Official Luthiers Forum!

Looks like theirs are 5 1/2". I wonder if the extra $100 is because its a custom size. They look like normal 1/8" stabilizers...

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has tried the lmi fret blade with common type 5" stabilizers?

_________________
Pat

Actually I just sold our LMII blade and stabilizers, which were off the shelf not the LMII specials. They worked fine. However I have to report that the Stew Mac blade we now use in my opinion is much nicer. The LMII blade looked to me, like it was designed to cut soft metals a million teeth -- more like a jewelers slicing saw.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I use the LMI blade with a set of stabilizers I found out one of the tools supply store, for a lot less than $100. No issues. I have been looking at the SM blade. I may have to give that a try.

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I've been using the Stew Mac fret blade and templates. Works perfectly. It does not require stabilizers. Never tried the LMI blade.

_________________
"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him that he has been fooled"
Mark Twain

I have used the LMI blade with stabilizers for 12 years, actually on my second one. One issue is that depending on the width of the thread on your shaft, the thin blade can fall into one of the threads even after tightened and get slightly eccentric making test cuts mandatory to know what depth you are getting. Over time the central hole can get slightly deformed. That was an issue on a DeWalt saw I had. It is not as bad on my current Delta.

I think I will try the StewMac blade when time comes for a new one.

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

I used the SM blade last month for the first time. I don't know why I didn't buy it years ago.

Bob

Thanks guys! So, Ken and Josh, you were using 5" stabilizers? Smaller?

Good to know about the threads Terry, I have a Dewalt.

_________________
Pat

Smaller --- not sure of the exact size.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

We use the Stewart-MacDonald blade in the shop, with a single Forrest stiffener (about $35) on the outside of the blade. Apparently, slitting saws were used for the job prior to the Stewmac blade, but were found to be less than desirable. Although the slotting blade is steel, we've milled nearly 100 fretboards on the current blade without need for sharpening.

_________________
A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

For years I used a 7 1/4" hollow ground plywood blade that had been ground thin on the edge, 1/2" deep. In other words, essentially the same thing as the Stew Mac blade, except larger in diameter. The big difference is the price....I bought the blade at a flea market for $4, and the cost to grind it at a saw shop was $10. I later bought the Stew Mac blade, but IMHO there is no difference in the performance.

These blades are available under several different names, and generally have a 0.070" kerf. I ground one myself to do bar fret slots (0.053" wide).
http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DW3326-Plywood-Cutting-Knockout/dp/B00004RH4I

I also use them in stock form for several other jobs, including ripping kerfing and cutting out bridges.

I don't use blade stabilizers with either the plywood blades or with the Stew Mac fret slotting blade.

_________________
John