Cello Plane

I've been working on a cello plane for over a week now. It is finaly done. I made it our of a chink of Yellowheart I had. Ijust cut a slot in it for the blade, and there is a wedge that closes the gap before the blade. I had to make two inserts for it; one before the blade, and the other at the blade tip, The Yellowheart is kind of splintery, and the edges there got nasty from going at it with chisels.

The blade is 7 mm thick A9 that is 60rc. It should hold up fairly well, and be solid enough. It is set at about 16 degrees or so, and the angle on the blade is about 33 degrees, so it is approximately a York pitch at 49 degrees.

It works good, but I only tried it on a chunk of maple, and didn't have the handles on it yet, so I don't know how it really feels. The handles should make it easier to use. The front handle looked like a weasel to me, so I added two eyes and a nose to make him Mr.Weasel. Here he is:

I hope there is enough room for chips.

I chose the arch this way to be slightly smaller that the smallest that I might find in the cross arch of a cello at the c bout.

The arch this way would fit in the shortest, deepest cello back.

There he is complete.

That part is out of the way.

Blocks Almost Done

I have a revelation: cellos are bigger than violins and violas. That was pretty profound wasn't it? I have the blocks glued on, and mostly shaped. The c bouts are finished up, and I left the upper and lower parts of the corners a little thick at the point. That way when I trim the c bouts ribs, they will have some support behind them. That works better.

I used my gouges for the roughing. I need some longer ones. These are knuckle smashers. They cut good though. To smooth them up I used a rasp. It worked great on the MDF form, but they only cut this wood against the grain. With the grain it just skips across. My other file, an Iwasaki, works great either way. I have a flat one and a half round one. They are really nice tools. I need to buy another set that are longer, and are coarser, for this kind of work. They might even be useful for the cello scroll and neck. I finish them up with at round block with snadpaper wrapped around it.

I need to make a cello size rib iron. I like the looks of the one that Joe Swenson showed on maestronet. I have one that works with a heat gun too, but it is too small for a cello. I also need to make a couple of roughing planes up. I have the blades, now I need to cut some wood. The blades are A-9 (I think) and 60rc. Does anyone know anything about A-9 blades? I know that they are very easy to sharpen, but that's it.

Cello Mould Almost Done

I've been working every Saturday, and it doesn't seem like it will end any time soon. I have my mould almost done. It is all sawn out. The coping saw actually worked really well. I'll have to see what kind of blade it is. It came with 4, that may last a long time, but it really cuts fast. I filed them down a little bigger than the line, and now I'm blending them in with the top and bottom patterns clamped in place. I used a really coarse rasp, and it worked like a charm on this composite stuff. I have this side done, and need to flip it over to do the other.

You can really see the taper on the ends. The length magnified the most. The three layers will help get the ribs bent in the right place. I don't want it looking all bent out of shape. One thing I noticed is that the Gaglianos are always pretty symmetrical.

I used a mask when cutting and filing this stuff; it makes a lot of dust. Then it is made with who knows what kind of glue; so it is best to err on safty. The top one by twos were planed down so the top pattern is on an angle that will taper the ribs 6-7 mm. This way I can have the ribs overhang the top and bottom by the same amount, and it will be easy to set up the blocks, and mark out the rib heights when they are glued on, so they don't get planed down too far. The block will glue directly on the one by twos, and will be on a taper too. That should not be too hard if I but the mould on blocks, and make up a marker to mark a cutting line.

I never thought about how big the blocks will be. I will scrounge around and see what I can find. The corners will be easy enough. The end blocks are a different story. What kind of wood do you guys like? I used poplar, not yellow poplar that is harder, and greener; but Populus that is light and kind of fuzzy. It files really nicely, but I don't have a file that long! I used spruce, but can't say that was anything special, just kind of a pain. I used some stuff that was all different colors, and had an interlocked grain for endblocks, but that was too small, and it is gone. Would just a 12 X chunk of quarter sawn willow be the best option? Problem is trying to find something that is quarterwawn.