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Neck Carving Techniques
- Thread starter kaoskater08
- Start date
I've gotten mine online from ebay but also found some at Harbor Freight before, which is odd, because they are a QUALITY tool
Harbor Freight and they didn't explode in your hands??
I thought only their clamps were somewhat decent. May revisit their rasp section.
.. I do like their clamps.. but not the quick release bar ones, the C clamps are hard to beat.
Yeah the quick release clamps are dicey, but do OK in a pinch. The steel ones seem to be quite solid.
So I decided to drive out to the local Rockler in the suburbs of Portland....and the Shinto rasps were out of stock. The website has a good price on the tool, but their shipping rates/times leave a bit to be desired. Luckily, I found one on Amazon. Yay free 2-day shipping!
Curious if you find the shinto rasps worth the price. I'm leaning towards microplanes now cause I'm a cheap bastard, but let us know how you like them.
I've got a shinto rasp and I like it. The coarse side takes a ton of material off when shaving the large facets on a neck.
Here are the tools I use for a neck carve. The only tool not pictured is a spoke-shave that's concave.
I know I need a card scraper too, been looking at kits that include a burnishing/hook raising tool as well. I have never tried a card scraper, but everyone seems to swear by them.
A huge value buy for sure. There are YouTube videos showing how to flatten the edges and then creating the bur. not sure if a burnishing tool is required as I've seen it done with a big screwdriver.
Please tell me what you think of the Shinto. I was under the impression that it was a pull cut, but it's not. I'm not happy with it for that reason. Wish it reversible like a snap in. A small tweak on the design would make it reversible.
I really dig it for bulk wood removal. It can be a little tough to "get started", but once you get going, wood gets gone quick! It made the initial facets with ease. I used it while stabilizing the blade with a gloved hand and working at a 45 degree angle. Due to its size, it can be tricky at the headstock or heel, but for all in between, it was a breeze.
In fact, I only used the Shinto, a StewMac small/fine Dragon rasp and a card scraper.
Sure, here are a couple of quick pictures of it. Basically, each end is a simple vertical vise which is cut to clamp on a 3 1/2" square. That is, a standard 4 x 4. The neck holding fixture is a separate thing that drops into it, clamped at both ends.
The vise on each end is made from a pair of 2 x 4's standing up vertically. The ones on the right, in the pictures, are the fixed jaws. They are screwed to the big rectangle of plywood that forms the backbone of the horse. The two triangular end plates with the 4 x 4 feet are also attached to the fixed jaws. I originally had the triangular end plates screwed on solid, but I recently made them removable, with those lower knobs and some pins. It makes it more compact to store.
The left side vertical 2 x 4's are the moving jaws. They pivot on a single screw down at the bottom. A T-nut, a piece of 1/4-20 threaded rod, and a threaded knob do the clamping up at the top.
Each neck fixture is made from a length of 4 x 4, adding clamps, threaded bolts, wood blocks, or whatever is needed to clamp onto the necks. I've made up maybe 15 different neck fixtures over the years to hold various standard model necks that I build. Some hold the neck fingerboard down, for shaping the backs. Those face-down fixtures are usually trimmed in width to match the plan width of the neck, allowing full clearance for shaping the neck with angle grinders and files. The face-up fixtures are for putting in dots, polishing fingerboards and fretwork.
These neck fixtures can all also be used by themselves. They have flat bottoms. I can carry them around the shop, set them on a bench, clamp them in a regular bench vise, or clamp them down to a bench.
The whole purpose of this neck horse is to hold the neck rigidly. This makes filing and grinding so much easier. On the first version of it, I actually made the whole frame too rigid and, because of the four feet, it tended to rock a little bit on uneven floors. That was annoying. So I came up with this version, using the sheet of plywood as the center spine. It flexes a bit, so the four feet stay on the floor. Note that the underside of the fixture rests on the plywood spine all along its length.
I fairly recently got one of the Shinto rasps, and I really like it. It's double reversible. The blade assembly has a fine side and a coarse side, and either side can be installed to cut on push or pull. The one I have is the Planer, which has the overhanging handle on the top.
I've found that the Shinto is particularly good for hard maple. It cuts quickly, doesn't clog easily, and leaves a surprisingly smooth surface. It doesn't leave deep grooves like a rasp.
The one drawback to the Shinto is that it's made for straight, 2-D contours; the outside of a cylinder. Basically a flat file. It's great for the main shank of the neck, but it doesn't get into the blended ends so well. For those areas, I use a large half round file.
