Official Luthiers Forum!

The other day I purchased some of the discs made by Microplane for random orbital sanders, and finally had the opportunity to use them last night as I was working on some cedar and Engelmann soundboards. I was very impressed and pleased with their performance. I have also used one of their rasp-like devices when shaping the mahogany heel of my last guitar. That also worked extremely well. They seem to have good products at a reasonable price, and I think they are a good option for a luthier's armamentarium.

those Microplane rasps are also very handy in the kitchen as cheese and veggie graters!

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Mitch

I have one of the little Microplane Drums for a drill press. It can also be used in a hand drill, though an electric one works best because it has a higher speed. They are great. There is both a 1" drum and a 2 1/2" one. They also have a flush cut attachment that lets you follow a mold, like with a trim bit on a router.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hi Craig,

Did you buy it on-line? If you did, is there a link?

Thx!

Glenn

Interesting...I bought a set of the three different "grits" and was so disappointed in them that I took them back to the store for a refund.

Glad you found them useful. They're certainly not too expensive to try out in any case.

Another great thing about them is that they make chips and not dust!
I have a couple round bottom hand rasps - but Im anxious to get the drill press style one!
Cheers
Charlie

I've got the drill press set with the pattern follower. I used it only once since it tended to pack the chips inside and I had to clean it every couple of minutes... This is a light duty tool.

My 0.02$ (canadian)

Marc

I've got a couple.

Even though made in my hometown, I purchased mine from Lee Valley in Ohio? I think that's right.

I use them for necks.

Others have commented that theirs seemed to dull after a bit. After all, they are more edge tools like a razor for your face. So, if you buy them think of them as expendable.

While I still have both of mine, I remember using mainly files on my last neck.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I got them at Rockler, in the store. Since my first post, I have tried them on various woods, and there is a difference in their effectiveness. Softwoods worked well, as did Mahogany. Granadillo has been more of a chore, but I guess Granadillo has a bit of a rep for being more tenacious anyway.

I made a run of 36 archtop necks using both hard birdseye maple, and soft curly maple. I tried a lot of different tools and the Microplane half round blade in a hacksaw frame came out the winner. Fastest hand carving tool around, and they leave a relatively smooth surface. The half round works great on the heel and headstock transition. I have only been able to find this particular style of Microplane blade at Japan Woodworker. In fact, I don't even see this blade on the Microplane website!