Fred lovers, I give you Microplane Fred!! I’ve had an off relationship with Fred, I never really liked him because the normal surform blades tend to rip chunks, same with the one I made with dragon skin. Had a short affair with a crude 40grit sandpaper Fred, leaves fuzzy lines which are hard to see. After a long hiatus I’ve revisited the Fred Tool with a 10’’ Microplane blade. Used it this morning, cuts smooth. It’s not the finest carpentry, I’m no cabinet maker but she’s solid. The angle was cut with a circular saw set at 30 deg (to give 60deg on other side for blade), a guide was used as was a steady hand. The off cut was saved and used to hold the blade very solid to minimise flexing. Clamped everything together and pre-drilled holes to avoid spliting the timber. Used a round over bit and the router to take the corners off.
(I’m not claiming anything here, I’m sure much more inteligent people than myself have made far superior Freds, but…there we go)
Never really got on with Microplane blades. They never seem to cut enough material to suit me. I’ve got a couple of “Freds”. I rarely use them. I do love my Surforms(short and long) mostly for clean up of cuts. “Dragon Skin” with taped edges cleans up and blends rails like a “mo-fo”. Nice adaptation and interpretation of the “Fred” though.
Cheers McDing, was just trying to contribute something to the forum, I don’t want to be the d!ckhead who writes peoples crazy ideas off all the time. I’m open to constructive critiscisim too.
Just saying you did a great job of putting it together. Put a fancy wooden handle on 'em and you could probably sell them in the supply houses like they do over here. My problem has always been with the Micro-blade. Just never was able to use them correctly. Nice contribution to the forum. Just stating my own shortcomings when it comes to the Micro-blade.
Greg I set the angle at 60 deg, when shaping pu I’ve been cutting a shallow band first with the planer to get the taper, the planer is fast, then using the tool to true up both sides even. I’m not super awesome with the planer so fred helps, before I made this tool I was just using a surform with a microplane blade to do two fine bands on the bottom rail. But I’m not a pro so you should probably ask one or figure out what method works best for you.
