Here's the way I start carving a violin...with plane on the inside! In two hours I had the whole structure for the violin well on the way, with only a plane, a chain, and two rulers. I've gone as far as I can with the plane and will continue with a scraper. I have to smooth it up some and make sure all the cross arches and diagonals with the chain are just right. The plane has to be sized just right to work the way I like. It has to have the right curves, both lengthwise and side to side. It also has to be the right size. To big and it won't fit in. To small and it will let you plane where you shouldn't be planing. I made the body of mine bigger than I had it originally. The sole is 1" X 2.5" with a 11/16" wide blade. The body used to be maybe 1.5" tall. I made a bigger body that is 4" X 2" X 2" and glued the old sole onto it. It is much easier to hold now for heavy roughing. My fingers used to get tired, now I can grab it with my whole hand. The blade is O1 if I remember right. It stays sharp for a long time, but never seems to have quite as sharp an edge as I'd like. Maybe I need to spend more time sharpening it, seems quite hard. Maybe I'll give it a good sharpening before I start into the maple back. I haven't checked the arches on the back yet. It feels good to actually start on it, instead of just planning and setting up. Maybe I'll start carving the outside now, so it starts looking like a violin.
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