First off hello! I have been lurking here for a few months and built two CBG's.
I am trying to get a little more professional in the look and feel so I was wondering what sized roundover router bit and any tips you have for rounding the back of the neck? I ordered a surform shaver and rasp to try and form one by hand too. But I figure a router must be quicker.
Any tips are appreciated!
Ryan
Replies
A drawknife will do it in less than 15 minutes, and no noise, no dust. If the grain is straight little to no sanding is needed, it is a great tool to have for this job.
I use a router table and a bit with a bearing, with stop blocks clamped to the workpiece, fast and easy.
I use the biggest that keeps the bearing on the neck or fingerboard without leaving a steep slope angle at the bottom where the curve meets the back of the neck.
You can create some beautiful builds with the "hand" tools you've got.
Then you can take it to another level or two with a little bit of power.
Safety is first!!!!
Rock on!
Gittys by George
True George, but I get much more pleasure from hand tools.
What type of spokeshave do you guys use? Half round?
I use a flat one (this one, specifically). It's fine for flat and convex shapes, which is handy as I don't always need to round over pieces. Just take the corner off your neck material (like creating a beveled edge), then take the high spots down until it's the shape you want.
I just use a rasp followed by a coarse file and then sand to smooth. Other than drilling the holes for tuners and such I prefer to use basic hand tools. The small irregularities add personality to the builds.
I'm with the Kid and Tom and Chickenbone John on this one. Since I ditched my router and got a spokeshave, my neck shaping has become a very enjoyable process, not to mention one that I can do while the wife is sleeping 'cause it is so quiet. Seeing those beautiful shavings pile up is a very "Old World" kind of experience and will be even more so as soon as I build a "shaving bench". I also save all the nice curly shavings for other projects like home-made potpourri or whatever. Routers are great for a lot of things but neck shaping is not one of them IMHO.
And I see I already had replied to this before, so you can see I love my spokeshave!
What dremel bit for a circle to drop a cone in?
I have the jig and dremel,just need to know what bit.
Thanks,
BNz'