DonLeister

Put the fiddle in a box with a tray of ammonia and fume it for some hours or days.

Hi Frank, I have two, pm me and I'll get one to you.

I make and buy varnish, and I see that I cannot choose both selections for the survey, sorry. In both cases I have gained some empirical knowledge of the making, application, handling, polishing and aging properties of them. From the ones I buy, not only do I obtain a varnish but I also gain access to the maker's willingness to share their empirical knowledge of the varnish/process. From the varnishes I make I gain my own empirical knowledge. Something lacking in our times is having ready access to products from a continuous generation of varnish makers, not using modern 'improved ingredients'.

Something especially important about violin varnishes is how well they can be retouched and restored. It was almost mentioned by someone earlier in the thread. Laquers, urethanes, and most synthetic varnishes ( I have heard them referred to as bulletproof ) do not wear in an attractive way and are also difficult to repair and retouch compared to most violin varnishes.

Maybe the wet cloth isn't helping? Wash it before cooking, not after. Can you keep the oil warm while it if filtering, maybe with a light bulb of some kind-incandescent?

You didn't cook it with sandarac, right? If not you must have cooked it pretty hot, almost to the point where it starts to gel, I'm guessing. Steam appears at lower temps, smoke appears at hotter temps, are you sure it was steam? Got a thermometer? I have never had a problem with cooked oil passing through a filter unless I have added some kind of resin. Have you tried washing it in water? Not hot of course. I think if it is cooked so much that it is hot and stringy that you have gone too far. Even solvents are not going to prevent it from starting to congeal.

I haven't used mine in a while so I got it out, (Black and Decker actually, not Stanley) it looks a lot like yours Arglebargle. I'm glad you found something. I think the laser line is easier to view in a photo where as in real life it is an intense sort of line to look at.

This is using a Stanley brand laser from Lowes that projects a line along a wall or such, $30 or so? It looks good in that picture but up close the line is a bit fat and intense on my eyes. I like the shadow method for doing arching, it shows unvarnished wood well. Varnished wood shows pretty good too if you tinker with the setup.

I went to Best Bi so I could connect the bluetooth floor models to my phone and give them all a test run. I came away with this; SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker II It will really kick without distorting. the sound (highs) can be somewhat directional when close to it but further away it evens out.

Leaving the shop one day instead of taking one step I cleared three instead!

I think a clear coat is common, personal preference I suppose. I got plenty of material for some varnish making, looking forward to that!

Kevin, what are you thinking a clear coat will do?

100 hours is a long time. I'm not sure of your set up (heat source, thermometer, cooking vessel). If it were me I would heat it to 250-275C and see what happens. At those temps I get a very dark resin in under 8 hours. It should look black in the pot and a drop of it when cold will look black. When crushed it will show some red and when thinned with a solvent it will show more of its true color. Try to stir it often at those temps. I The crusty stuff will redissolve, or at least mine did. Likely it will smoke more, darken more, crust over more. I would cover it loosely with a lid. My rosin I could barely get it out of the pot before it was too thick to scoop out hot. When it cooled it would scrape out pretty easily it was so brittle.

Has the bass ever sounded good? If so when?

Spinning things on the bench, within arms reach and also I don't like things above what is on the bench since it can fall or be dropped. Tool chest with lots of drawers to the right of where I sit and behind as well.