me some extra stiffeners. FWIW. I still have an 80/s 100 tooth 4in saw blade from lee valley . easy to sharpen.

I got my General from a guy I worked with for $1,200. Worked out to $1/pound, and included two 14" Swedish made blades, and a 10" dado set. Took a bit of elbow grease to get through the rust on the top,but well worth it.
I'm thinking a bench top TS might be handy for other things, as well.

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I found several 5" slitting blades with a 0.6mm kerf on Amazon that may work with my saw.
I have not found an arbor adapter ring that will work yet.
These have a 22mm (1-1/16") hole.
Thanks for the info!
Dan

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

"I picked up an 80/s rockwell TS in great condition for $75 us it has a stand , and is way better than the saws made today "

It is surprising how cheap the old iron is selling for these days. Some one recently gave me an older unisaw to get it out of their garage (they had two) It is nicer than the one I have (now I have two (+)). If you take off the extensions and use a short fence the footprint of a 10 inch cabinet saw is tiny. They are worth having if only for the additional blade selection (thin kerf and 7 1/2 inch blades, smaller dado sets etc.
For fret slotting I cobbled together a small saw that uses the 3 inch Makita battery saw blade. It is very portable and tucks away in a corner when not in use.

Is Shane still in Business? I need another blade.

I used mine on over 600 fingerboards No issues. Keep em clean. Some of StewMacs jumbo frets do have wide tangs. You have to use the fret barber on them. Same with some of the gold fret wire.

_________________
Joe

I am slowly starting to come back with some products but I am getting some upgrades to my CNC first. I do have some fret blades though. The blades i have are made by a maker of "jewler sawblades" except that they are custom made with much greater tolerances than jewler blades. Anyway, they are 6" diametre and .023 or .024, I think the first ones i had made were .023 but these ones may be .024. Anyway, PM me if interested. $50 USD.

_________________
Canada

I got 2 blades from Shane -6 or 7 years ago.
They are 23.5 -perfect for most fretwire.NOT TO TIGHT!
For Stewmac & other suppliers tangs-Not for really wide tangs !

Make sure you use a 3 corner file to cut the slot top-to help with the fretting.

Mike

_________________
Mike Collins

.

_________________
Mike Collins