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Ok this may sound like a stupid question but I need to get my head around the best approach to routing a mortise and tenon neck joint. The recommended router bits as sold by Stewmac have bearing guides on a 12.7mm dia router bit. This informs me that I need to make both the tenon and mortise cut in one pass - not recommended in my view. Can this activity be achieved with a copy ring such as

http://www.bobon.co.uk/details.asp?prod ... evel_id=89

so I can plunge it in increments

If so .........

The next question is what size bit and copy ring is recommended ?

John

Sure you can .. it all depends on the delta between the bit and the guide collar, or copy ring as they call it. You will need to take this into account when making the templates.

I like to use 5/8 guide and a 1/2 inch bit whneever possible - all the templates then require an 1/8 inch offset when making them.

So in your case, using the bit/collar mentioned above, the tenon template needs to be 1/8 inch narrower that the tenon size you want, and the mortise template needs to be 1/8 inch wider ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Assuming I have the stewmac templates which are 6/8 I would end up with a 7/8 tenon and corresponding mortise - is that acceptable ?

John

I use the StewMac system and make my first cuts in about 1/8" increments with the "copy ring" using a 5/8 guide and 1/2" bit. then I go back and finish up with the bearing guided bit for final thickness. The StewMac system gives you a tenon that is a little smaller than the mortise. I think they are assuming a bolt-on neck

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

Yep - I noticed the tenon template was slightly smaller than the mortise template

I may try a piece of tape on the tenon template to tighten it up a bit.

John,

The general idea is to remove most of the waste to full depth in incremental cuts, then you clean up the last 1/16th or so neatly with the template and bit.

Cheers

Kim

Terrence - do use a copy ring for both the tenon and the mortise with the Stewmac jig ?

John

What I do now is I don't bother putting a neck on.
I just run the sides all the way to the nut!

Yes I do for the initial cuts so I can take smaller increments. if you use the bearing guided router bit you have to take a pretty healthy first bite to allow the bearings to contact the template. I switch to the bearing guided bit for the final cut to get the proper size.

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

Thanks - Due to the limited size of the Stew Mac mortise template do you use different size copy rings and bits ?

I use a 5/8" "copy ring" with a 1/2" bit for the initial cuts followed by the 1/2' StewMac flush cutting template bit with the top bearing for final cuts.

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

Thanks, I'll need to take a measure to my mortise template - from memory it doesn't look wide enough for a 5/8 ring.

John