Rasps for Guitar Making

[southgalawyer]

My son is trying to put together the tools he needs to build guitars. We have a Martin kit and the basic gluing form, etc., but he wants to carve or reshape the neck. He needs some rasps that are appropriate for the job, but cannot spend hundreds of dollars on them. Any specific suggestions as to sizes, brands, or dealers? Thanks!

[Steve Hamlin]

Wouldn't bother with machine cut rasps - they're a very blunt instrument and really only related to hand stitched rasps by name not action (the former abrade the surface, the latter cut it.)

So for a one-off, I'd perhaps use a Shinto rasp (for bulk removal), cabinet scrapers (can remove a lot of material fast and great for refining shape) and a cabinet file (to keep the work of the scrapers honest)
Add a broad chisel (consider adding a bit of a back bevel) for initial heel shaping and a roll of sandpaper.

[PaulC]

Many folks speak highly of the Dragon rasps from Stewmac. No direct experience myself, just hoping you're son will buy them and report back as I'm hoping to take the plunge.

[rectangle618]

PaulC said:

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Many folks speak highly of the Dragon rasps from Stewmac. No direct experience myself, just hoping you're son will buy them and report back as I'm hoping to take the plunge.

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I'm a big fan of the Dragon rasp. It's always the first one I reach for, and I have a lot of rasps. Bonus: they're priced at about half of the premium hand-stitched European rasps.

[Admiral]

Joel at TFWW has some rasps made in Pakistan by a craftsman there and are hand cut, I have the smaller one and am very pleased with it. Not cheap, but very reasonably priced for hand cut. Give him a call, he'll be glad to suggest the best one your your son's use.



https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/stor...-CMRASP.XX

[Pedder]

The cheap tool flow:

Iwasaki Files for stock removing. They're fast and clean.

Hattori hand stitched chines rasps available in Germany at Dictum, but so cheap you can import them, if there's no US retailer.

Sandpaper glued to round sticks

Cheers
Pedder

[Derek Cohen]

Stewmac sell a thick scraper blade (1/8"). I made my own out of a plane blade (3/16"). It is sharpened by grinding a square face on grinder, just until a burr is formed.

The performance is amazing!





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Nordic]

Working with a poor rasp is an exercise in absolute frustration. That's why the good ones cost so much...

Might want to look into using a drawknife for the roughing out...

[southgalawyer]

Thanks for your insights! I'll let you know which tools he settles on and I'll report back how they work.

[PeteW]

Pedder said:

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Iwasaki Files for stock removing. They're fast and clean.

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I'll throw in another recommendation for the Iwasaki files. As Pedder says, they're fast and leave a clean finish. They're also relatively cheap.