Official Luthiers Forum!

For me it is whatever tool I need at the moment that I already own. Sometimes it's a pencil.

Tim

My Veritas No. 4 with PM-V11 iron. It's just about the best plane I've used.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

The pin router I rigged up from a Dremel drill press to do headstock inlays. Got the idea from Charlie Hoffman.

The company that CNC's your logo will make a pin router template. This thing has worked great.

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

I suppose I could think of quite a few tools like that, from classic chisels and planes to my trusty big old cast iron table saw, band saw and jointer, or various specialty tools, like the Stewmac ones: Their end pin reamer, or fret tang nipper, string spacing rule, fret rocker. Or what about the "MAG-ic Probe Electronic Thickness Gauge", which I bought that one directly from the maker after reading about it on Mandolin Café, and which finally made the Hacklinger gauge obsolete.

Here's one that is more useful than you might think, the SM mandolin tuner drill jig. I had made various shop made contraptions before getting this one, but I was never able to make one that was absolutely perfectly spaced or aligned, and with mandolin tuners, that is noticeable. This one does just what it is supposed to, perfectly every time. Thank you, Stewmac!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I just got some new tools from Wilco Flier

I ordered some more Pairing chisels to go with the others I have from him, a Brace chisel and a Draw knife!



He's a great guy to deal with and will custom make tools to your requirements. His prices are really competitive considering they are custom made!

You can find him here:

http://wilcoflier-toolworks.blogspot.nl/

Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

Look nice.
I assume as you say you have others what you are happy with the quality?
Prices seem reasonable for custom made.

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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.

Hi Colin

Yea the quality is fantastic these are made to a very high spec!

The tools are well balanced and comfortable to handle.

You are able to choose the wood for your handles.

I've now ordered a set of bench chisels to go with my set of Pairing chisels

Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

Not quite my best friend yet. I made this at a Lee Valley seminar last month. I still have to refine the body to suit my hand, but it does a pretty good job as it is.

Alex


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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Concerning the straight custom made chisels - it seems that have no bolster to take the force of either a light tapping or a hand push. I get the feeling that the brass ferrule will split in short order because there is nothing to transfer the force from the handle to the blade. They sure are pretty, though.

This is what they traditionally look like and the bolster is what transfers the force to sharp end and keeps the handle from splitting on the wedge-shaped tang:

http://woodworkingextras.blogspot.com/2 ... hisel.html

Ed

Ed these are Pairing Chisels so you wouldn't be using anything to tap them!

The Brass ferrule is quite thick and wont split in use - I have other Pairing chisels from Wilco and he works to an extremely high level of workmanship!

Here's the Chisels before they have the handles fitted:



The tang of the chisel has a square shoulder where it meets the handle.

I'm sure Wilco would answer any other questions you have about his tools

Dave

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

Funny. Now where's that pic of my brain?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

...

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

I had a backsaw jump out of the kerf and sawed the back of my hand. That was AAAAhhhh!!!! , etc. I hold wood with a vise, now.

Here's mine. A sharpened spoon.
I can build a world class guitar from start to finish using just this spoon.
Just kidding of course, guys, here is one of my real favorites, a violin makers knife.

My trusty old English Jack Plane that I received gratis. This plane fears no wood known to man. I often use it to reduce Ebony fretboards from 10 mm's down to 6 or 7 mm's. It does so faster than any Plane that I own (I own a few). I honestly would not swap it for a LN, LV equivalent.

My Laguna 18 inch 3000 series bandsaw equipped with the 1 inch Resaw King blade.
Not only am I able to slice perfect sets for acoustics but I just sliced a bass guitar neck blank to the exact thickness I needed and cleaned it up on my Performax 16/32 with just one pass on each side, didn't lose thickness.
Cuts perfectly evenly, incredibly smooth as well.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Well to choose one tool as my favorite. I wouldn't know where to start. I'm kinda like a kid in a candy store. When I need a chisel it's my favorite. When I need to use the band saw it's my favorite. There all my favorite I think.


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I love my whittling knife. Carved my last neck almost entirely with just that. Very enjoyable.

I've become enamored with the cheap blue variable speed HF oscillating tool. Being able to make thin kerf rip and plunge cuts, do fine detail sanding, and numerous other uses makes me reach for this tool more and more.
I've used the Fein version and it is a much nicer tool (with a soft start feature) but also quite a few more bucks.

All of my cutting tools when using real mahogany.
Instant ahhhhh.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Forgive my ignorance (as always), but is there any reason why a plane like that wouldn't be suitable for jointing tops and backs? Seems like it must be much easier to get/keep the sole in good shape.

Is there just a knack to setting the blade protrusion? I had such trouble setting a block plane with a broken adjuster (was an awful plane though).

Cheers, Michael!

Nick

Yes, sure you can use it for joining tops/backs. The one thing you need to avoid on the sole of a Plane is a hollow just ahead of the blade. That is the one aspect that seems to affect it's performance in a detrimental manner. In fact you might be better served employing the hollowing method used on Japanese planes. Either that or flatten the sole at your chosen Humidity level and try to keep it there.
On these old planes it's more than likely that they will need some work on the fitting of the wedge. Blades and chipbreakers are usually extremely good quality but again may need some work on them to get them functioning to their true capabilities.
Setting is just a matter of practice. Some people seem to find it very frustrating and give up on wooden planes. I didn't seem to have that much problem although it did take time.
These old Planes can be had for very little. These two were had for the princely sum of £1 + the shipping from the usual auction site. The larger smoother looks as though it had never been used.

Thanks, Michael! I'll get a couple from the auction site and start learning!

Avoid the ones with cracks! Look at the area around the wedge, sometimes they get driven in far too hard which places a lot of stress on the abutments. Always an advantage if you can get to see them in person.
A good size for jointing is the 16" -18" Jack, as in my first example. The longer 'jointer' is a bit too long for Guitar making.
There are quite literally countless thousands of these Planes around, mostly unwanted as folk gravitated towards the metal bodied Plane. But they do have one distinct advantage over the metal bodied Plane in that they are lighter in weight - an advantage if you are faced with planing a lot of wood. Probably why many people prefer a wooden scrub plane. Slick and fast.