Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all,

I'm usally a lurker but wanted to get some expert advice on routing a dovetail.

I'm thinking of ordering a stew-mac dovetail bit but on their website they describe using "teflon tube" to position the bearing in relationship to the template. Their istructions are kind of vague on this and I was wondering if anyone who uses this bit can give me some information if you need to get the tube separate from the bit and if it might just be easier to get set up to use guide bushings for this process.

I have the Bob Benedetto tapes and he uses a bushing but it would end up being more expensive for me to set up to do it that way and I've really liked using the bearing guided cutters I've used before. I've just never had to mess with the bearing position.

Any information would be appreciated.

OLF Rocks
Tom

Hey Tom and Welcome!
the tubing metioned comes with the bit, just a teflon "sleeve" that fits the shank really tight.
now how can i explain its use...say you wanna "rout" something out and you want the bearing to ride a template k? what do you do when you dont have enough cutting depth? you can do several things:
1. a longer bit.
2.add more bearing which will enable you to to "ride the template" higher up the shank.
3.the cheapest of all options, place the teflon "sleeve" between the cutting part of the bit and the ball-bearing...that will enable you to change cutting depths in a sec. and will also make sure the bearing stays in palce and doesnt wonder up or down the shank.

hope that helps ,
Udi.

Tom,

Welcome to the OLF. I used the Stew Mac Dovetail template and jig ONCE. I have three college degrees and even with those degrees and the instructions I found it difficult to understand how to use the thing! I am sure that some people swear by it and have found a way to make it work for them. It is just not my first weapon of choice. Have others had a more positive experience they could relate?

i have it and have had no problems since i acquired it seven or eight years ago.

but then again i always ensure that my one functional left hemishere grey cell is communicating with his right side counterpart by watching the instructional video before i take router in hand.

Tom,

Stewmac supply a length of teflon tubing with the bit. Got one a few weeks ago.

LMIs catalogue/information folder has an article showing the bit in use with a template jig.

Ive just made up a jig to hold the Stewmac dovetail templates but havent used it yet. Im a sucker for a challenge and am cutting dovetails and mortises by hand at the moment.

Hey all,

Thanks for the information. I was up in Seattle today and went ahead and bought the bushing guides, a centering kit and a couple of dovetail bits. It was a little more expensive then the bit itself but I was there and had the money burning a hole in my pocket, so...

Anyway, the bushing guides really seem pretty simple once I got them home and messed with them a bit. Now I'll just have to build a cool jig to hold the body and a Paul Woolson neck tenon jig.

Again, thankyou for the great information.

OLF Rocks!!

Tom