Violin Forum/Message Board

[John Cadd]

Some violin work can be reduced to basic sensible ways to deal with wood .Nothing that needs a theory or musical knowledge . A lot of it can be called carpentry . I hope that does not offend readers here .
An example of this is a video showing a violin being made similar to older ways where the plates are glued on before the final shape is cut and before the purfling . The edges were being shaped with a file to make the final edge details. But the file was being used upwards away from the surface .On a spruce plate it would tend to cause splintering .Better to file downwards to reduce breaking away .A simple difference .Downwards versus upwards. Hold the wrong end of the file if you have to .
The corners were thick and unshaped but much of the shaping could be done with a razor saw ,to leave the knife less work .Less stress on pointed exposed pieces of wood .Basic Carpentry in violin making . Don`t be ashamed of that word . Another aspect of that is cutting across a plank and near the end drop the saw to a lower position to cut upwards .It stops the end fibres breaking off in a big splinter. Such refinements mean nothing if everyone uses circular saws .With Japanese saws the teeth are finer and the cutting direction is opposite . I expect the Japanese have thought about this .

[skylerwhite]