I've been diving into hand tool woodworking for nearly two years now, and it's been an amazing journey! My goal was to create a solid body electric guitar. However, I've always found fretboard radiusing to be tricky. When I attempted to use a power tool for routing, it was such a hassle. Recently, I got a low angle jack plane with a high angle blade and tried radiusing by hand, and it surprisingly turned out great—smooth and no tearout, even with the weird grain of the katalox. This has led me to wonder if you could design a hollow plane specifically for fretboards of certain radii, even if they don't already exist. So, here's my main question: does the blade need to match the sole's radius exactly? I think it should, but I'm curious if a narrow blade could still work properly without being a perfect match, especially in how it interacts with the sole. I also have a long sanding beam, but I'm not a fan of sanding from flat to radius—it feels like a drag!
1 Answer
Making planes is definitely a challenging project! To answer your question, it’s a bit of a yes and no situation. Ideally, the blade should have the same radius as the sole to avoid getting any noticeable lines, but matching them perfectly can be tough without proper jigs. Personally, I'd stick to using flat bodied planes and maybe incorporate a card scraper to refine your work. It could save you some effort!
Exactly! I think if you get a radius sanding block (like the one from StewMac) and match the iron’s radius, you’d be golden. But using a flat plane with radius gauges to check as you go sounds like a solid plan to ensure you avoid hidden high spots.