First build - "Birthmark"

[Asdrael]

Yep. I tried with tape on the side (I don't have veneer handy here) but since it's would have required more than one layer, I was thinking it could rip out move too easily during ajustements and "clog" the truss rod. Hence why I sent with wrapping. As you say, all of it is a learning experience!

[Bizman62]

24 minutes ago, Asdrael said:

I was thinking it could rip out move too easily during ajustements and "clog" the truss rod.

Good point. Although the adjusting movement is so subtle I doubt it could rip the tape off. Actually the wrapped tape creates more grabbing points against the cavity than long strips but if movement really were a problem even the plastic shrink tubing would be an issue.  But as said, the rod doesn't move much when adjusting (fractions of a mm) - actually the most common adjustment is to straighten the rod against string pull so there's no movement at all! With the carbon fibre rods the neck may well be stiff enough to withstand any string pull so the only adjustment needed is to tighten the rod just enough to prevent rattling, and even that tightening you may have to do "backwards" to prevent backbow.

[Andyjr1515]

On 6/22/2023 at 11:49 PM, Asdrael said:

My truss rod drops in smoothly and has the tiniest side wobble (I had to squint to see it move and I got 10/10 vision). However, the truss rod falls out when I flip the board upside down. Is this how it is supposed to be? Or should it be tighter?

That's fine.  Remember that when it is working, it will be pressing against the bottom of the slot and the bottom of the fretboard and so isn't going to go anywhere.  Some folks pop a couple of dots of silicone in the slot just before adding the fretboard to stop any rattle...but I don't and have never had a rattling trussrod yet.

There is, by the way, a set up tip - in the unlikely event that the neck relief is absolutely spot on with NO tension on the rod at all, then nevertheless tighten the trussrod nut until you just feel the tension on it - this will give it enough pressure to keep the rod jammed in the slot but without it being enough to bend the neck and alter the relief. 

[Asdrael]

Thanks for the tips! Given that I have a guitar like that (the truss rod is virtually not required for my strings and tuning), I was afraid of how common this issue could be with carbon added. So I wanted to be extra careful and be 100% sure I would have no rattle. Mind you, as it's probably obvious by now, I have no idea what I'm doing so I try to anticipate every single issue that might arise - on top of fixing my mistakes

 

I'm not sure it's the right approach, but I try to be as close to 100% happy with what I'm doing before moving on to the next step. I don't want to say "beh good enough"... So I'm taking my sweet time building and learning. You guys advices make it even more worth it.

[Andyjr1515]

You are progressing well

 

[ADFinlayson]

O

On 6/13/2023 at 11:05 PM, Asdrael said:

Well, after a fruitful discuss, I have conjugal authorization to go to the workshop once weekly for however many hours I want. So today I left work early and stayed there until 23:00. Mind you, I don't get much done each time because I'm so slow still... but at least I can enjoy myself.

So today, I had a new best friend:

I was planning on using this bad boy to thickness my headstock and start the volute shape. Which I did:

I used this contraption to make sure the thickness was fine and to help with the volute:

It worked somewhat, but the plate wasn't that stable (one thread of the screw holding it was lose). So I had a bit of a dip in my headstock close to the volute. I had to get the thickness a tad lower that I wanted by hand, and I fell in love with my Shinto rasp. Holy shit that stuff is awesome. Anyhow, after a bit of sweat, I ended up with an almost perfect headstock sanded down to 400 grit (+-0.5 mm).

 

Which gave me the perfect setting to start working on the veneer. I sanded it down roughly to 2mm and finished it to 1.5mm thickness by hand, to 400 grit as well.

Now it was just a matter of putting it in place, and this time putting actually recessed screws as guides for glueing.

I was aiming at 14 to 15mm thickness as my tuners fit 13 to 16mm. Mission accomplished:

so yeah, I put some glue and aligned the guides, screwed them down. Thought about my mistake not clamping the neck well enough...

 

I made many mistakes today, but I learned a lot. Apparently I watched enough tutorials, videos etc and have enough common sense to get in the flow and not ask myself 'shit what do I do next again'. But I too often simply go for it to realize later that the tool was probably not the best. I need to be more careful - slow and steady wins to race. I am hoping my headstock cap joint will be nicer than the scarf joint. I guess I'll know that in a few days. Next stop - clean up, some sanding and truss rods / CF routes!

Oh how I wish I could own one of those big edge sanders!

[Asdrael]

Good evening you marvelous people!

I am in a good mood because I just had a very productive evening with some major progress, some learning experience and sanding dust in my eyes.

 

I decided to start the day by redoing my truss rod jig with thicker MDF and a very slightly narrower channel to avoid any lateral movement of the router. Good news: took me a third of the time it took me for the first one. Also, Festool jigsaws are fucking scary.

So I prepared a carbon fiber at the proper length (425mm, going from  the body to just below the nut):

After a few struggles (should have made the window smaller for increased stability, so v3 incoming for the truss rod jig next build), carbon fiber channel 1 is in:

Properly tight, had to lightly sand the sides to not have to hammer the carbon reinforcement in.

The second one was slightly more eventful but ended up just as good:

Great success! But I am not done for the night. I decided to push all the way to routing the neck and shaping the headstock.

Kinda got scared because the bandsaw was drifing like mad and it was tough holding a line...

I used a back sacrifical plate but still had a small amount of tear. Will be hidden by the mechanic 99%.

I had to finess while finalizing the headstock shape. I didn't truss my large router to not wobble, so I took my template, put a layer of tape around it:

And went to my best friend (along with files, sandpaper etc but this actually did most of the job). The trick was to sand until I saw blue come off:

I routed the neck shape the proper way though. Notice the mamoth router bit. I love it. (I also used a regular template copier one).

 

Well, for the first time, I have something that resembles a guitar part:

 

All in all, a good day. Made good progress (at least visually) and got to know some tools better, including my router. I made a few mistakes, but nothing major, and learning experiences anyway. Small tear when drilling mechanics, a very small bobble in 2 spots when routing the neck (so small they will be gone when neck shaping), and a drop of superglue was misplaced between the masking tape and ended on the neck (will be covered by the fretboard, I just have to sand a bit again). What I didn't mention obviously was quite a bit of sanding, including the headstock. I wanted it to be a bit south of 14mm thickness to have it just a tad light because the body will be thin. I worked on the backside of the volute too, but I might have to keep removing some once the fretboard is on and to make sure mechanics fit fine. We'll see once the fretboard is radiused.

The only thing that haunts me are the "stains" on different woods after sanding. Maple dust in rosewood pores, and vice versa. How do you guys get rid of that? Naphta?

 

Anyway, next time, fretboard rough cut and glueing. I'll also pass by the carpenter closeby to shave a bit off the body and ensure it's flat.

[Bizman62]

Some progress indeed, an evening well spent!

Threre's several ways to prevent tearout in the tuner holes. One is the way you did it, a sacrificable block. It has to be very tight to work properly, you managed pretty well. Another way is to use a brad point bit and drill almost through so that the point just sticks out marking the center of the hole, then drilling from the other side. That allows using different sizes of drill bits as well, often the string side of the headstock requires smaller holes than the actual mechanism. Small pilot holes and drilling from both sides with a pointy bit works similarly. Or you can do the drilling before thicknessing the headstock and just sand all the tearout off!

Wood dust stains are difficult but again there's some tricks. First, don't bother trying to avoid them until you're in the final stages of sanding. Second, do the final strokes along the dark and light lines as cross sanding will definitely spread the wrong coloured dust. Use compressed air to blow the dust off before it sticks. A piece of tape might also work, similarly to getting animal hair and dandruff off your clothes with a sticky roll! For the very final sanding strokes try to keep on one wood only and blow the dust to the opposite direction. Finally you can also use some sort of a sealer to block the pores - depending on the finish you're going to use it can be shellac, lacquer, boiled linseed oil or oil wax to mention a few. Shellac is safe as most anything will stick to it but it will also change the colour of the wood. And of course good quality masking tape can be used to separate the woods. Shortly put, any idea that seems to work without causing future problems is worth trying, your imagination is the limit.

[Asdrael]

Short but important day today, and all went well!

 

Started by preparing the neck for the carbon fibers:

Couple of drops of high viscosity glue at the bottom of the cavity, and I can drop the carbon rods right in:

I added some low viscosity CA glue all around so the carbon rod would stay well put in place. They were both already very snug but now they won't move (especially considering they'll see a layer of wood glue on top). They sit very slightly recessed from the neck. So I guess my second "truss rod" jig is much better.

I slightly sanded the neck to make 100% sure I have a perfectly flat surface down to 320 grit. Cleaned it up, 2 drops of silicon in the truss rod channel, and dropped the truss rod in its cavity with a few teflon wraps.

Beautiful. Snug and very slightly recessed.

Forgot to take pictures but I spent some time sanding the fretboard blank I have to 400 both sides and took my sweet time to decide how I would cut the fretboard. In the end, I think I made a nice decision... And did the cut. I also prepared a board to clamp with 2 layers of tape to make sure the borders of the fretboard would be tightly clamped all along the side.

 

Cleaned everything up with Naphta, taped up the truss rod, applied way too much glue, put a few grains of salt, removed some glue, removed the tape, dropped the fretboard in place and IT'S CLAMPING TIME BABY

(note to self: should have bought more clamps during Prime Days).

Judging from the squeeze out, I am getting better at gauging how much glue I need. Could have been very slightly more but I am getting there:

Yes, I am glueing the fretboard non-radiused and non-slotted. I don't have a miter jig, I don't have access to the CNC (yet, will do for the second guitar), and it feels more logical to me to radius then slot on an already glued fretboard. The only part I had to pay attention too right now was to square the nut side of the fretboard and carefully locate it - which was easy thanks to a few layers of masking tape masquerading as a rest when dropping the board for glueing (2 birds with one stone: I removed it and now have 0 clean up to do nut side). So yeah... watch me fail at slotting next.

 

Anyway, since this went better than expected and I had some time left on the clock, I did this:

Fret bevel file holder. I bought a diamond file, and just did the holder with inserts at 90°, and 15-25-35°. Will probably do 25° on that build, since it's a 7 string with jumbo frets and I need room to mess up the fret dressing anyway.

Might update tomorrow after declamping!

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, Asdrael said:

Judging from the squeeze out, I am getting better at gauging how much glue I need. Could have been very slightly more but I am getting there:

If you get more squeeze out than shown on the photo you'd be wasting glue! A uniform visible line of glue tells that the seam will be perfect. A 1 mm bead is more than sufficient. Nice job!

9 hours ago, Asdrael said:

it feels more logical to me to radius then slot on an already glued fretboard.

That's a perfectly valid option used e.g. by Ben Crowe at Crimson Guitars. There's a couple of advantages in that method: First, if the neck warps during carving you can adjust the fretboard during radiusing. And second, you don't have to worry about the frets being perpendicular to the center line when gluing. And it makes clamping easier.

I've been using readily slotted fretboards and radiused them after the neck is roughly shaped. That's simply because I don't have the tools needed, neither are such available at the workshop, so letting our tutor do the cutting with his pro luthier tools for a nominal cost is the easy solution.

[Asdrael]

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

That's a perfectly valid option used e.g. by Ben Crowe at Crimson Guitars. There's a couple of advantages in that method: First, if the neck warps during carving you can adjust the fretboard during radiusing. And second, you don't have to worry about the frets being perpendicular to the center line when gluing. And it makes clamping easier.

 

Yep, got the idea from the Crimson youtube. I look at those quite a bit, along with the Unquendor channel. On top of the advantages you mentioned, I felt preslotting a board requires locating pins and with truss rod + carbon fiber, I was scared I couldn't put them everywhere. Plus sawing in radiused wood is way easier than flat wood, especially when you don't have a jig for that (and they cost like 200€ what the hell).

 

Anyhow, went back today to declamp everything with my son. He wanted to see the shop and "help" so he removed the quick-release clamps. He was proud and got a small piece of polished rosewood as a reward. I took the chance and cleaned up the side with a bandsaw, now I only have to make it flush with my router:

I really like the look of this! The contrast between the two rosewood pieces comes mostly from the fact that the headstock is down to 400 grit, while the fretboard is at 240 grit and not cleaned up with Naphta yet.

The sides are clean too:

 

Although there might be a small spot where the glue was lacking. I might come back with dust + CA glue just for the looks. Let's wait until it's flush. (It's also a part where I cleaned up the excess glue with a chisel before drying as an experiment so really tough to tell).

 

This is the only actual issue I can currently see: a tiny drop of glue making contact between the fretboard/neck and the truss rod head. I think I can take care of it with a nail and gentle hammering. Or simply turning the truss rod once to unglue it. I'm not stressing out just yet.

 

Can't wait for the next session and move towards an actual neck. Radiusing jig is ready, neck shaping tools and methodology ready (facetting method ftw) and... I bought a used Triton spindle sander for very cheap to help with general sanding. The make or break part - that is actually making me anxious - will be the fret slotting. The rest can all be fixed...

[Bizman62]

35 minutes ago, Asdrael said:

a tiny drop of glue making contact between the fretboard/neck and the truss rod head. I think I can take care of it with a nail and gentle hammering. Or simply turning the truss rod once to unglue it. I'm not stressing out just yet.

A nail like a fingernail Or a small chisel or rather an ultra cheap flathead screwdriver - doesn't matter how you take that off as long as you don't break the fretboard! The glue won't stick to metal anyhow.

Looks very neat and truth to be said much more planned than any of my builds!

[Asdrael]

1 minute ago, Bizman62 said:

Looks very neat and truth to be said much more planned than any of my builds!

Haha thanks! It's just the way I do stuff... Due to my job, I just have a habit of researching, planning to the tiniest details, and take notes when doing stuff so I can learn and improve for next time. Would be perfect if wood wasn't "unpredictable"

 

I also noticed a few "strips" of maple have been peeled off when I removed the masking tape. I might have to slightly sand the headstock down again, but I still have 1.5mm buffer for the tuner thickness so all good. Will do that at the very final stages before finishing. And from now on, I'm taping my shirt before I tape my guitar.

[Bizman62]

German accuracy at the best! That reminds me of the late husband of my aunt: Two weeks before the trip he told that they'd be at our summer cottage in Southern Mid Finland on a certain date at 14 o'clock and lo and behold, at 2 PM their MB rolled down to our yard!

[Asdrael]

I kept thinking about what you said and how it made sense:

On 7/15/2023 at 9:41 AM, Bizman62 said:

 if the neck warps during carving you can adjust the fretboard during radiusing.

 

So I sneaked in 2hours today to prepare for carving on friday by basically removing quite a bit of wood before I start facetting the neck.

 

Which I started by routing the side of the fretboard:

 

Which, luckily, revealed a quite perfect glue joint all around:

 

I moved on the the bandsaw to remove a strip of neck, basically 1 or 2mm away from what would be the first "facet". Doesn't look like much but it's progress:

Yes, this will have a volute because volutes rock.

 

Since I was faster than I thought doing that, I also spent quite a bit of time with a file to take care of the nut slot (which is now straight, square, etc you name it) and the very end of the fretboard which will slightly overhang so can't be routed with the tools I have. I ended up with a neck ready to carve on Friday evening (hopefully with no twist):

I really like how the fretboard is turning out. With some oil, there will be some nice contrast.

[Andyjr1515]

It's looking good

 

[Asdrael]

Quite some progress yesterday, some mistakes, learning curve type of session

 

Started by working on the body. I wanted to have the final shape to be able to carry it around in my gigbag, and have scraps to try out the finish.

Some bandsaw action later...

And after smoothing out the edge by sanding, I took my router to it:

 

Three small mistakes were done. One was a small chip, which will be routed out when I bevel anyway. Looks weird tho, I wonder if it wasn't something in the wood:

 

Small tilting moment with the router, saved it and shouldn't show after beveling as well - it's inner lower horn anyway:

And more tilting, this one being more subtle. I managed to smooth it out already so it's virtually invisible unless you take a square to it:

The tilting could (should?) have been avoided with a stabilisation plate. Live and learn.

I also took a scrap of MDF to try and route a neck pocket. It turned out a tad too wide, so I will have to play a trick with some tape. The issue is that my template copier bit has a bigger radius than my neck pocket corners... I might just slightly re-shape the neck corners, might be easier in the end. This is for next time.

 

Now the big order of the day was shaping the neck. I used the facetting method, aiming for a "wide C" as I'm using a perfect C reference, but on a 7 string neck. For this, it's Shinto, leveling beam and cabinet scrapper time. Good thing those are my 3 favorite tools.

Started by making the back of the neck flat:

 

Drew my first facets:

And went to town:

 

It went very well, except for when I took the wrong side of the rasp for a bit. As you can see, there is a "dip" in the facet close to the first fret on the treble side of the neck. For the other side, I used masking tape as a reference and it went better, both faster and more accurate. Lesson learned. However, I am not sure how to proceed this time with a potential fix - it's the first actual mistake that I did that might require a fix. I think it's slightly too deep to just say "the next facet will take care of it", at least on the fretboard side. To be on the side of caution, I'm thinking of making a kind of maple paste: maple dust + glue (Titebond? low viscosity CA?), that I will reshape. If I end up sanding it all off, so be it. If not, I would have saved it... I'm not too bothered if it slightly alters the Tru Oil finish I will be going for around that spot.

If anyone of you has a suggestion, I will gladly take it!

Edited July 22, 2023 by Asdrael

[Asdrael]

More carving!

 

I spent quite some time on my CAD software to find how to cover for my mistake from last time. Turns out that after sanding, it won't be a mistake at all. So this time I went through with my facetting plan - the goalm was to have the facets finished and to start on the volute.

So yeah, facets.

And more facets.

 

I really like the method, the only downside is the smaller the facet, the less obvious it is to see. But with a combination of Shinto, file, straight edge sanding and a cabinet scrapper, I ended up with straight and flat facets. At least for now.

 

I was hoping my spindle sander would be there by now to make carving the volute easier but there was an issue. So I thought, hey, time to sculpt something by hand. I also wanted to slightly change the back of the headstock to make sure the tuners would sit flush. So queue a flat sanding block, some files, and a screwdriver handle with sandpaper on it.

I think it turned out just fine for a first one, especially done by hand! Now I have the other side to do. I will do at it the same way. My neck is marked already for the final steps of the rough carving volute and heel side.

Once this is roughly done, I will radius the fretboard, which will give me the proper thickness reference for the whole neck. Then I'll sand the neck properly to finalize the carve.

Really happy with how it turned out. It's a flat C so to say. Or a D with shaved shoulders.

 

The next order of the day was a crucial one - neck pocket. What I ended up doing was slightly reshaping the corners of the neck joint so it would match my template copier router bit. Then, I put the template on and got a forstner bit.

Went to like 17 mm for what should be a 20mm deep pocket - I didn't want any bad looking hole in my pocket!

Clean. Bit of sandpaper to clean up the sharp edges and it's mating time.

 

Great fit. Not so tight that I can lift up the body with the neck, but I can feel the wood rubbing against wood when I'm putting it in (huehue). It's also 100% aligned with a tiny bit of wiggle room to readjust alignment if needed. Considering the treble side has like 2cm only holding the neck, I consider it as good as it can be for a first guitar. I will also be able to "center" pickups and bridge on the centerline perfectly.

 

So yep, progress, no major failure, can't wait for next time and finish carving the neck and starting on the fretboard!

[Bizman62]

Sounds good! The neck pocket seems to be just as tight as it should be, no matter how you're going to attach it. Glue will swell the wood a little and some wiggle room for micro adjusting is also good to have. It's good for any guitar, not just the first one. Well, on the negative side you've just lost a learning opportunity of fixing a misaligned pocket... Just kidding, you've proved to be a man of German accuracy. It's much easier to plan your moves beforehand than fixing mistakes caused by sloppiness.

[Asdrael]

The neck will be a bolt on (using inserts and machine screws). Since the neck and the body will receive tru-oil, the finish thickness should be minimal... I am hoping for good resonance of the entire guitar, I like feeling the instrument vibrate!

[Asdrael]

Slow progress is still progress, right?

 

Yesterday I tackled 2 things that made me anxious. First, I finalized the volute. I was scared of messing it up due to the "artistic" nature of it... no template, just a man, his tool and his wood. In the end, I think I did a good job by taking my time. Bonus point; I learned how to sharpen a chisel decently well.

 

Started from:

 

And after 2 hours of chisel / files / sandpaper / whatever I thought was a good idea:

I think it turned out pretty well! It feels great to the touch - not perfect (the neck is still rough and needs sanding off the facets, so I will smoothen the transition then) but I haven't messed up, there is no dent or ding. And I feel MUCH more confident digging into wood - even if my tool selection is still abyssimal and facepalm worthy for anyone with a bit of wood knowledge. But I developed an aversion to rough files (how do you guys cope with the massive marks and wood tear they cause? I think I'll try to find the equivalent of a shinto but round if that ever exists).

Anyhow, I have to sculpt the heel next. I did the marking already. However, I was so conservative when facetting the neck initially that I am left with a few centimeters to do that should have been gone already. Hindsight 20/20.

(where the midline fades all the way to the actual heel is what should have been carved already...)

I didn't want to sculpt again yesterday evening so I went to radiusing the fretboard. Now I read that "it can only be done properly with a team of 5 engineers and a 20 feet long radiusing beam CnC'd by the NASA using single strokes under a full moon", all the way to "2 tooth picks, a good hand and you have enough". I still wanted to do it well so I got a 8" radiusing beam and built a jig.

The idea is to hold the neck in place, well centered, and you add guide walls for the radiusing beam to follow. This makes sure the centerline stays the highest point during radiusing and avoid wiggling left and right and rotating the beam. It should of course be well aligned and as flat as possible:

After some strokes, it shows that it's pretty efficient:

I did it alternating the beam direction, my guiding hands etc to make sure I was symmetrical. Also, checking progress with the white pencil + reference all along, as well as the edge thickness at each corner and the straightness with a straight edge.

Progress...

Not there yet...

Almost...

Done and checked with a leveling beam. We good! It's a mess though.

 

Fun fact: there was a *very* slight middle hump in the middle of the fretboard. On the side, everything is perfect, but while sanding I could see a bulge disappearing faster. Also, my cheap radius references do not match 100% my radiusing beam. I am done radiusing with 120 grit - all the pencil goes away, and it's all round. But the reference touches the edges and leaves the slightest progressive gap around the fretboard. No biggie, I just think either my beam is closer to 18" or my reference to 16". As far as I can see, the fretboard is perfectly radiused for that 120 grit.

This was much easier than I thought (and for the first time in this build, faster). Took less than 2 hours jig building included. I read some horror stories, but this went fine, so I have conserved almost all my fretboard thickness. Which gives me almost 1mm to remove from the back of the neck to fine tune the neck profile when sanding it. Very happy with that, as I wanted to slightly tune it for me.

Next time:

- Radiusing action until I reach 1000 grit (rosewood 1000 grit is the dream)

- Heel carving (I have a few mm to remove at some point when adjusting neck height but this will be done with frets in)

- Actual neck shape to finish to 400 grit as close to perfect as I can.

 

So yeah, slow progress is still progress

[Bizman62]

Nice job, neat jigs and all!

Sharp tools are soooo nice to use, aren't they? And don't be ashamed of your tools! If they do the job, they're good. I've read about using a piece of broken/cut glass as a scraper and to make sure it's not just my imagination I searched and found this: https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/poor-mans-scraper

Regarding your request for a "round shinto", how about a plasterboard file/rasp? They cut wood nicely and cleanly and are easy to find in almost every hardware store. Here's a round one:

https://amzn.eu/d/3tlnyb8

10 hours ago, Asdrael said:

I just think either my beam is closer to 18" or my reference to 16".

I've been wondering if they count the thickness of the sandpaper in the radius... Not a biggie but still a millimetre or two. Also, how much does the wooden radiusing block live with climate? It looks like laminated of two pieces but it still may live a bit. https://woodworking.stackexchange.com/a/5877 shows a simple drawing about how wood expands.

[Asdrael]

11 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Regarding your request for a "round shinto", how about a plasterboard file/rasp? They cut wood nicely and cleanly and are easy to find in almost every hardware store.

I looked at a plaster rasp but they are directional, which I am not a big fan of. Currently I seem to be missing a round rasp / file that is somewhere in grit between fine and coarse. Or more exactly, the skills to use them properly.

And regarding my radius, in the end, I don't really mind. It could very well be the wood. But I place more faith in my beam (good brand I trust) than my gauges (Thomann cheapest option, 10€ for 10 gauges).  My favorite 7 neck has a 18" radius, I wanted to go with a 17" for this one but if I'm slightly off big being bigger (but still perfectly round), I'll roll with it. Just a feeling I don't like to be done with a tool and your control still tells you that you are off. It "might" be that my sandpaper wasn't perfectly flatly taped to the beam, so I will do I last pass with 120 next time with fresh sandpaper etc to be sure I'm on point before moving on to other grits. Right now, I just can't wait to get back in the shop and finish neck shaping really.

 

 

[henrim]

I’m not sure how a round Shinto rasp would be like, but I can tell you that you actually want a hand cut rasp! Not cheap, obviously, but makes a world of a difference compared to the hardware store stuff! Since you are in Germany, take a look https://www.fine-tools.com/feile.html for their huge rasp selection. 

[Asdrael]

Great link. Thanks a lot! So far I'm using "Pferd" fine files which are good but I might spend a bit more for rougher stuff.

 

Edit: holy spaghetti actually took a deep dive in that website and I'm a sucker for nice tools... This is crazy

Edited August 6, 2023 by Asdrael