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Just an amateur here - make a couple a year. I realized that it would not be much more difficult to make a negative 16" radius sanding block than it would be to make a positive 16" radius fretboard. So I did. I sanded the first one start-to-finish, but since then I have planed 90% of the material away, then sanded the last bit.

Here are a couple of shots - it was made from the same piece of 30 year old cherry as the fretboard I am sanding:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/16750685944/in/album-72157649776959267/

Still learning

Ed

The hand plane method is pretty quick, so unless you really enjoy making and using jigs, or you plan to go into production, I encourage everyone to try it. I'm not a hand tool fundamentalist by any stretch, there is just not much time to save here.

My procedure is: Resawing (unless I use a FB blank) - thickness sanding (home made drum sander) - slotting (table saw jig) - profiling (template routing or saw+plane) - radiusing (hand plane) - inlays (if any) - sanding (plane body sanding block) - fretting (arbour press).

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I got my hands on the McClary jig and went ahead and made one. Can't wait to try it out. Its gotta be better than what I've been doing. Thanks for the replies to my post!

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

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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.

The right tool is a plane. Sand 16" on one end and 20 on the other as a guide, then use a trusty #7 to shape the rest. Works great and likely takes less time then setting up one of those noisy router jigs..

-jd

With that McClary jig a couple of tips. A rounded edge "dish carving" router bit works well. I have this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Freud-99-026-4-I ... router+bit

Also when setting up slide the carriage to each side at each end of the board and make sure the clearance at the edges is equal. If not you can shim the carriage with tape.

Start in the center just grazing the board and do climb cuts only to avoid chip out. With the above bit chip out is pretty uncommon but occasionally you do get some minor stuff along the fret slots.

You can rig up a dust collection gizmo with a shop vac that gets probably 60% of the debris but it's better than nothing. Positive stops for the carriage at each end are nice.




It is noisy and violent but I have been using the jig for 12 years and it works and leaves quite a smooth finish.

I have been putting off trying a plane because I can set this thing up in a couple of minutes and do a board in 10". I do plan to try my hand at planing a board after reading the posts

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

A very sharp hand plane here too. I make some initial passes to get the bulk waste off then I chalk the board and use a radius block with sandpaper to mark the high spots. Lets me get real close before I go to the radius block to finalize. After the fret board is on the neck and guitar I level with a beam then fret.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I used to make a lot of fingerboards for archtops that had large MOP block inlays. I used a similar router jig with a planer/dado bit that had a negative rake angle. Never had any chip out, even on the MOP. I used a diamond hone to make a slight radius on the outside corner of the bit which helped prevent scoring.

http://www.cmtutensili.com/show_items.asp?pars=RB~852B~2

Michael I trash picked some of that europly from a neighbour.It/s called flexa LIT from paris , meaning flex bed there are 7 plies in a 8 mm thickness , will use it for jigs. Your right , t is better quality than BB thanks for the tip

A local buddy glued one of them wooden radius blocks to the bottom of an old electric sander.
That feller is a genius.
I use the SM aluminum block. Maple takes about 30 minutes, Ebony takes all day.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

How did that work for him? Seems like those sanders have a circular vibrating pattern. Festool has one that goes back and forth in a linear pattern that I thought might work. But quite $pendy.

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Pat

An in-line pneumatic auto body repair file might work with the radius block idea since the action is not orbital.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I use a home made 24" MDF caul attached to a manual auto body file that provides a bit of adjustment capability.

Yes, I checked, and he did use an air tool made for automotive work.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

When I first started, I was hand sanding as well, and there weren't words strong enough to describe how much I hated it. From there, I built Marty's jig and used it for a long time. It's pretty much the best of the router methods. I finally scored an edge sander and bought the Grizzly fretboard sanding apparatus, and it's the easiest.

The Grizzly apparatus didn't fit my sander, so I simply mounted it to the wall, which actually works out much better because I can use my sander as a fretboard radius tool or an edge sander without having to mess around with removing the jig. It's much more convenient.

Glad to see some of you using my router radius jig design. I redid one for a Harbor Freight trim router. It's pictured on TDPRI if you want to see it. While not as robust as the original, it does the trick and takes up a little less space. I bought an extra long 1/4 shank straight bit for it. Don't bother with the melamine covered MDF though, the double sided tape is stronger than the melamine adhesive.

"A file or even a rasp is simply the wrong tool for the job."

Although it would not be my first choice to radius a new board, I have used laminate files to fix humps and hollows in old boards. In the right hands (experienced machinist or such) I'm sure it could be used to rough out a radius on a new board - but there are better methods.


"You can rig up a dust collection gizmo with a shop vac that gets probably 60% of the debris but it's better than nothing"

Hi Terrence,
I like the dust collection addition. I wonder if adding dust brushes to the open sides of the jig, like some CNC's have would pick up another 20% of the dust.