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First time builder, working on binding a maple fretboard. I discovered that one must remove a length of the fret tang from each end of the fret as part of this process.

How do y'all do this? I see tricks and gadgets but don't have a reliable way to assess them.

Blessings!

I don't see the tang cutter listed by StewMac anymore. I guess they stopped carrying it.

I use some wire cutters with the back face ground down to make them as flush-cutting as I could. I recently chipped the cutting edge on something I shouldn't have been trying to cut, but before I did that they worked reasonably well. Even before the edges got chipped I would have to file the last bit to get rid of all the tang. That goes quite quickly though.

You might see if you can find some heavy flush-cutting nippers and give those a try.

Here you go. http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/To ... SYQAvD_BwE

Yes! Thanks Diane. I couldn't find it listed.

To prep frets for installing into a bound fingerboard, I've used a Harbor Freight 1" belt sander ( https://www.harborfreight.com/1-in-x-30 ... 61728.html ) to trim the tang. It requires some care and it costs $5 more than the StewMac tang trimmer, but it is more versatile.

my preference is the LMI unit that files the tang off. It is accurate and well designed without distorting the fret crown
http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-serv ... tang-filer
yes it costs more but it is better at the job and well designed. For me I do a couple of fret jobs a week I can now do a bound board or pocket fret job in under and hour

Hey Chuck,
I use the stewmac nipper. Takes about five minutes to do twenty frets. Very clean cutting and rarely have to clean up with a needle file. I like to bind my boards with ebony creating the illusion of blind frets and this thing is perfect for my low volume use.

If you aren't making many instruments, I still do this after 8 because it is cheap (free), quick and painless:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 458169080/

I use end nippers and grind off the faces to bring the cutting edge very close to the surface - just like Geezer does on the side nippers, then I file a rounded little groove in a hardwood block. Nip off the tang at the right place, then run the 3-cornered file over the fret help upside-down in the groove on the block. The nippers are shown again a few slides later.

Scroll left and right, and text below

Ed

I think end nippers like Ed shows would be preferable to the wire cutter style I use(d). I used what I did because I had previously bought them for cutting wire. I adapted them when the need to cut fret tangs arose.

I need to replace them because of the chipped edges, and I plan to get some heavy-duty end nippers. They do need to be fairly rugged, as you are cutting a lot of material at once.

Mine are marked "Ace" and I got them at a garage sail. They are small, perhaps 4" long. Don't know how they would do on stainless or Evo frets, but they show no sign of deterioration after 8 boards, 5 of them bound, on standard frets

Ed