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Year ago I got a back saw from LMII that would not cut straight down. I guess the teeth are not offset the same on each side. They exchanged it, but the replacement was also a little off. I have suffered with it, but now I want to get a better one. I am afraid to order one without some recommendations from users. Any recommendations?

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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.

This months FW has a review of 7 dovetail saws.
While the kerf may be a few thou. heavy on some, a few minutes with a stone would tune the kerf thickness.
The review gave best bang for the buck to the Veritas saw, with the kerf being .027.
For the cost of some of the saws, you could purchase a used table saw and a new fretting blade.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I use a Makita 50 tooth plain steel (not carbide) 3 3/8 inch circular saw blade mounted in a crude home made tablesaw. They are fairly cheap (about $10) and much faster than the average back saw.

I use the lmi manual slotting system which works great apart from the saw so i got the stewmac japanese fret saw and i found this to be a vast improvement,no binding cuts like butter highly reccomended.

I've been using a Lee Valley Veritas saw (I forget which one) and used a diamond plate to take a little off the sides until I got a slot size I like. But, if I had the room, I would make an outfit like Clay S., 'cause that would make life a lot easier.

Brent

I've got the manual LMII setup, I can't say that I like it all that much and will upgrade when I can...I had probably done two dozen fretboards and the saw didn't cut well, meanwhile I came across a video on YouTube on how to sharpen saws, well after about 10-15min with a saw file, the LMII saw cut like butter and way better than it ever had, even new.

Any advice on how to reset the teeth so it cuts straight down?

Got a link?

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Pat

Any advice on how to reset the teeth so it cuts straight down?


You could try stoning the offending side :
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/wood ... -saw-blade

Very cool Clay! I have an old small benchtop tablesaw which this could work with a 1/2" to 15mm bushing. Which Makita blade are you using and how wide is the kerf?

+1 stewmac japanese fret saw

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_fNosQU1Ujg , I think this was the one.

This was my intro to sharpening saws, it happened that I had a little saw sharpening file floating around my shop and it worked great, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer any real advice. It is something I hope to learn, when my tool budget allows, a saw set and some more files are somewhere mid-list

Edit maybe not my total intro to sharpening, while a bit different I forgot about the hundreds, maybe thousands of times I've sharpened chainsaw chains, and I've done it all kinds of ways. The big ticket is that the teeth are the same on both sides. I'm sure it all translates

Gary Carter makes a great little saw that uses hacksaw blades. So the blades can be replaced. He does several saws each with a different depth of cut. Great design, I have a pair of them. I use them to check the slot depth but you could use them for fretting. He has some good tools on his site.

https://www.guitarbuilding.solutions/pr ... ar-fretsaw

I find some of his stuff is well made but sometimes overcomplicated, mind, his string spacing guide is great too:

https://www.guitarbuilding.solutions/pr ... cing-guide

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

Which Makita blade are you using and how wide is the kerf?

//www.ebay.com/itm/Makita-3-3-8-Plywood-Saw-Blade-For-Cordless-Saws-792299-8/292309672794?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3Dfcf41b7545b34235802af640bfc1feb1%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D21%26sd%3D291862271905&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598

I haven't measured the kerf, but Stew Mac wire works O.K. with it.

Am I correct that the teeth are further out on the side that the blade/slot drifts towards? So if my first attempt at correct this is to stone a little off, then I stone the side to which the blade drifts?

Stoning will reduce the aggressiveness on the cut so - yes- stone the side it is drifting too. But don't get carried away with it. As with people , if it's too stoned it won't work too well.