Violin Forum/Message Board

John Cadd · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2025 8:53 am Post subject: shaving pegs

Today is an unpleasant feeling that I am working uphill against forces dragging me backwards .
Just to finalise one method used by some makers ; Using the shaver blade as a scraper . That will not be possible in a metal shaver where the blade is set at a tangent to the cross section of a peg.
If you use a scraper on a lathe it will be aimed at almost the centre of the peg .Any angle or position can be created if you make your own shaver out of hardwood .
For that information you can watch "Making pegs for lutes". Some such title will get you there . Scrapers on a lathe use a reverse bevel bur with a very thick blade. I doubt if a very sharp blade on a shaver will last very long . Maybe the art has been lost with ready made shavers doing all the work without users understanding how .

John Cadd · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:09 am Post subject: Peg shavers

Second thoughts on scrapers. When you sharpen the blade the bur that forms might work if you leave it on the blade .Normally the bur is removed before the final edge is formed .But that means you need to turn the peg backwards to remove any wood .
I got this scaper idea back to front so ignore the above notes .
The right way to have the blade acting as a scraper is to change the bevel on the blade to a much more obtuse angle. A floor scraper has an sdge that would not sharpen a pencil . Look up scraper blade angles .That was carefully worked out when people would scrape wooden floors for a living .
When I mentioned sharpening the shaver blade with a Pin Vice it is designed for holding flat objects and is clamped tight with a wingnut . Not to be confused with pin vices that work like a drill chuck .

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:31 am Post subject:

Some might find the first five pages of this document useful:
https://violinmag.com/book/setup.pdf
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John Cadd · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 8:09 am Post subject: Peg shaving

Thankyou Mr Darnton for the book reference . One question for you is the oil on the peg .What kind of oil is that ?
Does anyone use valve grinding paste to match the fit between reamer and brass body ?
If the reamer seems to be dull I use a rat tailed diamond file .I put the tip in the groove and slide it along the grooves a few times.Similar to finishing the saw teeth edges after sharpening .Scissors also cut better after a diamond file touch up .
In the peg sharpening page getting near the collar ,if the shaver is held down on the table with peg vertical the shaver blade cannot reach the collar to do any damage.
Historically I always assumed that makers loved to keep their special skills secret from each other unless they were family . So knowing how all those secretive makers did things would be clouded in mystery . We cannot really know whether some skills were learned in secret --and then lost again .That is not something that fits well in modern American thinking . Imagine all those secrets hidden from view --and in several foreign languages too .

Michael Darnton · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:00 am Post subject:

Makers didn't keep secrets and they didn't write things down because the only way to learn was directly working in a shop. Historically amateur makers just were not a thing, and no one writes a book for an audience of two. Heron-Allen really kickstarted the amateur idea in 1883 with his magazine series that became the book.

Mineral oil.

Some peg shapers can be adjusted so that they stop cutting when you reach the collar. The blade sitting a bit short from the edge of the body of the cutter, the larger collar gets stopped at the body. But being alert is the traditional method.

Valve grinding as you suggest would ruin the reamer instantly, forever.

Here's a peg shaper that's close to adjusting as you suggest, with setscrews that drive the blade in and out: https://violintools.com/product/the-alberti-peg-shaper/
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John Cadd · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 10:34 am Post subject: Peg shavers

Yes I removed the mad idea . Thanks .Comparing the reamer with a shaver the cutting edge bevel of a reamer is more obtuse than the shaver blade. The reamer acts as a scraper. They made it like that because shavings would clog up the action straight away .There is so little room between the reamer and shaver that even wood dust could get claustrophobia. So that scraping angle would work for the shaver as well . It would be slower but more controllable .

John Cadd · Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2025 9:49 am Post subject: Shaving tuning pegs

I noticed a new product from Wittner this week . Pegs made of a composite which is not affected by humidity changes .In a standard shape and black . If you rebush the pegholes you would have boxwood side grain contacting an inert peg without any variations of end grain and side grain in either the pegs or the pegbox . That sounds like a perfect stable combination all round.

John Cadd · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2025 12:21 pm Post subject: tuning pegs

The palmwood pegs that splintered so easily have been recycled now. I used superglue to soak into the crevices that develop as palmwood grows . It`s not even a proper wood ,but a kind of grass .That explains it`s unusual structure .But the palmwood plus superglue combination shaves very well and leaves a surface as smooth as glass .