F holes are cut

Well the f holes are in so it's time to finish tuning the belly up.They aren't finished, but in the tuning process they will be, along with the fluting.I found a really simple and effective way to cut the terminal holes. I chucked a brass rod in my lathe, turned it down to just under 10mm about 10mm back, drilled a 1/8 hole in it (same size I drilled as my pilot holes), then relieved the inside about 8mm deep forming a tube shape. A few slashes with a thin file and I had teeth on it. Using the 1/8 drill as a guide the tool worked great, cut even better than the other ones did.

I didn't have as much luck cutting the actual shape though. All the other violins I made out of Englemann spruce. This one is Adirondack spruce, or red spruce. They are both spruce but different animals. Red spruce is stiffer, cuts in long fibrous pieces, has much harder growth lines, and is just not as easy to cut. I usually take a couple of wedge shaped chunks out of the main length of the hole and it is through. Then I just took full depth cuts with the knife well inside the line until the hole was through the entire length. Then it's just a matter of opening the width up. I couldn't do it that way on the red spruce. I couldn't get my knives to poke through it at all! It took a while but I finally broke though, and in the process chipping out some parts on the inside. I'll have to glue them back in. Even cutting the sides to width, using a slicing or paring cut wan't as much fun. The blade was twisting and bending. The knife I was using is just a #11 X-acto knife. It just isn't stiff enough. I asked for suggestions on maestronet.com and Michael Darnton says he uses an 8mm laminated Japanese knife. Like E. F. Hutton, when Michael Darnton talks..... It will be ordered. I have some laminated Japanese gouges and chisels and they are really nice. I'll have to make a handle, but that should be fun. My wife says I can't just use anything the way it comes, so it's a good thing I have to do something to finish it.