JacksonMaberry

Don't do like I did not long ago and buy something without taking note of the shank diameter and length of travel of the pin. I thought I was being very clever, buying a digital gauge to replace my busted Käfer (they're fragile, it seems!) Only to find it wouldn't fit in the frame and wasn't long enough even if it did! I broke down and bought the new one from IVC. Note you have to buy the pin separately if you need it, but you can cannibalize it off your old one most likely.

I have used it to good effect on bevel down planes, obviously it doesn't do you any good at all on bevel up planes. No more than three swipes on my 10k stone only, so that it is minute enough to be polished away the next time you hone the bevel

Thank you! I appreciate the photos. I'm always interested in seeing how people sharpen.

Ahh, ok! I have seen those actually, but never used them. For some reason I was thinking he meant some kind of hand jig

I've never seen a gouge honing guide. What are they like?

Preach, brother!

I had forgotten that, thanks Martin!

@Conor Russell has attested a violin (Irish, if I recall correctly?) that had an original neck that was butt jointed and glued only, which lasted a couple hundred years before the neck came off. So the fit must have been excellent! I make sure to fit my Baroque necks precisely, but still use a screw for good measure. Roger Hargrave has commented here that he once saw an Andrea Guarneri with an original neck and that the joint between the neck root and the rib was not particularly careful. In this case, I'm sure the nails were useful.

There's no real reason you can't use a "modern" bar" in it. No two bass bars are alike anyway, and there were certainly no standards in antiquity, in either placement scheme or dimensions. Just like the makers of the past did, do what you know to work best.

Wood bodied planes can be fettled within machinist-quality tolerances with techniques and tools that have remained virtually unchanged since the Roman empire.

Dennis, seems like we're very much on the same page. As for lower rib joints, I just avoid them by using one piece lower ribs. Uppers too, for that matter. I know it's not a luxury everyone gets, but it sure is nice when you can. When you can't, I just shoot them with a block plane like most folks.

Hide glue produces a chemical bond and is essentially useless as a physical bonding agent and worse as a gap filler. Clamping pressure is more or less immaterial provided a good joint, and will not meaningfully accommodate a poor one.

What's wrong with Torx? Ceruti got by with flatblade. In any case, since the screw is going into endgrain, I don't crank on it, just make sure it's fully seated.

That's refreshing to learn! Thanks, Don.

All of them!