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Im sanding the bottom of my braces in my radius dish, but I notice that I cant quite keep them straight. They always lean a little bit to the side. Is there a way that I can keep the braces straight while shaping the bottom?

Hold a few of them together while you are sanding

I use a plane. I mark with a radius template and then do a few at a time with a low angle block plane. Takes a little practice but it works well.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've found two things that help me.

First my brace wood is rarely perfectly vertical grain, so I try to position the brace so that if I rock a little bit, the grain will be closer to vertical. I don't leave them square so have to do some shaving anyway.

Second, when shaping the radius I position the braces on the dish as if it were on the top and mark the radius on both sides with a pencil. Then I shave the curve with a hand plane so I'm close to the line on either side. After that I sand on the dish with small strokes. It seems easier to hold the brace vertical.

Forget sanding! It's for amateur Guitar makers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Qeh9vjrck

Slick!

Too much music and mumbling.But vy quick and efficient way to do it with a LA block plane.

I've been clamping mine in a vise but I'll be doing that next time.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

This works well and is very fast. It sure beats pushing little sticks around on a dish!

I also use a router jig like Davids.
Works great & the joint is ready to glue.
Make one for all the different radii you use.

Mike

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Mike Collins

I've been using a shim on the sole of my smooth plane for years. It takes only about five minutes to do three or four braces clamped together, and you get a perfect radius every time. I clamp them on their sides on a plywood jig, and shoot them, which keeps everything perpendicular.

I'm sure Mario will check in: he advocates free handing them with a plane. That's good too, but I like the uniform radius I get with the shim. Either way, it's another reason to gain some chops with this most basic hand tool.

router table and jig

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MK5acoustics.com

I bend mine into the reverse curve (concave) using a jig to hold it in that shape and cut it on the tablesaw, then a swipe with a hand plane and you done. When released from the jig the brace springs into the right shape and is ready to go.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I didn't have enough space for a router table so I made this:
Works fine, although I have since made a radius dish which also works.

I hand plane, then touch up on the sanding dish in the same place it will be glued.

Chuck

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Here is my method, very quick and accurate.
Scribe on the radius board, sand on belt sander

Brian

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Reality. No Best way. A lot of ways and they work as noted above. I use a radius jig and run it on my joiner or router table or just make a mark on the brace and freehand it. That works best for me as it keeps the radius from rounding when I try to do it on the abrasive radius dish for good flat gluing surface. But that is what works for me. Others are probably better than I am at using abrasive and not rounding the gluing surface.

I know some who as noted use a tablesaw, and know several who use a bandsaw and just cut to the lines and then clean up on the dish.

My main deal for the rig I use is time and best end result for gluing. I am usually doing 5 tops and backs at a time. Or was when I was building for fun and profit, since I am now really, really retired. Still have to make one for myself someday though.

Overhead router, flush bearing router bit, jig (just because that's what I've got) and touch up on dedicated radius forms with sandpaper.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Laser beams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Nice to hear of someone else using that method - I do the same but just use the plane and skip the saw - only takes a couple of minutes, and you get a cleaner, squarer surface than you're likely to with sanding.

James

If you pull a rectangular brace into a holder with spacers at the ends, and trim it flat, what you get is not a circular arc. It's close, and many consider it 'close enough', but technically....

Agreed, but it is a nice fair curve.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Hand plane is good enough for me.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Is that really the ultimate goal? Are we aiming for and exact radius of a perfect circle. I agree with Jim in that this method creates a really nice fair curve, which IMO is the ultimate goal. I'm personally not aiming to hit an exact arc of a circle and would rather have something a little more fair than perfectly round. Just think this is a nicer feel and a bit more organic than perfect circles. But this has a lot to do with people's method of building as well. And I'm not sure one way is better than the other, just a personal opinion.

Does anyone believe it needs to be a circular arc?

James