Violin Forum/Message Board

[ctviolin]

I realize that my other post has been following me making my first violin since my stroke over a year ago.

It's been fun making that violin, and getting back into my usual world, and using my shop again and my collection of accumulated violin making tools and all the etc.'s that entails.
For a while I thought that I might be done making violins, because of all of the things I was going through (stroke - ongoing dialysis, getting a new access after all this time, and etc.) but have discovered that forcing myself to continue on from where I was prior to when some of this trouble became overwhelming, has forced me to re-experience what it was that got me interested in making violins in the first place. That aspect of life could have easily shut me down with regard to what I had considered important prior to experiencing this stroke. But since forcing myself back into the drivers seat, it is a great experience finding out that all of my old talents and skills haven't totally left me and gone away - which I considered was the case for quite a while.

Still, that violin I am making now in the other thread, has some trouble going on with it - as I start to re-remember some of the more detailed or "normal" considerations involved in violin making that used to be habitual for me regarding the making procedure.

Hopefully this new violin (which I already mentioned in the other post & posted pictures of the raw wood that I will be using for it) will go a bit more smoothly. I am going to start posting the steps involved in making this new one, here in this thread.

I invite any commentary or current thoughts on my technique(s), including other posters methodology, their tool set up, their ideas on whether or not they agree with me and my thinking on basic matters, etc.

Why do I want to do this?

Actually, I believe it's therapeutic for me, and it is the only thing that I do these days that strains my abilities in a forward direction routinely. I hope to move forward in the arena that I choose, way back when my kidneys first failed, and I lost my ability to continue on in life employed as a functioning Graphic Artist in the world at large... (My original choice for a field to exist in, and to make a living at)

I am working on a particular attitude regarding my posting this crap*, and I am trying to form an attitude of living comfortably with whatever acceptance level that is out there regarding this type of thing (this type of posting).

Follow along, participate, ignore or laugh it off - mostly I really don't care beyond the idea that there are other violin makers that are travelling forward, basically in my own footsteps, and are not professionals and who are at least a bit interested in progressing the only way possible for us to progress - and that is simply to continue on making that thing that intrigues us - violins.

So, I believe that I'll start out showing how I have learned how to split raw billets down the center with my band saw - and then, how I have learned how to set up a shooting board and a joining plane, and am able to plane the billet halves to be flat, and with straight edges, so that they will join together without any gap or space in between them - or on the seam.

What else would I want to post on a violin-making site?
What else could I post, other than perhaps to add to the daily chattering on endlessly about everything else, BUT violin making?

Oh well, such is life. Pictures to follow.
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[Cliff Green]

You're to be commended for fighting the disabilities life has given you. I think we all have or will have the opportunity to succumb to the lessening of our capabilities as life progresses. I have the pleasure of becoming eligible for social security next month and at my last eye exam was told that I have beginning cataracts. Oh joy, looking forward to my first non OEM parts in five years or so. You are and have been a model for addressing one's adversities. Keep it up.
I will stick my nose in your thread to comment on how I do things differently. Not that my methods are better, they certainly are not.
I had a shop full of wood working machinery before I started building violins. In fact the reason I started was because I was considering having a cello commissioned. I was having a hard time justifying the cost and the relationship with the luthier was not to my liking so when I saw that I had the same band saw, drill press in Inca planer as he, I decided that I could butcher a lot of lumber for $15K. And I have.
Anyway, after splitting the wedges, I use the aforementioned Inca planer to flatten the surfaces and square the edges. To insure I don't have compression on the glueing surface I use a bench plane clamped upside down to skim the edges.

[kjb]

What else is a violin forum supposed to be to doing??

If I understand what a forum is all about, it is about just that, asking questions exploring ideas with mutual respect.

The bow re-hairing cd and book that you produced, were a great help, and there is not much out there like that, an essay on making would be great .

I look forward to your process's, and being many steps behind you in the experience level I doubt that I can add anything different that would be helpful, but I am always looking for new ways and tips and insight.

Hopefully more people will join in that are out there but afraid to ask or contribute.
You may get your toes stepped on, but after all they are virtual toes, its only your ego that takes a hit, and we all need that every so often.

cliff , January . for me!

[ctviolin]

One thing I really like about being a violin maker, is that eventually it comes down to you and the wood in front of you.
Ask for all the advice you would like to ask for, read all of the material there is in the world about violin making, get whatever thoughts that the best makers in the world are willing to offer - and still, eventually, it comes down to you and whatever wood you have gotten hold of and plan to make a violin out of...

You will have to sit or stand in front of whatever tools you are going to use, and start cutting.

So, decisions - decisions, how do I cut up this piece of wood in order to maximize its violin making potential? Is it quartered, or is it slabbed, is there run-out or not, do I run the flame up or down, how does it go together, and what do I do in order to maximize the look and play of the finished violin, dependent on what I have to work with?

All of this comes down to a practical application of whatever theory(s) one adopts as correct, in his own mind - forget for a moment that there might be a more "correct"" way to do it, and perhaps, as well, a less correct way - there comes a time simply to act. To start cutting.

You could think forever about it, but instead, there comes a point where one must become a maker and not theorize any more. Just cut the d@med wood and get started.

And so I have decided what piece of wood I would like for this back, and, how I am going to cut it up, and which way EVERYTHING on it is going to go.

So the first thing I'm doing is measuring and marking where the split is going to go, and then I am going to be adjusting the table and the blade angle on this questionable old band saw of mine, in order to wind up with two pieces of back wood that can then be planed as absolutely flat as can be expected on the two joining surfaces, on this shooting board and 22" joining plane I have been using for quite a while now, and then get them glued together with a full strength, freshly made that morning, hot hide glue. (all considerations that are as important as the the rest of the decisions you will be making)

There are no shortcuts to winding up with a correctly joined piece of plate wood. Incorrect decisions about how the wood goes, or what wood to use, well, yes, that can always be questioned, but the mechanical needs are fairly concrete.

Simple? Well, not really. In fact this methodology is presented this way by me, because I have been doing it for twenty-odd years now, and finally realize the amount of trial and error that have gone into every step of it, in order to wind up with what I really want to see.

Alternate points of view?

Yes, I do desire to discuss these things and their relative importance, with people who also do these things, and might have different methods or points of view regarding them.

But, either way it goes - is OK by me.

Photos to follow.
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[ctviolin]

So, I have gone into my wood loft, and chosen this piece of domestic Bigleaf Maple. (OK - so shoot me!)

I bought most of the wood I still have, ten to fifteen years ago - and I trimmed it to what I wanted, back when I bought it.
It has been aging for quite a while now - and it was already aged somewhat when I bought it - and, as you can see, it is fairly well quartered. And you can see how I decided to place the plate on the board with regard to the flame - & etc.




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[ctviolin]

So now we hit the band saw and set it up to cut the billet in half. I like to set the 1/2" blade as tight as it will go in the saw, and set the billet so that it can only go straight down the "track" made by the adjustable saws guide bar on one side, and a long piece of wood on the other side. There is no wiggle room - it is fit fairly tight.

It (the piece of wood) could possibly tilt during the cut, so it must be kept pushed down firmly to the table during the cut. The wood must be pushed both forward into the blade and down flat to the table at the same time...

Stat the saw and cut slowly keeping an eye on where the blade goes into the wood on the top of the billet. If the blade will drift it will drift there and not at the bottom where the guide is close to the blade right under the table.

Make sure the blade is sharp and clean, and cut slowly - you should wind up with a clean cut exactly where you want it - any type of band saw will require thinking about what proper set up must be done prior to cutting - other models still must be worked correctly, as this is one place where the wood can easily be screwed up.






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[ctviolin]

There, the billet is now cut down the center, right on the line I provided for a center cut;




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[ctviolin]

Now I can start the joining. First setting up the joining plane and shooting board

.


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[ctviolin]

getting ready to shoot those billet halves.





Yes, I do need to re-sharpen that plane blade. It needs to be sharpened on a plate glass with a fine-fine grade of emery, pretty much each time it is used. And a sharpening guide, or blade holder is used, in order to get an edge that is perfectly flat ad even and which will shave off an extremely fine (entire) surface from the joining edge.

To come next.
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[kjb]

that flame looks great, thanks for the photos.

I still have not figured out a good shooting board configuration, yours looks good, I will give it a try.. kevin

[ctviolin]

If you do, use a sharp plane.


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[ctviolin]

Actually, there were a heck of a lot more shavings, but this is the end of the planning of the edges - now there are two plates that have absolutely flat/smooth edges and they are ready to glue together.

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[ctviolin]

[ctviolin]

Another hint on this step;
The bench should be bolted solid, because this process will require a lot of movement against the plane, and it (both the plane and the bench) must not move around in order to get the cut made well - the stroke - when the wood hits the blade edge your arm pressure against the cutting force should be strong and even and the cut should be straight through to the end of the board in one even sweeping motion.

The shavings are from end to end with the entire width... in one shaving. Which is really why I have hinted about having a very sharp blade.

If you cannot get a sharp enough blade - stop and learn about making your tools adequate to get the job done properly - and do it now - because you cannot make a decent violin until you can first join two billet halves.

It's that simple.

To be honest - there's not much more painful than looking at someone's violin and seeing the gap down the center of the plate where there is a glue line because the wood was not (could not be) properly fitted together...
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[actonern]

Hi Craig:

When you shoot the edges like this do you take any steps to make sure the flat side facing down is truly flat? I've never done it this way, but it occurs to me that if there is any axial rocking to the plate as it's pushed across the blade you could get a slightly wobbled edge?

E