FoxMitchell

I actually just noticed on the tag from the antique place I got it from has scribbled "German, 1930", so that kinda matches.

It's not bad, it's just been mistreated, the poor thing! And yes, that is totally a mother-of-pearl dot. Saxon! Don't think I've had many of those around before!

Points for originality?

And another unknown in the shop is this very orange cello with no markings indicating a possible maker or era! It does have a very big end (eye?) on the scroll, I thought that seemed unusual. Does anyone have any info on what this cello may be and what time period it may have come from? Thank you!

Hey folks! I got another unknown in the shop, and was wondering if it might be familiar to any of our experts here! It's quite a bulgy violin, has had extensive repairs (most of them done very poorly), has all the blocks, and a mysterious '1708' scribble on the inside on the back. Thank you!

I think it's important to establish the distinction between a 'collector' and a 'gambler'. If you're buying every violin you come across because you love surrounding yourself with violins, you're a collector. If you're buying every violin you come across because you're hoping to find 'The One', then you're a gambler!

Yep, DNA has gone and shown a plant we already thought unique is even more unique than we thought!

Arthritis. Older cellists seem to like them.

Looks beautiful!

Is that a hint-hint?

Oh yes, I saw that one! We sure are OPed!

You're absolutely correct specially on the toxicity part! I wear a respirator whenever I'm making sawdust of any kind, and I highly recommend anyone to wear at the very least a dust mask when the work creates dust. I've used willow for blocks on repairs before and felt it was more trouble than it was worth. I've been given some beautiful pieces of willow and told they make excellent linings, so I'm gonna try that next time, but in general I'm not a fan of willow.

I love that contraption!

Nobody can resist the color purple! ...but all in all I think it's overrated, as stated in the video. There's fancy figured woods like zebrawood and snakewood that I didn't include in the video because I haven't worked with them often enough to have a proper opinion of them, just a one-of piece here and there, but the little I've dealt with snakewood, I enjoyed it quite a lot, because of the weight, hardness, grain, figure, though I felt more like I should be forging it with a hammer than trying to cut it with a chisel, that stuff is stupid hard! And I have a complicated relationship with rosewood. I don't like its endangered status brought forth mostly because of the rise of the Chinese middle-class that increased demand of that wood because it's considered a traditional sign of prosperity or some other nonsense like that - sorry, didn't mean to get political. And I find the grain too coarse. I'm spoiled by mahogany! All that said, my computer desk is rosewood (found it super-cheap at an antique shop, I couldn't resist the bargain), and as you may have seen I do use rosewood fittings on stringed instruments at times... even if they will leave 'grandma smell' in the case if the instruments stay locked away for a while. And as you can see, I can easily ramble on about woods! I love the stuff!

Show us that on your workbench thread when it's done?