Re: How far can we take kerf ? . . .
ThomD
>I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are asking or not...
One of the ways of cutting in the sides for a classical guitar is to glue the ends into a saw kerf at the neck. Side thickness varies, but it is in the 2 mm area (3/32"). There are those (in the traditional end of the craft) who cut this in one pass with a saw that looks a bit like a carcass saw. I don't have anything that will cut that thick a kerk, and anything near that thick that I happen to own is not a smooth cutting saw. My approach (all rights reserved) was simply to saw a kerf with whatever saw I was comfortable with, then find a series of shims and scrappers, and jam those into the kerf as a platform upon which a Lee Valley dozuki or any other one-sided set saw could be referenced. Then just cut a kerf with that saw. As each cut is made, a new stack of spacers, or series of spacers etc... is inserted in the kerf, the kerf grows with accuraccy until it reaches the exact size you want.
There are options to add shims without moving the spacer much, or to add only spacers to the initial kerf filler (I feel a magnet moment coming) so that the saw either jumps a lot more than a kerf (waste to be removed later, or a lot less than a kerf). You still preserve the option to do micro fits at whatever groove width, or to waste the material you skip, as required. You could also jig it to create an angled groove as typical of a whole other method of neck joinery.
Those little false edged saws are very clever little deals. I like the LV Ryoba, because it's good, of course, and the left and right edges come in handy when Jackassing about.
