JacksonMaberry

Neat! I assume you've read it? Edit: I tried to download this and my phone reminded me I already have it. So I opened it up and remembered why I had put it out of my mind - it's a terrible scan. But it's better than nothing! Thanks, man! If someone has or finds hard copies of these or other books in the public domain, I'll be happy to scan them and return them to you. I have access to a real amazing book scanner. Then someone with a website can put them up for the good of the trade.

There's a set of books here, the first two volumes of which Ernie sold recently on the Exchange (before I saw the listing, damnit) - "The manufacture of varnishes and Kindred Industries". The first volumes, which I have in PDF (the work is well into the public domain now) deals with linseed and other drying oils, including linoxin, which some makers (Davide comes to mind) process for use in spirit varnish. The second (I have it, too) discusses all manner of oil varnishes and materia. The third, most relevant to this thread, is all about spirit varnishes. I have yet to find it, digital or physical, but as useful and cogent as the first two volumes are, it would probably be handy to have.

It's definitely easier to find spruce for cello blocks, it seems. Got an unsplit violin billet that's too dense? Cello blocks.

From Varnish Making and Kindred Industries, Vol. II - Livache and MacIntosh, on Amber: Fusibility. — The melting-point of amber varies from 287 to 290° C. (about 548'6-554° F.). When heated it decomposes and gives off a pleasant aromatic smell, fuses and burns with a bright flame. When gradually heated in linseed oil to the " boiling" point of the latter, and kept at that temperature for twenty hours, it becomes soft, pliable and ductile, but does not melt nor decompose. It must, however, be cooled slowly in the oil, or it becomes as brittle as glass. Opaque spots may in this manner be rendered translucent, and the amber moulded to any form, and pieces can even be cemented together. Amber is repaired by smearing the fracture with linseed oil, pressing the pieces energetically together and heating them by holding them over a charcoal fire. Amber may be dyed by inserting it in linseed oil coloured by alkanet root, dragon's-blood, alizarine, purpurine or coal-tar dyes. The heat is maintained at 190-200 °C (374-392° F.) for a few minutes and then allowing it to cool slowly in the oil. Heated in a fluorescent oil, amber also becomes fluorescent. Amber-Oil Varnishes. — These are the hardest varnishes known, but on the other hand they are wanting in elasticity ; they are thus used to cover surfaces little subject to vibration or to bending motion. They answer remarkably well for such comparatively inflexible sub stances as glass. Owing to the high temperature at which amber melts, and also to the different pieces not melting at the same temperature, amber-oil varnishes are generally dark in colour. The relative proportions of the ingredients usually taken are: Fused amber, 10 lb. ; boiled linseed oil, 8 to 30 lb. ; spirits of turpentine, 10 to 25 lb. The quantity of linseed oil varies from 8 lb. if hardness be required to 30 lb. when elasticity is a desideratum. The quantity of spirits of turpentine is regulated by the degree of fluidity. If hard ness and transparency and a quick-drying varnish be required in pre ference to elasticity, the amber is largely increased, and a very volatile solvent such as benzene is employed, say : Fused amber, 10 lb. ; lin seed oil, 2| lb. ; benzene, 5 lb. Finally, it is often advantageous whilst taking advantage of the hardness of amber with the view of in creasing its elasticity without very appreciably impairing its hardness to replace a part of the amber by copal, say : Fused amber and copal equal parts, 1 lb. ; boiled linseed oil, 1 lb. ; spirits of turpentine, 2 lb. The result is a hard durable elastic varnish. In cheaper varnishes the whole of the copal in the above may be replaced by carefully selected higher grade rosin. There is a very expansive chapter in this book that describes running Amber and making varnish with it. The source material is from the late 19th century, expanded and published in the early 20th.

Yes, exactly. No two billets are the same, even from the same log. This is a major reason why I do not use templates - they lack flexibility. I find it easiest to do the fluting of the flanks after the eyes are drilled, but before cutting the stems. Redrawing the stems occasionally during the fluting shows you how the stems will lie, without having them there in the way as you work.

Yes, but regrettably, major doesn't always mean excellent.

Steam power and safety features sold separately, I take it!

There are plenty of scrupulous dealers out there, but regrettably they seem to be the exception rather than the rule, in my experience.

Perfect! I always skip past the pinned threads anymore, so I didn't know it was pinned. Now that they take up damn near half the front page, it's getting harder to do!

If you want good drawings of the original forms of Stradivarius, as well as extrapolated forms from other famous instruments (Del Gesu, Stainer, Amati, etc), find a topic here called "stradivari and other models database" or something like that. There are printable line drawings in many formats that are really handy, and totally free. Then study up on one or more methods of drawing out the form, like Kevin Kelly's 'four circles' (good YouTube videos exist to describe the technique) or Jordan Hess' PDF, available on his website. This is especially important because of the need to draw the corner shapes, which are not given on the line drawings of the forms. As for physical templates, these aren't strictly necessary if you're practiced at calculating the corner radii and are willing to draw them afresh every time you make. Different strokes for different folks.

Last time I saw him, he didn't break a hair. He's in good hands at IU now.

I watched a very good young violinist, a dear friend's younger brother, melt the hair off of two bows in the course of playing the first Shostakovich concerto several years ago. I haven't seen anything like it before or since! They had both just been rehaired by two different luthiers, so I can only imagine it was his doing, but hard to be sure!

Thanks, Michael! Do you use yours often, or do you use a different method now? Edit: just looked at the IVC listing, and it looks like a dead ringer for mine. Though it's funny they have the blades going the wrong way!

Yes, it's really quite neat! The one pictured belonged to my teacher, Tom Sparks, who had got it from a former student of his, Sai Gao. Sai is, as I understand, an excellent bowmaker who has produced a wide variety of tools over the years. I bought mine from Duane Lasley, along with a bunch of port orford cedar, and he had also had his from Sai many years ago. I am not certain whether or not he is still making them, but there are clones of it to be had from various Chinese vendors. It also seems like the kind of thing any competent machinist could do easily, if you wanted to have one put together. I did have to completely regrind the blades, as the original shape was next to useless.

@Thomas Coleman thanks for posting those pics! That's more or less what I was trying to describe in my first post. Much improved for any purfling marker or cutter over the shapes they all seem to come with. @fiddlerjer whatever you may think, I'd recommend giving the "bevels out" thing a try on some scrap. You just might like it! @nathan slobodkin - here are some photos of the device in question: