Official Luthiers Forum!

What technique do you use?

I've tried my (toy) 10" Delta Band Saw - which leaves a lot of clean up.

I've tried the table saw - built a jig but the blade won't quite cut all the way though so it needs trimming at the band saw and more clean up. I don't have a jointer either.

I've seen some use a chop saw but I can't see how to get the piece in deep enough to cut the scarf.

So I'm curious as to what technique you use as I have 4 blanks ready to cut and would like settle on a standard that works for my shop and my skills.

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

Cut on a band saw and true it up with a hand plane.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

use a jig to get the scarf joint and get a sharp block plane and clean it up. Shouldn't take long.

_________________
-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
Instagram | YouTube

You can cut a scarf joint with a hand saw in less time than it takes to get a jig out of it's drawer. Seriously, it's a very simple cut.

Thanks so much for the quick responses. I think I'm trying to set up a one time jig that will require no clean up work with a plane etc. but I'm quickly seeing that's part of the process.

I'll put a new blade on the band saw and cut a couple. Most of all I wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something super simple that's considered common knowledge.

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

Clean-up should be considered part of the process no matter how you cut it. If you are having to do a lot of clean up off the band saw, look at it as an opportunity to get extra practice cleaning it up. . . at least that is what I do. I wouldn't want to use any surface straight from whatever power tool as my gluing surface for a scarf joint.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

+1 I do em by hand very quickly and im very new to woodworking with a full plane that isn't even set up properly. In other words I suck. And if I can get it done quickly anyone should be able to.

It would be impossible to avoid cleanup as any saw no matter how fine the blade and perfect the cut will leave tool marks that are not suitable for gluing. But like others have mentioned it's not hard to do at all with a sharp block plane.

I do it with a hand saw and fwiw it's one of my favourite joints to make in guitar building.

Can you use a Lie-Nielsen 102 low angle block plane to true the cut surface? ...or do you need a larger plane?

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

+3. I cut it with a hand saw and true with a block plane, or sometimes a 10" bench plane, depending how my hands are doing that day. Sometimes the bench plane's weight and handle and tote make it easier on my hands and wrists.
But a standard block plane will work just fine. Not sure if a low angle block would make any difference. I expect it would work just fine.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Absolutely. Use a good 6 inch square to make sure your angles are correct and all your gluing surfaces are nice and flat.

_________________
Aaron Craig

i´m with you, zeke! or, as they say, +1.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Good video Chris, simple and clear.

_________________
Formerly known as Adaboy.......

The table saw style jig sled modified to work on a bandsaw works great for me.

Cut on bandsaw clean up set angle on a 12 inch harbor freight disk sander!! I also use it to set the heel.to body angle then cut tenon on table saw

_________________
MK5acoustics.com

That's the mentality I just adopted. Put a new blade on the band saw, set up the jig properly, and plane to fit - was way easier than I remember.

Thanks so much for all the help.

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

+1 Much easier than planing, but then of course, you don't get the practice.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I think cutting and truing by hand is just as quick as any other method.

Well the order of the pictures is opposite of the order you do it in obviously. That little feature in posting pics gets me every time. But you get the idea.

In order to use a chop saw you must waste a little wood. After you clamp a block of wood to the chopsaw fence so you can place the neck blank end on to the fence, you set the angle (11-14 degrees) on the saw. You cut each side of the scarf separately. You cut the angle on the headpiece, then cut it to length. You cut the matching angle on the neck shaft using the same set up. Unlike cutting both pieces at the same time with one cut, the chopsaw method leaves two pieces of scrap. It's a quick set up, and with a good blade requires little truing up.
You can do a "stacked" peghead by doing a rough "scarf cut" then gluing the original outside planed surfaces together ,offsetting them to give the additional peghead length. It is simpler to do than a scarf, but gives the weaker grain orientation of a one piece neck.

Great pix Anthony - I use the same technique, but I don't have a Bad Axe saw like you do....

Yeah. I use a cheap plastic handled backsaw that came with a $20 plastic miter box. Does the job, but I bet it's not near as fun.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I'm feeling that pain myself

Mark over at Bad Axe (formerly Techno Primitives) is a true pleasure to deal with. I highly reccomend his saws and he will also tune up a vintage saw you may need work on that you don't dare tackle yourself. But now a days I think he has a hefty wait list. Worth checking into.

The saw cuts Honduran Mahogany like butter. I am very happy with the saw.

I'll admit, the first thing I did when I saw your pic the other day was look them up. Pretty sweet stuff.

I just found the premium saw market this past week after doing some hunting for a dovetail saw. Rob Cosman's Mastering the Dovetail DVD starts off with 20 to 30 minutes of tuning up a cheap hardware store saw or an older saw before going over the benefits these nicer saws have to offer.

I made one of these jigs for my table saw. It cuts a perfectly perpendicular and smooth scarf ready for gluing.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah