router bits and chipping

[Dave Bagwill]

Yep. I spent a good entire morning sharpening the LMII router bit, and it made the difference. No smoking, cleaner channels.

[Hans Mattes]

Dave: FWIW, an approach that I've used for bending bindings is to use the rim, before the kerfing is installed, as a form. I'll soak the binding in water (sometimes with a bit of SuperSoft in it), and wrap the edge of the rim with a 6" (+/-) strip of plastic wrap (e.g., Saran Wrap). Then I pat the bindings dry and, sometimes with help of a heat gun, bend the bindings to fit the outside edge of the rim. I then hold them on the rim overnight using the same clips that I use when I glue the kerfing to the rim. This, however, only works for two bindings at a time. I find it useful because I don't use a mold when building, so no two of my builds are exactly the same shape.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Hans, sounds like a good method. I too never have the exact shape body time after time.
For this guitar, I just ran a pencil around the body, tracing the outline on a board. Then cut 16 4" lengths of fiberglass rod 9/64" diameter.
Drilled holes on both sides of the line, drove the rod into the holes and yes, Bob's yer uncle.

[Dave Bagwill]

Hans - does your method work ok with .080" binding material?

[Hans Mattes]

It can work with 0.080" bindings, but, depending on the binding material, it can be a tedious process. With plastic binding or fiber binding or purfling, it's trivially easy. With wood binding, it depends on the wood, both the species and the runout. When I have an issue, I combine some time with the bending iron and some time soaking with SuperSoft. And back and forth. The process can take several days in some cases before the binding is ready to be clipped to the rim. If I were skilled (or I had a Fox bender), traditional heat bending would be enough. I'm not (and I don't).

[Dave Bagwill]

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The new jig and clean blade worked very well. Recommended.
2 x .080" strips laminated, .060" purfling. Nice and clean.