Trimming the fret edges

To clip the ends of the fretboard requires end cutters with a flush cutting edge... not beveled like most end cutters that are sold. These generally sell for $25-30. Not wanting to part with that much money for 15 minutes worth of work, I decided to make my own. I bought a pair of cheapo's at HF for $5, then ground down the surface until the cutting edge was flush. I then used a diamond file to file the inside. It looked kind of ugly, but it worked great.

The only problem with this method is that the grinding caused the steel to heat up and lose it's temper. I know, anger management is always a problem with soft steels. So even though this method worked, it left the edge rather mangled up after using it.

A good pair of end cutters would be machined with a flush edge and then tempered. Maybe I can re-sharpen them and then temper it myself. The simplest thing would be to heat up the cutting part with a torch and then quench it in either oil or water.