Fret saws

[surfnut]

What is the width on fret saws .23 ? Where is the best place to obtain one?

[Nevin]

The kerf on Stewart MacDonald's fret saw is 0.23" I have seen 021" also.

[amowry]

I like my slots to be 0.024”. I bought one of Stew-Mac’s saws many years ago, and it had no set and was difficulty to use. They may have changed them since then. I later had a Japanese-style one (LMI?) that worked much better. If you’re going to be making many fretboards a tablesaw will save a lot of time.

[Bill McCall]

You can measure the tang on your fretwire and have a saw filter adjust the kerf on your saw to be slightly smaller, to get a good, snug fit.

If you can find a good saw shop.

It helped being in the trade to find people.

[HoGo]

I've got LMII fretsaw and has no kerf (there ws a hint of kerf when new but after few boards it's completely flat) and the 0.023 slot is a bit tighter than I like as well. I resharpen before each two boards and cut relatively shallow slots which helps. I file the fret tangs a bit to make frets easier to seat.

[sunburst]

Like Andrew, I do best with .024" fret slots. I also bought one of the older Stewmac hand saws, and it had no set, and it was nearly impossible to use. I added set to the saw, resharpened and jointed it, and it has been a fine dovetail saw ever since, but it was never a good fret slotting saw.
I moved on to the Stewmac table saw blade, there was no set to the teeth, and the kerf was too small, so I added a little bit of set to the teeth and got it cutting .024" slots.
Kind of looks like a pattern to me. If I want something specific (like a .024" slot), I have to modify (or make) a tool to get what I want. It seems I can't just buy a tool and expect it to work perfectly for my purposes.

[rudy44]

I also had an early StuMac fret slotting saw that promptly went to the circular file.
I use a small screw slotting circular blade (available from McMaster Carr) fitted to a small sliding mitre saw that I adapted for that use. It's cut hundreds of slots and I wouldn't improve anything about it.

[Marty Jacobson]

The Stew-Mac Japanese fret slotting saw is a great saw for cutting fret slots or any other backsaw-type duties.

[rfd]

varies, typically .020 to .024 and sizes between. the common slot width is .022, and i have tools that will increase or decrease the fret tang, for a custom fit to an existing fretboard tang slot.

[Eric Oliver]

There is a new-to-me saw company l learned about from Highland Hardware: Bad Axe Tool Works. They are expensive, but they are a saw company and offer tune-up and repair to their saws and others.

nfi for either company

[surfnut]

Thanks for all the help guys

[Frank Ford]

FIRST, it's important to understand terms. "Kerf" is the slot a saw makes. "Kerfing" is a corruption of that term, used by our crowd as applied to "kerfed linings," typical of factory made 20th century guitars.

It is easy, almost to the point of being a "no-brainer" to adjust the kerf of a handsaw, by rubbing same against a carborundum stone, or other flat abrasive, thereby reducing the "SET" or offset of the saw teeth that allows cutting without binding as the saw cuts deeper. It's a perfectly reasonably process to make a hand saw cut a narrower kerf, and one that doesn't cause much trouble for fret saws because the cut is so shallow. As with any hand sawing, a bit of paraffin lubrication (i.e. an old candle rubbed against the saw teeth at each cut) makes the job go much more easily.

Same thing goes for circular saws. . .