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In another currently active thread, Waddy gave us a great rundown of how he made his new circle cutter and purfling tool. I'd been intending to make myself a new one and had it in the back of my head for a while. That thread got me inspired to get on with it. Thanks for that, Waddy!

It has no where near the versatility as Waddy's (whose includes a purfling cutter), but it fits perfectly in how I build and is very simple. Once its assembled a slight tap to either side adjusts it just fine. It took me about 2 hours start to finish.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
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That's just beautiful!

Is that an Exacto blade? Or it sure could be...

Thanks Rick! Very close... that's actually a surgical blade. The kind that comes sealed and sanitized for surgery. An exacto would work just fine.. neary the same thing.

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Great stuff Joshua, that looks elegant. I already use a gramil for the purfling, so that would be just fine to do the rosette channel, much better than my stick with the blade pushed through. A cut edge is always better than a routed one and I do enjoy using a chisel for the channel.


Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Joshua, another nice example of your exceptional craftsmanship.

Very nice, Joshua.  I like the size.  Mine is a little clunky.  One thing that might help is a little shouldered spline between the blade and the wedge.  That would keep the blade from moving when you tighten the wedge.  I tried the wedge to blade first, and every time I moved the wedge the blade moved.  Now I can set the blade with the wedge just pressed in slightly, and when it is just right, I can tap the wedge home, and the blade stays in place.  Just a thought, and wouldn't take much of a change.

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Waddy

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Thanks Marc!

Waddy - I didn't have any difficulty setting the blade. Just fit it with slight pressure, flip the tool over with the wedge resting on a ledge and give the tool a bit of a tap to tighten it. But I really like your suggestion, it'll make for a better tool so I think I'm going to go ahead with that. Thanks!

Colin - you should make one. You can get a really fine adjustment just by tapping one side or the other. It works a lot better then the popsicle stick trick.

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So much more elegant than a drill press. Thanks for posting it.

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I really like the wedge system on holding the slide bar.  That does allow for easier fine adjustments.  I also like the nice look of yours.  The thinner blade is also an improvement.  That jigsaw blade is pretty thick, nearly 1mm.  I am going to do as Shawn suggested and make some scraping blades for cleaning out the bottom of rosette holes after chiseling, and a thin scraping one for cutting purfling channels.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Indeed, Joshua, that IS a beauty.
What are the woods? I think I spot ebony, but the other?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

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I really like Joshua's design too. I built one several months back. Not nearly as pretty as Joshua's, but it was easy to put together out of scraps I had laying around and a few common pieces of hardware. The blade is from an X-acto knife. The locating pin is just a piece of 1/4" doweling glued into place. The cross rod is a piece of 1/2" oak doweling with a flat filed on one side, and the short, center cylinder is a piece of clothes rod.



Best,

Michael

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Whoops -- wish the edit feature were still here. Uh, just realized the X-acto knife blade was used with v1.0 of the design. It was too flexible and would distort when crossing the grain. V2.0 (shown above) uses a jigsaw (aka saber saw) blade that I honed to a finer edge.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Has anyone tried to use 2 or 3 blades for the large center sections?

Ive wanted to make a small bull-nose plane for a while, anyone have any info on doing this, as your all so handy?

Steve, thats actually some chocolate brown Brazilian Rosewood from Clarks. I basically have scraps left. The other wood is Mahogany. And of course, a brass pin holding the wedge in place.

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Beautiful tool. Makes me want to go out and make one for myself.

Slick. Real slick. Elegant too. Nicely done Josh.

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Brazilian rosewood eh, now that's a coincidence, isn't it Joshua . I think I've got some scraps somewhere.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.