Official Luthiers Forum!

I don't have space for a machine jointer, so I weakened and acquired this 9.2 lbs of awesomeness
(OK, I'll fess up to TAS)
Held off for a long time, but I sold 6 guitars this year, and my woodpile is overflowing, so....
I was holding my breath until I checked it over, but it's comfortably within specifications.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Wowzer! Congratulations!

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Gotta do it once in a while! Enjoy!!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Join us! Jooooooiiin us!

New Toys! New Toys!

Is that a #8?

Yessir!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have an old no 8 Stanley that I love for jointing plates and working on necks. That is a good purchase

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I have an 18" long Craftsman, with corrugated sides and bottom. It was the best I could find when I was looking. I made a hock type shipbreaker out of .25" stock because that's what was around. The bottom was ground flat with the blade in. The blade was set a long way back, so it had like an 1/8" gap. If you moved it forward, the blade had no support at the base. It wasn't terrible like that, but the big gap was unnerving at times with wild stock, and end grain.

I just bought a Lie Nielson blade the other day. Now the clearance was too tight, and the thick base needed an angle ground in. The blade needed the slot about .04" wider for the tilt mechanism. I had some grinding to do.
It can make fuzz now. And I have another flat scraper!

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Why be normal?

Nicely done Ken.
I started my making journey with a Faithful tool set, eventually flattening and fettling the no 4 and using that to joint plates.
I still have all those tools

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have a craftsman #7 with the grooves. It works great as is but I'd love to do something with the grooves.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I hear you on the grooves. I never noticed them doing carved instruments; but flattops? It has to go on an angle then for shooting backs and tops. I do have a wooden polishing plane for that.

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Why be normal?

Congrats on your purchase...if nothing else, your arm days at the gym will get a bit easier as you throw the iron around in your shop. I love new (or old) tools. Some people see those new arrivals in the shop as a solution for a specific problem, while I tend to see possibilities...right up until reality smacks me in the face and I am right back at the base of the learning curve!

For guitar work, using a ramped shooting board avoids any issues with corrugated soles, as it forces the issue by intentionally mis-aligning the long axis of the plane with the work. We used a standard design at Greenridge which I believe is still on YouTube (search for 'Making a Luthier's Shooting Board' for that and other variants which add clamps or other features deemed helpful for people not blessed with large hands). There is also another companion video concerning use, with the most important tips being sharpen the plane and set it fine (0.001 or less cut).

Looking back at those lower res videos is painful! From time to time, I have brow-beaten the boys to at least update the hand-on stuff such as the epoxy pore fill and shooting board tutorials, but as of yet, they are unmoved.

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We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Personally, I just wanted to have one and $65 was a good deal on the one I bought. I generally use my big woodies, 1 transitional or the standard one. Those work excellent for backs and sides. I just dog a board down on the bench and Bob's your uncle. Someday I'll build a ramped shooting board and possibly clean up the Craftsman. For now, don't fix what aint broken. I love having choices.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I saw someone use one of those once in a video. Never thought about the corrugated plane. I like the idea that the piece is just held in place; not clamped down, or in a vise. Just having a shooting board sounds like a good idea. Checking with a square over and over, sometimes they stay straight, sometimes. It is nearly impossible to check square on thin boards. The corrugated plane would work well like that. I don't have any joining to do now, so it is something on the back burner; with a dozen other projects.

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Why be normal?

Something that I find handy on my "joint the plates" shooting board is a bumper that screws down (no glue) to the other side of the platform, and can therefore be moved to accommodate the width of any given top or back pair. When screwed down in the right place for any given pair, it leaves just a quarter inch or so of plate hanging off the shooting edge. This gives me repeatable positioning of the pair until I'm happy with the joint. I also have a board with a handle on top that I use to press down the pair, so that any small warping of those boards doesn't mess with the joint. And the bumper can be moved over and screwed down to facilitate the creation of a square edge on fingerboards, headplates, bridges, etc. Eventually the base plate will be riddled with screw holes, but that can be replaced every decade.

I like the Rob Cosman idea of having the base of the board slightly convex to ensure the plane doesn't tip over on the cutting stroke as it may with a concave one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyfvygylyJg&t=1158s

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Hah. That's the one that I saw! I saved it on the reading list. There is only about a thousand things there.

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Why be normal?

I've seen that one as well. It didn't make much sense to me but he has a lot more experience than me so it must be true.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!