I have been making open reed distress and howler toneboards. I made this today to make life a little easier. It is a home made "jig" to give you a straight cut in a consistent place each time. Then you can fine tune the arc on the belt sander, file, hand sanding. I am sure some of the more experienced guys have seem this type of thing before. I am new to call making and fancy myself a genius for this idea. I thought it might help out a few other newbies too. Not sure if it is the best thing to do but it is working for me. It is made from a 5/8" angle iron, a c-clamp, and a zip tie, It is extremely cheap and replaceable. You will have to replace this thing because the steel is not that hard. Once you make the cut lengthwise you make your cross cut. The cross cut is where you really start to ding up your jig. Take it slow and you will do minimal damage to the jig and you wont cut into the toneboard. I use 5/8" delrin that I am using 5/8" angle if anyone was wondering. One more thing. It would probably help to have a straight set on your blades teeth. I have done it with a standard set. I think the straight set is better for both the blade and the "jig". I would like to hear what some others think about the tooth set as I am by far no expert. Hope this helps here is some eye candy......
The zip tie helps hold it in place where a c-clamp wont fit. It also marks a stop point for you.
This is a picture of how I line up to cut using the "jig" That is not where I hold my hand to cut. I just needed it there so I could hold the camera. Please keeps body parts out of the path of a saw blade. This saw is not even plugged in to be sure no accidents would happen while taking the picture.
