franciscus

Nail has some kind of the head, this is how I see the things

Looking at the bottom of joint (if it's a joint at all even I still think that it is the one), I'd say that it is the best performed joint I've ever seen.

Fully agreed. I was working as a photographer since I was 17, but still have a problem when I have to show some detail especially on the violins. Maybe I am not good enough, maybe the job is really very complicated, maybe both

One piece lower rib? The picture shows the line which looks as the ribs joint, but, of course, it could be a grain.

Doubt very seriously - Google search of almost any known maker would return at least one hit to Maestronet. So, you can freely post the pictures here, if you are interested to get any serious answer. Besides, if you are interested in buying the wood which has been once the part of the violin (for mentioned US$120, but per kilogram + shipping), or various label of the various (real or fictional - up to you) makers (for US$1.00 + postal stamp), I could help you Please, be serious - Maestronet is the serious place (most of the time)

I'd say that the reason for the mentioned effect is the raw linseed oil, which can attract the particles of dirt during the process of its slow curing. Regarding the mineral oil, it has its role in the French polishing procedure as well. My PERSONAL point of view is that any polishing procedure has to be perform a few days after all the procedures dealing with repairs, cracks gluing, gap filling, touch-ups etc.

Because you are not involved in resurrection business

"French polishing" is just the one way to lay the alcohol varnish in the surface, and completely legal way to finish any wooden product. It can degrade as any other finish can under some circumstances. But, there is a zillion ways to perform such a procedure and zillion ways to do that wrongly.

OK, here it is, according to the British Pharmacopoeia: mineral oil: Paraffinum Liquidum; spirit: Spiritus Camphorae (syn. Tincturea Camphorae)

Of course. Spirit of camphor is still, by definition, 11 grams of camphor in 100 ml of 96% ethanol. If you have the ethanol with some of the water in it, then you use what you have and add a little bit less water, or ignore that difference, it's up to you. But, regarding the Vaseline, you cannot use it instead of vaselineöl, because it is not the same thing. What you need here is the thing that you can buy in apothecary (pharmacy, drug store) and it is usually serves as an intestinal lubricant. The light grade serves in enology, as a sealer between the wine in tanks and the air

Oh, now. in the original recipe, the "spirit of campher" does not contain any water. The "paraffin oil" is oily (liquid) mixture of various iso-alkanes (iso-paraffines) of about 14-30 C atoms in the chain. The Vaseline is similar regarding the contents, but contains more alkanes with more than 30 C atoms in its structure ant it is more like the cream. I use that polish regularly and the key is in the procedure described by the owner of the recipe - Jacob Saunders. It is not "fool-proof", which means that it can dissolve the varnish (and it does that), but you have to control that activity and drive it to your target.

It is not my recipe, but I have to say that the measuring the crude materials by volume is not very scientific Spirit of camphor = 11 grams of camphor in 100 ml of 96% ethanol. Vaseline is not the same thing as a vaselinöl.

With or without cooking?

I have to say that the protective coatings on the fiberglass systems are very different from the "coatings" on the wooden instruments - I see these coating as an integral part of the whole system and I do not know if it is really possible to exactly determine the frontier between the "structure" and the "coating". The matrix is mutual - polyester or epoxy. In the violin world, one can find the similarity only if the violin was covered with nitrocellulose lacquer, which is not so popular here.

You do not rush anything anymore? . I fully understand what you have done, I've done that I do not know how many times. And regretted later.

The varnish is very different from the anodized coatings - it is transparent, slightly elastic and nonuniform regarding its thickness across the whole area of its application. Frankly I do not know how you measure these things in the space technology (because it IS the space technology), but I know very well how to measure these things in the world of paint and varnish. And, more important: the thickness of the whole system (not only varnish) is not important at all, speaking of the cleaning - one have to recognize the moment when the rag touches the outer surface of the varnish and stop immediately.

Yes, but up to the primary school. After that, it's called playing or maybe "shooting in the dark". Serious adults approach to the experiment after absolving the "History and Theory" part.

I do not think that it is possible to measure the thickness of coating using the ordinary micrometer. The specialized instruments are usually used for such a job.

Already corrected,, starting here.

Undersigned.

Thanks, VdA! I have one and I use it, but never really figured how to use it properly - meaning that I have no any established procedure for setting the sound post and I really hate that job

Picture, please!!

Thomas, regarding the button graft "which will never be taken apart", right now you intend to replace one. You should think about it prior mixing the epoxy resin with the catalyst. When you fit any patch accurately, you have more than enough time to apply the hide glue properly and clamp everything before the glue starts to gel. The hide glue is superior to epoxy not because of tradition, but because of its ability to make the strong, extremely thin bond, the ability to pull the gluing surfaces together during the curing, the behavior after everything was done etc. I do not know why you decidet that the strange button graft is the point where you should start to repair this violin - if it is stable, I would leave it as is, primarily because it is rather unique and it is the part of the violin's hard life. If you really intend to learn these things, my humble advice would be to return the back on the violin and fix the ribs while thinking how to approach to the cracks on the top, including the sound post patch. Just my opinion, according to how I see things.

I entered this forum a few years ago with usual question: "What I have here?", My question has been answered in no time. Frankly, I've been rather unhappy, because the two or max three posts turned my potential treasure into the usual rubbish. OK, I said "thanks" and looked further. There is a few auction houses offering free valuation services and I asked for that. My violin, according to the received answers, has been made somewhere between Northern Italy and Eastern Bohemia, between 1750 and 1900. Wonderful. I opened that violin in order to repair the broken rib and found everything that two or three previously mentioned post said I would found. typical MkN/Sch fiddle, maybe slightly better made than the worst ones. What I am trying to say is that there is no place like this one: the recognized experts share their knowledge FOR FREE, which is, in this world, unbelievable, maybe even a little bit strange. Everyone still has the choice: take the advice as is and say "thanks a lot" or say "thanks" and leave it, and go the other way: pay for the attribution. To whom and how much, this is another set of questions. I spent a lot of money (means A LOT) for the various books, but the biggest part of my knowledge about the violins came from here (and I paid nothing for that), mainly from a few great persons, knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge, mainly kind - sometimes not-so-kind, and I am very grateful for all of that. As a teacher in my daily job, I am really sick of people thinking that only material things are valuable, in contrary to the immaterial things where the knowledge should be classified, according to this sort of thinking.

Here you can see what could happen as a consequence of lack of corner blocks: Wtith the block suppiorting this corner, it would be avoided for sure.