Hey y'all, so when I started fretting I went with a StewMac fretsaw which does a fantastic job. But I have chronic hand/wrist issues, and the labor of hand cutting the slots leaves me hurting. I watched a bunch of videos a while back and saw one on cutting fret slots with a scroll saw with the blade flipped to the back. I've tried that with my scroll saw (Craftsman), and it does work. Yay! But my scroll saw blades are actually too narrow! I have to pound the living crap out of the frets to get the tang in or actually go back over the slots by hand with my StewMac fretsaw to widen them a bit. Boo! I want to get a thicker blade for the scroll saw, but I'm really confused in looking at the blades online. I don't know what to get. The StewMac fretsaw is 0.023" thick. I've looked for scroll saw blades that are 0.020 to 0.022" thick, and I'm having trouble finding one.
Can anyone share a product number for a scroll saw blade that works for you for cutting fret slots? Pretty please??
It's funny - when I tried cutting fret slots with my scroll saw I thought surely it would cut the slot too wide, or crooked, or too deep, or something. I never expected it to make beautiful, straight slots at a great depth but too narrow to seat a medium fret! Now I'm all confused trying to understand the designations on the scroll saw blade dimensions to find one the right thickness.
I don't have a table saw and I don't have one in my near future, so getting the StewMac table saw fret blade isn't an option for reducing my hand labor. Those are really sweet (and pricey)! Just not in my cards.
Here's the video that inspired me. It does work with my scroll saw (really nice, clean slots), but I need help finding a thicker blade. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Not sure if I should have posted this question in a specific topic area?
Thank you!
Replies
Not really an answer to the blade width, but for your hand/wrist issues you might try pressing in the frets instead of pounding them in. Some hard wood blocks and a decent vise will push them in with little effort.
Agreed! I just got an arbor press/fret press set up a couple weeks ago. I haven't been able to try it yet. Hopefully I've got the scroll saw blade situation sorted now too. This combo should greatly reduce my hand pain.
I think I found one that works! Craftsman 29441
Hope so, can't find my calipers at the moment
I just had a quick look, i suspect these are too long for your saw, [ 11"], but it gives you some idea what to look for, the 0.023" is 23 thousandths of an inch kerf width, length and depth will always be a fair bit larger---------https://www.amazon.com/Olson-DT43300-0-011-Inch-Double-Scroll/dp/B0...
https://www.olsonsaw.net/cat/scroll-saw-blades/
These are what i use in my saw Janis, my saw takes pin ended blades, .5 mm is just nice for gitty's fret wire-----https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Scroll-Saw-Blades-Pinned-Ends-German-Ma...
Do you think these specs would work? The designations I'm finding here in the US are different. Unfortunately this particular one is plain end, and I also need pin end.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/olson-44002-universal-scroll-saw...
Pretty sure they''ll be fine
hmmm, I have a pretty old craftsman scroll saw I use for fret cutting, and my blades seem to work well for thickness, I have a pack of blades, let me find my calipers to mic them up to see what thickness they are. I could always just throw one in an envelope and mail it to ya. I'm about to cut some medium frets, last ones I cut were jumbo, I'll let you know how they work, maybe different fret manufactures, different thickness too. These are pin type blades also
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