Back ready for the purfling

I have the back of the violin about 12% thick right now, from 2.2mm to 4.8mm thick. It weighs 119g and the ring tone is E (328). It seems like the tone has gone down some. I thought it was a half tone over the Sugar Maple back, but that one is at 316, so now it is only slightly above the Sugar Maple one. I think it is the mode three that is throwing me off. This one mode 3 is only a sixth below mode 5 and the other is almost exactly an octave. Of course the Sugar Maple one is just about finished, and this one isn't. It's at the point now where I have to get the purfling in before I can go any further. I've had a bit of a problem with this one. I always carve the inside, then rough the outside. Now when I've started to finish the outside, the edges have started to curl up in the upper and lower bouts. It actually rocks on the center. It is a little better today. A few days ago it seemed like it was almost curved like a smile. Maybe the weather has something to do with it. I just brought the Sugar Maple one upstairs to check the tap tones. That one is indeed bent like a smile! I don't think it will matter. You can push it down easily, so gluing will not be a problem. Maybe I need to rough both sides in before finishing. But then again I haven't had this happen before.
The photo on the last post was out my front door one morning last week. We ended up with 7", and it's still here 2 weeks later because it hasn't been above 32 since before the storm. We are supposed to warm up for a day. Get lots of rain. And then freeze again. As long as the power doesn't go out it doesn't matter. Have a good new year.

Merry Christmas

I'm hoping that everyone had a nice Christmas and now are looking forward to the coming new year. Last year was not as bad a year for us as you might expect if you read all the stuff we've been through. I was just reading my daughters blog and she had random thoughts about Christmas and whatever popped in her head. Here are some of mine.

We started the year with 2 1/2 months of unemployment behind us, and only one job interview. 2 1/2 months later I had a job. 2 1/2 months later a better job, and 3 months later I was called back to my old job. Pretty solid progression there, but even when I wasn't working I wasn't full of despair. I remembered the song I wrote the year before, and how we've always gotten though other layoffs (the latest just the year before!), and all the free time was really quite nice. I enjoyed having the time at home with my wife. The uncertainty never bothered me. I knew something would change and we'd get through it.

Just when we hit the high point, the bottom fell out. The accident. There were many things that seemed like miracles then. Now that seems like a long time ago. Seems like I've been working there all the time.

After having so much time off, working takes so much of your time! There ought to be a law.

After a roller-coaster of a year the ups outweigh the downs by far. The point of a roller-coaster is the whole ride, not just the ups or downs. That is the way life is. Sometimes it is a kiddie ride, or a ferris wheel, or salt and pepper shakers. Sometimes its a roller-coaster. The point is to enjoy the ride. Life is the same. Enjoy the ride.

One thing that helps is to know that God wants to be with you all day long, not just through the tough times. He wants to be your everything. Think about it.

plate tuning fixture

Here is the fixture I use to tune the plates. Most makers are concerned about the tap tones the back and belly make in the free state. I use those just to get a rough estimate of their stiffness. On a finished violin there is no such thing as a free plate. They are glued all around the edge. My plate tuning is much the same as described on an excellent website by instrument maker Keith Hill. www.instrumentmaking.keithhillharpsichords.com It is called Area Tuning, and isn't based on free plates, but on the natural state of the violin belly or back, glued to the ribs. I haven't "mastered" this tuning idea yet, but I have noticed that the closer I get to getting it really in tune, the better sound I get out of the violin. It could be that my making is just getting better. But there is no blind study to prove that. My latest addition to this idea is mounting a sound post on it. The idea came to me and I gave it a test. Putting the sound post in position changes the tuning. Might as well tune it with the post then. In the top picture the sound post isn't glued in place! When you fit it correctly to the belly it will stand up on its own. I just took the big hunk of spruce off so you could see how I can take wood off the outside, or inside of the belly. I need a thinner piece anyway, the big one gets in the way.
It's Christmas Eve. I've had the last two days off, but have been busy, not much on violins. It's funny how the holiday has changed into just that, a holiday. It started as a celebration of the birthday of Jesus, and now is just a day to give and get presents, eat a meal with family, have some time off work. How many people think of it as the birthday of the Saviour? Many more are concerned about getting the right gift. Spending enough so you don't look cheap, to your family or outsiders. Giving for those reasons is like doing the right thing just to do the right thing. It really amounts to nothing. God doesn't want you doing good because it is the right thing...people will see you as good. God wants you to get to the point where you do the right thing because it is the only way you see to do it. Then people know you are good. At that point it isn't even you that is good. It is the spirit of God working through you that gets the credit. Without that you'd be just like everyone else, worried about opinions and how you stack up. Take some time over Christmas and think about how you stack up. Not in the opinions of people around you, but in your relationship with Jesus, the birthday boy.

Lazy Day

Well the snow hype has been just that...hype. Fine with me. Instead of shoveling I've had a chance to play! I glued the back on the ribs last night so this morning I popped the belly off and cleaned it up to the final outline. Then I marked 6 places to make cycloid arching curves for. To come up with the parameters for each arch I measured the arch height off the bottom using a dial gauge mounted on a magnetic base placed on my long plane that was upside down in the vise. By subtracting the thickness of the belly at the low point I come up with the total arch. As far as where the low point is I used 5mm in from the edge for the c-bouts, 7mm in for the u-bouts and 9mm in for the l-bouts. I then plug that information into the cycloid program I have in the computer. The program only prints one arch per page. I throw it back in flipped around upside down to print two to save paper. The main arch though the middle already on the plates is the right shape, maybe a little thick, but the right shape. With a gouge I cut some of the recurve out, not going all the way though to the edge. I use a plastic profile gauge to transfer the arch on the belly to the cycloid arch I printed out. Starting out you can see the center is correct, but the recurve is too thick. A few times back an forth between gouge and gauge and the profile is close. After getting them all close I smooth it up with a couple of scrapers. They are still thick right at the edge near the low point, and the purfling, but that will wait until after the purfling is in. Now I can take some stock out of the inside and cut out the f-holes. I want to cut the f-holes early so I can integrate them into the arching.

I really wasn't worried or upset about the snow or cold. Don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. I don't do that. Slow drivers find me at my weakest. I need more patience there. Anything else doesn't phase me. I know that all things will pass, and with God all things are possible. Even forgiving slow drivers...some time.

Finalizing the outline

I glued the ribcage on the belly today. I just glued the blocks because I'm just gluing it on to get the shape marked on. I had to compress the c bout and the length some to get it to fit on the belly, I didn't cut it out big enough around the corners and the top and bottom. Maybe I made the corners too pointy? The back is cut bigger and won't be a problem. The final measurements should end up around: 356mm oal,166mm ub,104mm cb, 205mm lb. I drilled the pin holes through the blocks and belly, and will drill through the back when I glue it on. I took care to keep the hole straight this time, and it is right on center of the belly even though I drilled it from the other side. Who needs a drill press? I marked the inside of the liners on the belly and marked the overhang using the washer around the ribs trick. After I glue the back on I'll take the belly off and mark the back the same way. After they are marked I can trim them to size and do some contouring in the re-curve area. I use the pin holes to locate the plates, but it would be nice, especially in the case where I pushed the ribs around some, to have some way to locate the corners too. I guess I should trim the corner blocks up some as well. They don't need to stick out so much. After I glue the back on I'll see what I can do about finishing up the other ribcage. It's kind of a gloomy day today, almost warm 38 degrees. That is supposed to end abruptly tonight with plunging temps, 2-3 inches of snow tonight, 3-5 more inches tomorrow, and temps around zero. Sweet. (Anyone who knows me knows I don't like snow or cold)

Full size drawing

Well here is my full size drawing. One side is right, the other is only kinda close. Which side do you like? The full size drawing works much better then the 70% scale. You can draw it up so radii end up on points that just happen to be describe radii. I'm happy with the good side (the left one by the way). I had to work today, on a Sunday no less. That I'm not so happy about. I guess I should be grateful, and I am, but you can't get anything done on a violin if you're never home!
I don't have anything else to talk about on the violin. I can say something about my songwriting. Here's the story on how I wrote the first song. I finished reading the local paper. The next to last page has a article written by a local church leader, they switch off week to week. My wife asked me how I liked the article. I replied that the idea was great but the story could be done better. Move some sentences around so that the paragraphs don't say the same thing. That night I woke up to the sound of wonderful music and then it stopped. Someone said "Now listen". And the song was sung to me. It repeated a couple of times. It was the same idea as the article I read earlier. The voice said, "How could you say the story could have been done better. Everyone will write the same story in a different way depending on their experiences and style. That's arrogant". Then the music started again and the chorus rose up and was really cool. In the morning I sang the song over and over in my head and tried to remember it. I wrote the words down and tried to write the music, not knowing how to do it. Sure I know how to read music, but I don't know how to write it. It took about a week to get the melody line down, and more than another week to get some harmony and a bass line. That's how it went. It's not as magical as the song I heard in my sleep, but the theme is the same...God wants be be your everything.

Drawing up a Violin Outline

I know I touched on this on about my second post, but since I've found my printer is not accurate I figured I'd draw one up by hand...just for fun. The photo shows how I go about it. If I'm using a poster it would be full size. This is a photo of a violin in David Rattray's book Masterpieces of Italian Violin Making. I like the looks of it a lot. Besides the frontal photos it gives dimensions and even some thicknesses. It doesn't have arch profiles, but I may be able to come up with something there. The first thing I do is draw lines through the center, bouts, and corners. Then I try to figure out what relationships they have. For the overall length you can use the real overall length, the length of the mold (with the blocks in) or the pin length. On this one that would be 353mm, 344mm and 334mm, about. Whatever one works on the violin you're drawing at the time is the right one. There was a neat article about how Strad and other Italian makers positioned their f holes by Alvin King that will give you some ideas, not only on the f holes, but also relationships that may come in handy. The lower eyes are always around 5:3 or 3:2 or phi the golden number down from the top. Sometimes the apex of the triangle formed by the eyes is the same number up from the bottom. Other relationships that may not be common for us were used often back then. When we think of angles we think of numbers like sines or cosines or tangents. They would set a divider to the relationships and come up with dimensions with no math at all. I draw it up after figuring out the relationships and then check it by laying the drawing on top of the photo on my lightbox. It won't ever match perfectly, but bad spots will be obvious. Changing a few things will get it good enough. Now I can draw it up full size on the drafting table and see how it looks.

Violin Outlines

I took the Red Maple ribcage off the mold the other day. Putting it under the Birch one I was surprised at how different they were in outline. I know I used two different molds for them, but I didn't think they were that different. I was going to make an assembly board up. A new idea I've had bouncing around in my head, but haven't tried yet. I thought if I had the outline of the violin on a board I could glue the back side of the ribs onto the board in the proper location. I could have holes in it to locate the pins, and help drill them straight. I could mark the overhang and glue the back on. Take the belly off, mark the overhang of the back. I would then get the plates almost done. Then I could glue the belly on the ribs. I could glue the bass bar on using it, and area tune the plate. Then I could cut the neck mortise, and set the neck, and glue it on. Then I could take it off the assembly board and glue the back on. I know this is not the way it is done. But my wife says my vanity license plate should be YBNORML. Anyway, neither violin fits the outline that I used to make it's mold with, even though it was made on the mold. They were tight on the mold. Was a bit of an ordeal to pry them off. Strange stuff. How do you make a board with a cut out in it when the ribs don't conform to the pattern? Then I started measuring. The printout of the form is not to size! I printed it two ways, the top in portrait and the bottom in landscape, and taped them together. None of the dimensions match the dimensions in AutoCad. My printer isn't that precise. When you draw out the form in the first place you notice that the original is wacked out of shape. I guess it isn't surprising that mine are wacked out too.
Want's the point of this whole post? Sometimes our grandiose plans never quite come together. Getting the right plan. Going to the right school. Getting a job in the right company. The right spouse, the right car, the right house. The list goes on and on. The problem with plans is they have a future. When you make them, and obtain them they are the past. We live in the present. Only the present. And it is the only thing we have any control over. What we do with what we're faced with right now is the only thing that will make a difference. The only thing that will help is to have God at your side with every choice. Not only the tough choices, when you're at the edge of your rope. All of them. I wrote a song about that. Anyone want me to share it?

Plates of the Birch Violin

I popped the plates of the birch violin off the ribs today. Now I can start tuning them up. This is my starting point: The belly is 76g and rings at 382. It is solid with no f holes or bass bar. The stiffness number is 11.1, quite stiff. The slab birch back has a rather low ring note of c - 263 and weighs 123g for a stiffness number of 8.5, also rather low. I'm sure the belly ring note will drop in pitch, but right now they are almost a fifth apart. There is another rather strong overtone on the back at g 392 as well, so they sound pleasing when tapped back to back. It's a starting point anyway. I think the low back ring tone is a characteristic of the slab birch. It sounds like good soundwood, rustles when rubbed with the fingers and all, just has a lower pitch. The photo show the piece of foam I use to find the tap tone. Laying the plate right side up and tapping in the center gives you mode 5, the ring tone. Laying the plate upside down and tapping on the top or bottom gives mode 2, I think. Tapping with the plate in the same position on the side of the upper or lower bouts gives mode 1. For the belly mode 1 is 93 mode 2 is 190 mode 5 is 382. The back mode 1 is 86, mode 2 is 131 mode 5 is 263. So it's Gb2 Gb3 G4 for the belly and F2 F3 and C4 for the back.
I just finished reading a great book. No, I didn't read it at the grocery store. Well I did in read the first 4 chapters or so there, but then my wife took it out of the library for me. It is The Shack, by William P. Young. I think it is one of the finest books I've ever read. If you haven't read it pick up a copy. You won't be sorry.

Gluing the Liners

I'm gluing in the liners now. You can see the box of tiny clamps I have. I don't remember how much they cost. I bought them at an Amish flea market for 6 or 8 for a dollar, I think. I put 9 on each side of the top bout...12 on each side of the bottom. The c bouts are already done, but I have enough clamps to do all the liners on a side. Liners are one of the things that aren't made out of a specific kind of wood. Some people say that willow wood is the best. Some use only spruce. I've seen people use walnut. These ones are Yellow Poplar, I think. I've made all my linings from wood I scavenged out of pallets at work. I find a light piece that "rings" nice. I tap every piece of wood I see. If it is really light, and rings clearly and with a high pitch I check it out closer. I want to find a piece that I can cut the linings on the quarter. I don't know if they are supposed to be that way, but that is the way I do it. They seem easier to bend that way. Another board I've used is American Sycamore. I've made some backs out of Sycamore so I used the Sycamore linings on them. They look really cool. Both the Sycamore and the Yellow Poplar bent very nicely. I had no idea what kind of wood either of these were until I got them home and smoothed them up with a plane. The piece of wood I've used for the top block, and also the bottom block on this one, was also scavenged. I think that piece was willow. It's gone now, so I have to keep my eyes pealed now for block wood too.

I've made amends!

Dah? That's what I thought when I realized my violin isn't done yet. Why not pop the offending rib off and re-glue it the right way. A little water and heat on the iron, and the rib was turned inside out. I'm so used to running parts on the lathe. If you mess that up it's time for another piece of stock. The joint still isn't what I'd like to accomplish, but it's a little better. At least the flame looks better. Now it's on to the linings on this one.
I also have the Birch violin ready to glue the purfling in. I had one little piece break out between the edge and the groove. Better than I've fared before when I didn't put a light size of glue around the edge first. The chunk is on the bench, I just haven't glued it on yet. This one is the first time I marked the f holes and made the arching fit them, instead of doing the arching and then just pasting the f holes on. From what I remember (it's been a while since I was working on the arching) it is about .5mm or so thicker than the pattern right now. This one has a heavy, hard slab Birch back, and a light, low density Englemann belly. That is the suggested combination according to Nigel Harris to make a violin that sells fast. We'll see about that.

Where do I hide?

Where can I hide? I purposely left the bottom joint to the last step to avoid a couple problems I had in the past, and then made a worse mistake, and a second rate joint besides. As the photo shows, (now that's a dumb idea), I reversed the flame angle. In my only defense I will state that this was the first ribset I did with flames on them. I did plan it out. I did make sure that the angle went the same all the way around. But I must have bent one of the C bouts the wrong way, so when I bent the lower bout to match, it made it backwards. I've never seen that done before. The flame may change on the C bouts. People have cut the button off. I've never seen the flames reversed on the bottom. If anyone has seen it, please let me know.
Hiding is what we want to do when we make a mistake that we're ashamed of. The fact that we're ashamed of it is a good thing. At least we have some shame. But hiding doesn't solve anything. (If anyone knows a good, acceptable way to....hide....the bad rib joint/flame reversal let me know). Getting things out in the open is the only way to go. Admitting your failings is only admitting that you are human, and not God. Sometimes I feel more human than most. Even if you are successful in hiding something, you still know it. If you know it, God knows it. So fess up. Straighten out your crooked paths. My mistake is out in the open, but it's only a violin. If it was something I was doing on the sly, for my own gain..that is a serious human failure. In that case hiding still won't work. Jesus said that all that is done in the dark, or whispered, will be brought out in the light, and shouted from the mountaintop. There is no where to hide.

Gluing the rib corners

Here is a photo I promised a while back. It shows the method I use to clamp the ribs while gluing them on the blocks. I have holes drilled in the mold that hold a dowel. They are situated so that when some cord, or twine like I have here, is wrapped around the dowel, over the clamping block, and around the dowel on the other side, the clamping pressure pushes the rib in place. That sentence is too long. That's why they say a picture is worth a thousand words! The picture tells it much more eloquently. I use small drills to twist each side of the cord until it is tight. Then sit it aside until the next day. It is a very simple clamp. It is not hard to imagine Stradivarius doing it the same way.
I tried the other day to bend the c bout ribs for the last violin that needs a ribcage. Those were the ones I made inline with the medulary rays. The red maple stock is much more flamed than other ribs I've bent. The other red maple ones for the violin in the photo that I just glued up didn't give me too much trouble. These ones were nasty. I had a hard time keeping the back side from splitting. Thought I had the iron hot. Thought I had it pulled tight with the band. Thought I had the back side wet enough so it would steam and relax. I thought wrong. I never had so much trouble. Luckily I have more stock if I run out of strips I've already cut and thinned to 1.2mm. Maybe I need to double check the thickness. Maybe there are some thick spots. Maybe 1.0mm would be better.
Some of you may notice I glued the corners before the bottom joint. This was on purpose. I thought I'd try it that way this time. Once I had one ribs slightly on an angle and had to move it to get it to fit on the corner block. Another time I thought I had it good and the bottom joint on one side must have moved while gluing the corner block. I figure this way neither one of those things will happen. The last couple I had long enough ribs stock I used a one piece rib on the bottom. The way to go for sure. I let you know how this new method works.

Back up a little

Most violin makers begin with the mold and ribcage. I showed my mold before, but didn't explain how it works. Here is my PG mold and the plates I've already made to fit it. The plywood outline of the mold is made so that when the ribs are bent around them they will be 2.5mm - 3mm inside the desired outline. The blocks are the gluing points for the ribs, and the neck, and the support for the end pin. The aluminum template is the outline showing the corner and end block shape. There are two reamed holes in the mold that line up with the reamed holes in the template. That is how the mold is made, so it is somewhat symmetrical. It also allows the maker to mark out the corner and end blocks. Without a template the corners would be hard to make anywheres near the way the design called for. I go around the template, re-positioning it 4 times to get the blocks marked out. Then I use a gouge, chisel and file to get the blocks shaped to both sides of the line. That way the ribs have a decent chance of being square. Now I'm ready to glue the c-bouts on. First I'll have to bend them.
The belly wood on this one has a lot of bear claw on it, but the photo doesn't bring it out. Hopefully my varnish will make it stand out. The back still needs the purfling put in and the edge finished. I tap the plates to get a rough idea of the stiffness. Since I've never flexed a "real" violin back or belly I have no idea what it should be. Not being taught by anyone I don't even have the luxury of the teacher telling me, "still too stiff". There is a formula to come up with a "stiffness number". It is frequency squared time the weight in grams. The frequency is the ring mode, or mode 5 of the plate. I measure that by placing the plate on a piece of foam and tapping in the middle. The belly on this one is 330hertz with the f holes cut and the bass bar in. With a weight of 61g the number is 6.6. The back is 120g, but will probably lose some. With a frequency of 311hertz the number is 11.6. According to the plate stiffness figures on the platetuning.org website the back is about right, but the belly is too wimpy, should be closer to 8. It doesn't seem whimpy, will have to see about that when it is glued together. Any thoughts out there on these numbers, or on this method? Any help or information would be appreciated.

Back in the groove

Well I'm back to work. At work and in the basement. I thought I would have more time to work on violins going back to my old job, but we're working weekends there too. Either you're laid off, or working overtime. I did get the purfling grooves cut, except for the corners, on the birch violin. And I cut out another set of ribs for the slab Sugar Maple one that I never made ribs for. The mold for that one is the same as the Birch one, I based it on the Viotti poster I have, the PG mold. The newest one is based on the Titan, the P mold. Not to say that my molds are the same as Mr. Tony's, but just that they are different, and "supposed" to be like the P and PG molds.
I bought a replacement blade for my Japanese Ryoba saw. Made a big difference. I cut a 2mm thick piece that was wide enough for 3 ribs in about half an hour. And it was fairly flat. After cutting them to the width it took about another half an hour to get them planed and scraped to 1.2mm or so thick. An hour to get a set of ribs ready to bend. I don't think that is too bad. These ones I made sure I cut them inline with the medular rays. Some people on line say that it may make the ribs stiffer. I'd like something that makes them as easy to bend as a wet noodle, but I haven't seen anything about that.
I have thought about getting one of those electric heaters for the bending iron. The heat gun just doesn't get as hot as I would like. I drilled two holes in the base of my bending iron and bolted it to the table. That helps it a lot. I don't have to worry about flying backwards if the clamps let loose! So I need to bend and glue some ribs up, and finish up the purfling on all the plates so I can start doing some tuning. That should be fun. On the photo you can see that I put some thinned glue all around the edge before cutting the groove. Never did that before. It helps prevent chunks from coming out of the groove when you clean it out. Seems to work.

Ready for the Purfling

Ready to cut the purfling groove now, on the Birch one that is. The outlines are done and the corners look OK. My home made purfling marker is in the picture as well. I got the design from a neat book called Making Stringed Instruments, a Workshop Guide, by George Buchanan. It's a no nonsense, get in there and do it book, that is not pretentious, bogged down with rules, or mired with measurements. It's probably also why I haven't "sweated the details" like violin makers are supposed to do. The marking gauge is extra long, so it will work for cellos as well, and is meant to be used when the instrument is assembled. With a sharp blade, and a light touch, it does a good job, and the measurement from the edge stays the same from start to finish. When I started making violins I was under the mistaken impression that the purfling groove was directly over the ribs, but I also thought the overhang was 3.5-4mm, not approx 2.5mm. I would adjust my marker to whatever my overhang was for the outside edge of the purfling. Now putting the marker at 4.5mm or so for the outside edge seems like a long ways in. I guess it gives me more room for a "real" edge treatment, that is to say, one with a plan.
I've been feeling really good the last few days. The remnants of the accident are a distant memory, even with the gloomy weather. In another week or so I will be back to work so I'll have to enjoy the time off any way I can. I think I will use the form I used for the Birch violin to make a set of ribs for the plates I have that are already cut to the finished outline. I don't know why I did that, they are a couple years old, but it will be a challenge to make a ribcage to fit finished plates. Usually I left them a little larger than the outline. I have another painting I want to do, but the weather hasn't cooperated so I can take a photo with the sun shining from the right spot. That painting has more experimental techniques in it like the last one. Nothing really new, just stuff I've never tried. In school we used different kinds of washes, and dry brush techniques, but that was about it.

My latest projects

Since I can't bend violin ribs right now I've looked for other easier projects. I bought a few watercolor paints to replace some that were used up and made up this sketch of a piece of a larger painting I might do. It's basically my back yard... the grass, shadow, trees in the back and the cottonwood, combined with my front yard... the sumac and the aspen clump. Nothing is that colorful yet, but it will be. I tried a few techniques I hadn't done before, some worked out better than others. I don't mind trying out something new on a small sheet like that instead of a $8.00 full sheet. I'm so cheap!
To do a little violin stuff I knocked the ribs of my birch violin off the form, and glued the corners and end blocks on to the plates to finalize their outlines. I haven't quite finished up the corners. Then I'll have to order some purfling, I'm all out. International Violin sent me 3 extra free sets when I placed my first order with them. Guess who I'm placing my next order with. I use pins top and bottom like the old masters did. Getting a small drill press for this might be a good idea, both of the holes are on big angles. If I don't watch it, my hole will come out through the ribs! This kind of work I can do without getting sore, or hurting my back. I cut my purfling groove out by hand with a marker, a knife and a groove clearing tool. I have to watch what I do because it is so easy to go deep on the sides, where the knife slips in the grain right through the plate, and just as easy to go too shallow on the top and bottom. Several (slow learner?) of my instruments have had the purfling ripped out on the ends while putting the recurve in there. Maybe after that I can cut the f holes, put in a bass bar and start tuning it some.
The weather has been so gloomy and wet, with the exception of the other day when it was near 90 and sunny. It would be easy to let the weather, and the fact that you can't do much, put you in a bad mood. I try not to let anything get me down. While in the hospital after the accident I was joking with my wife. God puts you through trials that don't make much sense to you at the time, but maybe later in your life you may see that you learned a valuable lesson.

Confession

The title says it all. I had a gag order imposed the last three weeks. Our daughter was expecting twins at any time three weeks ago yesterday, the day my wife and I were in a car accident. We were both taken to the hospital for a "23hr observation", and then sent home for our recovery. We just couldn't tell our daughter since she lives 2000 miles away, and all it would do is upset her. Then 8 days later the twins were born, but we still couldn't say anything, don't want to rain on their parade. Last night I finally told her, she said she's so mad at us. I told here she'll get over it.

I don't remember the accident at all. I remember seeing a group of cars, a space, then a group of cars on the 4 lane divided highway I was crossing. Then I was asleep dreaming. I woke up on the other side of the highway on a lawn, sitting in the passenger seat with the keys in my hand. My wife was sitting on the ground outside the open passenger door, and many people were milling around. Someone from work, I was only a block away, told me to just sit back down, help would be there soon. Just sit back down? I hadn't gone anywhere, I just woke up! I kept saying that it was so strange, and I didn't know how I got there. I must have fell back asleep because the next thing I remember was getting in the ambulance, and someone asking me a bunch of questions.

After cat scans and "observation" they found that I had compression fractures of the 2-5 vertebrae, and my wife had a pelvic fracture. Nothing they can do for either but wait for them to heal. We're still not 100%, but can at least get around. We just picked up a new (used) car the other day. That took a lot of time and energy to find. Probably in 2-3 weeks I'll be back to work at the job I just got called back to and only worked 2 days before the accident.

There are some things that "don't make sense". How did I get in the passenger seat, with the keys in my hand, when I was asleep? The obvious answer is the hand of God.
In this case I believe it was the hands of angels of God. Four small angels with gold or silver cables lifted me out of my seat, moved me to the passenger seat, straightened my back out, and put the keys in my hand. Sounds far fetched? It is written that you should have faith like a child. A child would have no problem believing that. I have no other explanation. Things that don't make sense to us in our human realm, make perfect sense in the spiritual realm.
From the Jars of Clay song:
They say that I can move the mountain
and send it crashing to the sea.
They say that I can walk on water,
If I would follow and believe,
With faith like a child.

It's been a long time since I've written anything here. Been a long time since I've worked on the violin. Seems like I've been real busy. I need to finish the rib cage up on the maple Strad. I also have a birch Strad ribcage ready to take off the form, and another set of plates for a Strad that needs a ribcage as well. That one I needed some maple for ribs. I have that now, but both of my saws are way too dull. I don't know if I'll get a replacement blade, or a handmade one where the teeth aren't induction hardened, that way they can be sharpened when they start to get dull, and won't (maybe) break off when I hit the metal vise. I may get them all ready for tuning and see what kind of consistencies, or inconsistencies I have in the three.

The picture is the background on our computer. You can use it as a test. If all you see is trees, with the sky peeking through, maybe your missing something. If you were there, laying on the ground looking up at that scene, and all you see is trees, maybe you need to place God a little higher in your priorities. God is with us all the time, but we tend to think about Him only in a church or in times of need. God wants to "be your everything" and be a part in you entire life, not just a few hours a week. The blessings in your life are just that... blessings. They don't come from you, or by accident. Look up in the sky and think about that.

More changes

Just got called back to my old job. Been laid off there for 10 months! What have I learned in those months? Companies have to make money to stay in business. Seems like a given, but not all companies make money. This money crunch has hit small companies hard. Many used credit to pay for tooling, personnel, and running expenses while doing a job before they get paid for it. I always assumed they used the money they had made before to do this. Not so. When their credit is dried up they have to run on cash. When that is gone they get desperate. They will take any job. Under bidding and over promising is the rule. The bigger companies out there (some of them) will take advantage of the "opportunity" to lower their costs. In the meantime, workers are either laid off, or working overtime to get the over promised jobs done on time.
Today I learned to do what they ask (tell) you to do, no matter how wrong you think their idea is. Actually I felt really good after realizing that. Before I was grumbling about not being able to run the job the way I wanted to (the better way of course), then it didn't matter. I can't tell you how much better I felt just doing it their way and not worrying about the results. It's their company. Now I see the same thing happens with God. We want to do things our way. It is the better way, we know it. But if God leads you some where and shuts the doors behind you, follow in the direction you're being led and don't try to change the plan. Going along with God is always a good idea, even if it doesn't appear to be at the start.

I'm still here...somewhere

It's been a while since I did anything on the violin. Been busy. A guy at work took my Montagnana model home last weekend and had a friend who plays check it out. She thought it played nice and sounded as good as the $3-4,000 violins at a local string shop. That's good news. The photo is the Montagnana. The color looks about right on the photo, but it isn't very clear. Another photo was more clear, but it used a flash and the color and look was to nasty for me. I still don't understand why cameras don't see things the way we do. This weekend I gave him the Ole Bull copy for a little feedback. He had it the other night and told me that he thinks it has a nice rich tone, but the varnish is still sticky. Yikes! I varnished it in January! I agree it is my best violin as far as sound goes, but sticky varnish.... I'll have to address that issue. Thanks for being honest Jeremy.
I've discovered the main reason I like making violins. It could be that I like to work with my hands. True. It could be that I like to figure out stuff, and even throw in some trig for fun. True. It could be that I like the sculpture, art, athestics part of it. True. It could be the search for better sound, and to improve my craftsmanship too. True. Are any of these the main reason. I thought so, but they're not. The main reason is that it is the one thing that I do that no one makes me, wants me, expects me to do. It is basically a WANT of me. Everyone has wants. Everyone has needs. I don't have too many needs, well they are all taken care of, so I don't even think about them. Thanks God. But wants...didn't think I wanted anything. There are things I'd like, but nothing that I want. Or so it seemed. But I think I want the time alone, turning pieces of wood into a musical instrument.I like listening to my mp3 player while working on it, singing along. Following a plan I decided on, and I figured out, and I have control over. Sounds like I like being in charge of it all. I usually don't take charge of anything. Kind of strange, and a little too deep for this time of night. I'll let it go at that.

A little diversion

I have a viola started with a back out of a nice slab of curly cherry. Cherry isn't exactly violin wood, I've heard of cellos made out of it, but violas come in different sizes and shapes so maybe I can get away with it. I tried bending some violin bellies after buying a sitka spruce board that has killer bearclaw. The problem is run-out. Run-out? What's that? When a board is perfectly quartersawn the grain goes perfectly perpendicular to the faces. This board is out about 10 degrees. But since the thickness is 12mm I can plane both sides at an angle to get it down to 5mm thickness and then bend them. The other 2 I tried I didn't have a good steamer to steam them in. I've been looking at garage sales for some kind of pan about 18" x 6" x 5" or so deep, that has a top. No luck so far.

Anyway I started planing one of these half's the other day and noticed that the tap tone, which started out about the same as the thick one dropped in pitch. That was to be expected. But what surprised me was that the pitch rose even higher than the thick one when I planed the other side at an angle. Now it is about7mm thick (still needs more planing) and is more than a 5th higher in pitch than the thick one, and rings clear at that, where the other one sounds stifled. It seems that quartered wood is better all around. The photo (I shot more, they were all bad) doesn't show the bearclaw as much as it is. Now I need to find a steamer.

My rib bending set up

Some people use special made rib bending irons. Some people make their own. The people who make their own are probably trying to save the $100 plus for the store bought one. Guess what I did. How'd you guess? The store bought, and some of the homemade use electric heaters of some kind (I know nothing about electricity) to heat up the aluminum chunk that is milled in a shape like a c bout. I didn't know anything about those things so I used what I had...a paint stripping heat gun. Took some 2 X 4'x and made a stand just big enough for the heat gun to be right under the aluminum. It gets pretty hot, but it seems to cool off fast. I can't keep the heat gun on because the gun is a bigger diameter than the block, so the wood chars. It takes a good 10 minutes or so to get really hot. My shape is not ideal. I made it up from a pattern I had when I first started. Turns out the pattern wasn't very good! Maybe some day I'll by a real one. Or maybe I'll make a new aluminum lug and electrify it. I wouldn't need the height if it was electric, so it would be more stable. I also could put some insulation between the block and the stand to keep the stand from charring as well. It's just charring, not burning. Sure it is. I used it the other day on the cbout ribs. Didn't go too bad. At least nothing snapped! I glued them on using the old school method. You need dowels and string. It was described in a fairly recent Strad magazine article. I'll show it when I glue some other ribs on.

The back outside roughed in

This is the back all roughed in. Took the photo last night about 8:30 so it is pretty blue. Just like a fluorescent light it doesn't look blue unless you look right at it, the, back didn't look blue sitting on the table, only the photo does. Why aren't cameras as good as eyes are? Oops, I deleted the photo by mistake. I'll have to take another later. Just took the photo today, Monday, at 6pm. Still looks blue. Cameras are strange. It doesn't have film, so why not show it as is?

I used my 1" Japanese gouge to cut most of the arching on the back again. Then I use the 2" Flexcut as a scraper to smooth things out. My curved scraper around the edge finishes it up. Before smoothing the shape looks really cool. The combination of almond shaped divots and the flame makes it look like waves on the ocean. Cool, but very hard to really see the shape. Like the belly, the shape is generated from the inside arch. Unlike the belly, the arching is not a copy of the inside arch. The thickness pattern produces a long arch that is a circle. The thicknesses I have now are about 20% thick. I think the maple I have is not as strong as the other woods I've used so I'll start a little thick, you can always take stock off. I have 5.2mm at the narrow point of the c bout, <4mm in the upper bouts and <3mm in the lower bouts. As on the belly the archings follow the inside arch a little less than half way across and then I just blend them out to the 4mm edge. Once the outline is finalized I can blend the recurve in.

About the outline...it's about time I got one. Rib bending is in my future.

Moving along on the belly

Before I get to the belly I want to show the long arch on the inside of the back. A few posts back I showed the inside of the belly and you can see that the back long arch is not nearly as deep and it doesn't rise so fast off the blocks. Also the point where the chain hits the wood is higher up on the back than the same point on the belly. That point can be changed depending on where the maker decided the thickest point on the back should be. Some, like this one are above the center. Others are lower, but still above center. The latest Strad poster, a beautiful 1736 del Gesu, has the thickest point well below center. First one I've seen like that.


Now here is the belly. I've gone about as far as I can on it until I make the ribs up and mark the outline on the plates and cut them out to size. Then I can put the purfling in and the ff holes. At that point I can finish the arching up. Right now the central area between the blocks and about half of the width is 3mm thick. The edge is around 4mm. In between those points the gouge (my 2" wide #3 Flexcut) just kinda blends it in. This area is still quite thick, because I won't finish the inside of this area until later.

I saw a Chevy Volt in the parking lot at Home Depot today. After parking I went to check it out. It's a nice looking car. The battery pack location puts a big hump in the middle of the car, but makes the inside look like a Lotus Esprit. Even has buckets in the back. What cracked me up was the humor of the engineers...you could see three red 5 gallon gas cans through the hatch window.

A day trip

I worked on the outside of the belly the last couple of days thinning it out, but I'll post about that later. Today my wife and I took a little day trip. That's where this picture was taken. Not much of a clue is it. The next photo shows the location, but the first picture is still cryptic, and kind of cool.
The top photo is a shot straight down into the St. Clair river, right at the bottom of Lake Huron. Though you can't see it in the photo there are hundreds of little fish swimming frantically against the current that is about 7.5mph. Just a few feet from that photo there were no fish to be found. And as we got closer to the bridge, and the base of Lake Huron there were even more fish. Why? Why would the fish go to the place where the current is the strongest? Food. I don't know this for sure, but all the water from 3 great lakes is dumping into this small space. It's bound to be loaded in nutrients. Besides having the current, the waves are very choppy. Twenty foot boats look like they're about to flip over and even huge boats with flying bridges "slap" the water. The fish go there because the rewards are the greatest. The going is hard, and I imagine the predator fish know they are there too, so the risk is great. Do you do this in your life? Do you want to do this in your life? Maybe you don't, but God put you there anyway! The choppy, rough sailing is the place God knows you will learn the most. Let the learning go to your heart and let the feeding frenzy begin. If you don't reach for his food and wisdom, and try to do it alone, you will only tire out before the reward is reached. But by jumping in and swimming upstream with your eyes only on the goal, and not the obstacles, totally sure of your success, you will obtain it.

Scroll is closer

I worked on the scroll for about an hour the other day, and spent about an hour digging out the pegbox today. Before I go much further I will check the hole locations and open the holes up some. After doing that I'll smooth the inside of the pegbox up. It isn't a spot that needs a great finish, but every time someone puts strings on it they will be looking in there so why not make it nice. I pushed the holes back quite a bit, hopefully I can still string it up!
It wasn't an ordeal to carve the scroll at all. I'm beginning to be more at ease at it. Nothing else on the violin is as complicated. Maybe turning the pegs. I still need to remember to watch the angle on the saw when I rough the turns out. And I also need to watch the line where the saw starts. Sometimes the pencil lines get blurry and my cuts get errant. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. The sharper tools are nice. The maple seems quite soft too, so it is really easy to carve. Maybe I'll have to make the back somewhat thicker than normal. The spruce seems quite stiff so it will be a thinner one.
I don't do worry or paranoia. I really don't understand it. I can't see wasting time thinking about some thing that may or may not happen, and that I can't stop anyway if it does. I have confidence that everything will work out. The first few scrolls I made were ordeals. Grain problems, tear out, saw cuts tilted, you name it, I did it. I still wasn't afraid of doing another. Can't say I was anxious to do another, but I didn't worry about it. Now that I've done a couple that worked out more or less the way I wanted I won't even think twice about doing another. But I better think about keeping the saw square, watching the line, reading the grain...

Great "new" honing stone

Anyone who has done any woodworking or carving, or cut metal on lathes or mills for that matter knows that sharp tools make all the difference in the world. A dull, or even slightly dull chisel will make carving difficult, or even tear out the wood. Using a dull carbide insert at work risks not holding sizes, not getting the required surface finish, having to take yet another "finish" cut. A sharp tool on the other hand is a true blessing. Makes your job a pleasure and is almost no effort at all. At that estate sale I mentioned before I bought a sharpening stone set, and a honing stone with a black and a red side. The set works nice, cuts quickly and gets tools quite sharp. The honing stone is the real secret. That stone puts a mirror finish on the tools and they really work well. I didn't know what kind of stone it was so I asked on maestronet.com and within seconds (literally) Joe Robson of violinvarnish.com replied and said I have a straight razor hone. Sure enough I goggled that and found a "vintage" Pike razor hone in a wooden box on EBay for $13. I paid 25 cents without the box. It works great. I think the black side is a little coarser than the red side, but they are both very smooth. Looking at straight razor sites on line (yes they are there) I've found that stropping after honing with the stone is required. Yikes! The blades need to be even sharper! Now I need to get some strops and some paste. If I think they are sharp now what should they really be like?
I guess it is just like when we learn something new, or maybe think we know everything (never you say?)and we feel so smug and proud of ourselves. Then we find that we aren't really all that smart, we make mistakes, we don't know half of what we think we do. I love the quote from a character made up by Dave Wagner on a long gone local radio station by the name of Mr. Music. "Remember, I know more about music, high arts and cultural stuff than you'll ever forget." Indeed. Well, now I'm on a quest for a sharper edge. Anyone have experience with strops?

I have the first turn of the scroll almost done. I saw the sides of the neck out and chisel out the pegbox and scroll after marking it to depth with a saw. This is the first time I used a flat chisel. Usually I use a 3/4" wide Flexcut gouge that I think was labeled as a #3, but it seems flatter than that. It is a palm tool, but I never hold in like that. Once I smooth this turn up more I'll cut around the rest of it to the eye. This is the part that it would be nice to have a nice scroll sitting right on the bench next to you. I never know where to cut the turns down to. You can't say Xmm up from the first turn, because that would depend on how much you undercut it, and what if you undercut it more later? Some of the posters will give dimensions to the top and the bottom of the second turn. Then you have to work off the eye because it is the only flat dimension there. This maple is very easy to carve. Easier than the sycamore I did the last one with, that had nasty grain switches. Even where the flame is heavy it cuts nice, and using the chisel like a scraper works like a charm with no tear out. Maybe I'm just getting the tools sharper? I did cheat and used the drill press at work to rough out the peg holes to 3/16" diameter. Usually I use a hand drill with the bevel gears and a small hand chuck. Sometimes my eyes get the holes straight and sometimes they don't! I only trust myself with a 1/8" drill by hand, and then open them up as needed to make them straight.

A little song

Sunday, besides being Fathers day, was my birthday. In the morning before I did anything else, I finished up writing down a little song. A little gift to myself, and the Father of all fathers. The word part is easy, they just come to you. Just write it down before you forget. It's the music part that is a lot of work. Don't know why it is in 3/8 time. I don't remember ever playing anything in 3/8 time, but that's what it came out as. The other song I wrote was in 6/8, who knows maybe this one is too! I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure it is in three!
I'm putting it up here just in case someone might actually like it, or play it, use it at Church. It's better than just sitting in my computer and in my head. As in everything else here your comments or suggestions are welcome. If you want to record it, give me the credit. I picture it as being sung by Jars of Clay. Especially the part at the end marked slower (don't know what you call that part that is kinda added on) where I changed the notes to be higher, just like they would sing it. They write their own songs, so it will never happen. My first one I imagine Point of Grace singing it. I wrote the music with Anvil, a free software, but it doesn't print. Then wrote the music out to be printed on an evaluation copy of Noteworthy Composer. It can't be saved on that software. Anyone out there to suggest some software they really like? Neither one of them make it easy to just click on a note and change the length of it. Moving it up or down isn't too bad.
I did do some more work on the scroll. But, there isn't much time tonight to work on it so I'll talk about it the next post.

Inside of the belly scraped to size

I went to work this morning and the power was out. I couldn't be happier. Friday was stressful, and I really didn't feel like going in on Saturday. We went to garage sales and grocery shopping instead. I don't grocery shop. I look at (read) Christian books while my wife does. Kinda like a library. I have bought books...at the library book sale. There are some nice ones: You were made for this, Crazy love, One in a Million (the one I was just looking at), The story of Matthew, Love Revolution and more. Some stores have cut back, my wife says it's to stop me from reading them for free.
Anyway, back to violins. Between last night, and a little this afternoon, I scraped my belly to size. I use a really hard plane blade from an old, rusty shoulder plane. I don't know what kind of steel it is, but it is very good steel. Does the entire inside profile. As I said before the long arch is a catenary curve from the corner at the flat of the end to the corner at the opposite end on a diagonal. The cross arches, catenary curves as well, go from the lines I drew up and blend to the two diagonal curves. The resulting long arch is shown here. All that complex shape is done with just a chain and a scraper. The arch looks about right. Well, gotta go cut the grass and wash the car now.

Finally, a little progress

Sunday I squeezed in a half hour of violin stuff. I sawed out my neck. Tonight before dinner I took another half hour and filed it up some. Now I'm ready to start marking up a center line and get going on the scroll.

The scroll used to be my least favorite part of violin making. Seemed so senseless.
A part of the violin that gives little or no input to the sound, but gets a irrational amount of scrutiny from other violin makers. I thought it was something where the maker could express his originality. Wrong. I thought it was something that you could do yours a little different and people would say "I know who did that violin". Well yeah, but in a condescending tone. You don't really want to go there. The scroll isn't anything like that. It is a mark of achievement. It is something that shows that you have an eye, and your hands do what you want them to do. Even more so than the violin body itself. Only the old masters can get away with a so so scroll. "Sure it is lopsided, but his dad did it blind in one eye, and with one foot in the grave". "His gouge slipped a little on the treble side..." "The scroll looks like it was rushed, but money was tight..."
Now I'm at the point where I try to do as good on the scroll as I can. I know that I won't get it perfect. But that's what I aim for. I've seen photos of really nice looking ones. Some by fairly new makers that are amazing. Once you figure out what tools work, and which ones don't it is just a matter of not getting a chunk pop out from carving on the wrong side of the flame, and trying to get it even on both sides. And having the lines so they flow evenly, and fluting that is not too deep and not too shallow. And...well you get the picture.

Hurray, don't have to work tomorrow!

I have tomorrow off. First day off since Memorial Day. I haven't been this busy at work in at least ten years. I have the neck blank for the violin ready to saw, but haven't had time. I need to thin the back and belly down a lot too. As busy as I've been, it hasn't seemed hectic or anything. Just no time for myself. Still have to do the everyday things...shopping, cut the grass, stuff like that. We went to an awards ceremony for out youngest daughter who is graduating tomorrow. That killed a whole evening from 6-9, but it was nice. It is good to see the kids getting money for college, and some do put a lot of time and effort above and beyond what is required. I also noticed that a couple kids had broken legs, one had a mask on (has leukemia), one her mother just died a week ago. I'm sure others have trials and agony's no one even knows about. Makes you feel grateful for the blessings you've been given. Being able to go to work is a blessing, even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes.
My wife and I were sitting on the deck after dinner and we noticed how the trees around the house have really grown tremendously. It seems like they grow very slowly, then all of a sudden they shoot up. A cottonwood way in the back was always the same height as the other trees around it. Now it is 30 feet higher. Maybe they get down to a underground spring, and the constant water spurs their growth. It's the same thing with people. You can go along with your life and not grow much. But if you reach for the spring of life, Jesus, you can experience a spurt of growth. You may not have as much time for the stuff you wanted to do, but it won't matter.

Busy at work

Been making a lot of chips lately. Metal chips, not wooden ones. After months of being unemployed, with hardly any prospects, I've found a job where I'm in demand. Maybe too much in demand. They had a bunch of work when I started a month ago, and now they have an opportunity for a big job that could get even bigger. I find myself as a key player. Never really been there before. They are all really excited. It's been a long drought for them I think. It's been a long drought for the whole State of Michigan. I had faith that I would find a job, and that things would work out. But I never imagined 63 hour work weeks! I worked 55 hour weeks for years, but it's been about a decade since then, and I've grown to enjoy 40 hour weeks, especially the time at home. I'm hoping once this job gets going and things settle down a bit I'll at least have my weekends back. My wife and I really enjoy going out on Saturday morning. It's our little getaway. Would like to go away for a weekend sometime this summer. We went away twice last summer for a couple of days each, but one of the weekends the weather was miserable. I'll have to squeeze violin making into short stints in the basement after dinner. Maybe this will teach me how to work faster and more efficiently.
The picture is just to remind me there is a rainbow after the storm. It was taken from our deck a couple years ago. This busy time won't last forever. It won't be hectic for weeks. Anytime things get stressful you have to remember you will get through it. I worked 8 hours today, came home and cut the grass, took a shower, and was done the same time I normally get home during the week. And I listened to 1.5 hours of music on my mp3 player while getting some exercise. Not bad. Now I need to grab a saw or a gouge.

"New" tool works pretty good

After using my 1" incannel gouge on the inside of the back I decided to try it on the outside. I usually use a roughing plane, but this gouge works really nice on the maple. Slices it up. Going from the center seam to the edge it cuts just with hand pressure, no need for a hammer. Old tool, new use.

This is how I rough the outside. I rough the edges to 5-6mm. Then I start whittling the center down. At this point I am still a little high near the ends, and quite a bit too thick in the middle, you can tell by how big the dots are in the middle. The point will only go so far in on the maple, it will go further on the spruce. If you push too hard on it you will make little dimples on the inside. I'm not worried about those because the inside is not quite finished. Real close, but not perfect yet. I move the thickness marker from 4mm at the lower bout up to 6mm in the c bout, in .5mm steps. This should leave it 1.5 too thick, and after smoothing up still about 1mm or so thick. When I get it to that point I'll stop for now.

A little bit on the back

I roughed the inside of the back out the other day. Took about the same amount of time as the belly did, about 2 hours. The back isn't as deep, but my plane didn't want to work, the flames were conspiring against me. I tried my Japanese incannel gouge and it worked like a charm. That gouge cuts with a slicing or paring cut. Cutting across the grain, from the edge to the middle, the flame didn't bother it. The only thing it needs is a longer handle. I usually like short handles, but this one, at 9.5" just seems too short. Should have bought the Gooseneck, but it was $30 more.
I always cut the violin shape out after roughing the inside. I can't see the shape or the thicknesses when it is a rectangle. I try to rough some of the thickness off the outside to make it easier to saw. On the belly I use my aluminum coping saw. On the back I use a bow saw with a Japanese blade. It cuts like butter. The blade is sold by Highland Hardware, along with the saw frame. I figured I'd save some money and alter the bow saw I had that came with shorter, not very sharp blades. Seems like the way I try to do everything. I had to make a new crossbar, and adapters for the attaching the bade on each end. After I strung it up with a scrap piece of maple for the tightening block I found the one that came with it. Oh well. As I said, it cuts really nice, but the smallest radius is not small enough for the form, so I do all the finish cuts with the other saw.
As far as I can tell the Red Maple seems about midway in hardness to American Sycamore (softer) and Black Cherry (harder). The flames in the maple are closer together, and stand out more, but the ones in the Sycamore seem deeper. The ones in flamed Birch are nasty. All said it is fairly easy to carve. Much easier than the Sugar maple and flamed Birch I've used.

Age is a good thing?

Yesterday I was figuring out the string angle on the "Titan". As I said before it isn't straight. Anywhere. Viewed from the side, the ends of bottom of the belly are higher than around the c bouts. The cross arch is 15.5mm but the effective long arch is only 14mm. This came about from age. Hundreds of years, or maybe only a few until the violin took a set, and the string pressure pulls up on the ends of the belly and makes the bouts fuller and the long arch flatter. What this does for the string angle is make it flatter. Drawn out using the measurements for elevation and neck step, the string angle should be 157.9 with the 15.5 arch height. Using the effective 14mm arch the string angle flattens to 158.9. Nothing else changes. The nut is still 4mm above the line drawn from the bottom of the belly, and the eye of the scroll is still right on the center of the line drawn from the bottom of the back. Even the angle the neck is set at stays the same. Everyone(?) seems to feel that flatter is better for violin string angles so a warped out old Strad is better than a new one.
I don't know about warped out old people, but are old people in general better than younger ones? I'm transitioning to the older side (I don't feel different) so my view is biased. I'll go way out on a limb and say....well I won't say. Old people, young people, it doesn't really make a difference. People are just different no matter what. What age does do is add experience, and with experience should come wisdom. But that is not a given either. Some people have life easy and everything always goes right for them. Others go off on the wrong track and never get back.
Both of them may not be living the life they could if just let go of what they want, and try to do what God wants. It's a hard thing to do, especially with all the other "priorities" and obligations you have. It's a hard thing to do if you don't know how to listen to the tugs on your heart, to the voice telling you to stop, to go, to wait. I try to live my life with joy and compassion, but slow traffic and long hours at work play havoc with that! But I try.

Marking out the Neck

I haven't had much time to do anything lately. My "real" job has been busy. I went from working afternoons for 8 hours to working days for 10 hours...with no day off. A couple months ago I couldn't find a job. Guess I can't complain. Being in demand is better than sitting on the couch. I almost have the back arching set, but I need some more computer time to dial it in. Tonight I was itching to do something so I marked out the scroll for the neck. I've seen pictures of scrolls on old instruments that have pin pricks around the eye. Seems like they used that to mark the neck blank with a template. Decided to do mine the same. I used my trusty light box, I think it is the same model that Strad used, and copied the scroll profiles from the poster on to a scrap piece of paper. I always save paper that isn't printed on both sides, or hardly at all for re-use. Then I made a fold along the top where the fingerboard sits and placed it on the wood. Folding the other side down I slide them to the line I drew for the nut and taped them in place. Using a push pin I punched the outline on the the neck blank. Now I feel in touch with the old masters. If I can saw it out to the line I will feel even better.

Looking more like a violin

While I was eating breakfast this morning I was looking at my violin belly. It's actually starting to look like one! I didn't do much on the violin yesterday, and probably won't today, but in about 20 minutes yesterday I rough sawed the outline and brought the thickness down to around 5mm. You can see how the inside arching generates the center of the outside arching. The recurve blends in from there to the edge. It is still as stiff as 3/8" plywood. I still haven't checked all the arches on the back yet. When I finish that I will rough out it to this point.
We saw an estate sale sign along the road yesterday, in a really nice neighborhood, and decided to take a look. Wow! I've never seen so much stuff. Collections of ornaments, collections of toys, collections of cameras and electrical stuff, more and more collections. Nothing they ever had was ever thrown out, and they always bought at least 2-3 of anything. I left there thinking I would go home and put everything I haven't used in a while in a garage sale, load up a small U-Haul, and we could move into a 600 sq. ft. cabin somewhere. What a waste. All that money spent on things. How much good could have been done with that money instead? I did buy a few things though....a brand new oil stone set, some twine, and a tower for starting charcoal. Maybe 600 sq. ft. and an extra large garage?