Putty Knifes and Spatulas
Source: Repair Tools & Jigs
Lots of guitar repair tools can be made from plain old putty knifes and artists spatulas.
Artists Spatulas:
Artists Spatulas are pretty much ready to use upon purchase. Just make sure you buy the ones with wooden handles because for some uses, you need to heat them up and the plastic handled variety will melt in the process.
Putty Knifes:
Putty Knifes need a little bit of work to make them a useful guitar repair tool. Since putty knifes need to be heated for certain repairs, you should pick up Wood Handled Putty Knifes.
Putty Knife #1:
Purchase a knife with a 1″ or 1-1/4″ wide blade. As I said make sure it has a wooden handle and make sure the blade extends all the way through the handle so you can tap it with a knife as needed. Also get a Putty Knife that has a carbon steel blade, which is a hardened steel.
The first thing you will do is round the two corners of the knife. Put about a minimum 1/4″ radius on each corner with a Bench Grinder or Stationary Belt Sander. Be careful not to remove the temper from a carbon steel blade, so keep an Oil Quench solution nearby.
Next we want to grind the leading edge of the blade to a knife edge or a chisel edge. Do this on both sides and make the taper very gradual. Again this operation can be done with a Bench Grinder or a Stationary Belt Sander with Oil Quench nearby.
Finally, you should hone all the edges of the knifes to remove the steel burrs. Polish these blades as you would on a fine chisel on a Fine Wet Stone or Fine Oil Stone. Feel the edges with you fingers and make sure you have them smooth.
Putty Knife #2:
This would also be a 1″ Wooden Handled Putty Knife. The difference with this knife is that you grind the blade at a 45 degree angle. Also only grind the corner off on a 1/16″ radius for this knife.
Be sure and hone the edges of this knife as well and remove all traces of burrs.
Putty Knife and Spatula Usage:
While there are many more uses for these handy tools in the guitar repair and guitar building workshop, here is a partial listing of how you can use them:
Putty Knife #1:
Begin lifting a loose bridge.
Use (2) of these to Loosen a Top Plate or Back Plate
Work between the heel and body to loosen a neck
Remove a pick-guard
Remove loose braces from the top or back plates.
Putty Knife #2:
The main use of this knife is the final removal process for a bridge. The blunter blade prevents you from digging into the grain of the top.
Artist’s Spatulas:
Basically these are used in a similar capacity as the putty knifes above, but in a much lighter touch. They are great in pick guitar removal and can also be used to separate a loose edge binding.
Tags: guitar putty knife tool, guitar repair, guitar repair tools, how to repair a guitar, luthier tools
