Saturday in the Workshop 2

This is the tool that I use to shoot a perfect flat, straight and square edge to both the soundboard and the back plates of the instrument that I am making.

The base is made from a piece of 25mm birch plywood. On the front edge I have screwed an Axminster Bevelled Straight Edge part number 100416.

Behind this I fixed a piece of 60mm X 18mm hardwood as a slide for the Makita trimmer to slide on. I rub a plain wax candle on the slide before I use the tool.
The bookmatched back or soundboard timbers are held in place by an 18mm x 75mm birch ply clamping bar.

The screw down adjusters are made from 8mm studding with plastic knobs, once again from Axminster Power Tools, super glued on the end. I found a couple of coil springs to go under the clamping bar which hold it up while positioning the plates.

I find as I get used to using this superb tool I can joint a seam, even oily cocobolo, in one pass in minutes instead of the hours of frustration it used to take when doing it by hand with a plane.

I use the Makita for most triming and routing jobs in the workshop. The cutter I usefor this operation is 6mm diameter solid carbide downcutter bit, also available from Axminster Power Tools. More on the Makita trimer next week.