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Next, I'll make the pointed jaw that actually dents the fret tang. I just grind the point on one of the jaws. I try to keep it centered and vertical, but it's not critical:



I now have a pointed jaw which bears against a flat "anvil" face:



It's hard to get the pointed jaw ground so that it meets the center of the flat jaw. But I don't worry about that because, even if the point is way off center, it's easy to mark the spot where the pointed jaw touches the flat jaw. I'll just draw some abrasive paper through the jaws with the sandy side toward the flat jaw while I press them closed lightly:



Now it's time to cut the recess in the flat jaw to match the pointy jaw opposite. That turns out to be easy because it really doesn't have to fit well at all. With my mark to guide me I can use my handy Dremel with the carbide cutoff blade to grind a v-shape notch:



Hey, that wasn't too difficult! Here's the final product:



I can just bite into the fret tang anywhere I want and make zigzag kinks. I can vary the depth of the zigs (zags?) by squeezing more or less hard on the handles. It's more accurate than it sounds:


This is the result: fretwire that can fit into slots much wider than the usual:


One very nasty job I did recently required me to use conventional frets in slots that had been cut to .042" Really! I squoze hard on my fret expander pliers, and fattened up the fret tang enough to get a reasonably good fit using wire that was made for .022" slots.

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