Geigenbauer

Looking great. Thanks for sharing Mike!

Very nice! Thank you for sharing Manfio. I have never made a viola myself. Since one of my sons decided that this is his instrument of choice it is definitely on my list though. I will bookmark what I learn on this thread for later when I actually try making one.

Sounds easy enough. Just like my violin teacher when she said: Okay, now play that again and leave out all the mistakes.

One option is to go to Staples. They can scan & print various sizes for you. I recently purchased an HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 on sale and it works pretty well.

Adding a YouTube video from Two Cherries Instruments where he is using the blanket technique.

Sorry, no experience myself. I believe Fridolin Rusch (http://www.geigenbau-rusch.de) uses “tree molds”. You can see them on some of the pictures in his webpage.

I just wanted to add that I really like your photos! Nice colors and the dark grey background looks excellent I think.

Sorry. No experience with Japan Drier. Just thought this video may be interesting. He is using a commercial product from Hammerl (Germany). He has some more videos on the subject, too.

I like your idea about the excuse to buy a bigger saw.

Thank you David for your comments. I believe that the concern may have been the potential pinching of the small cut-off between the blade and the stop block once the piece is cut free. Based on the description at the bottom of this page (https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/sawing-small-parts-making-little-cuts-with-big-tools) I have modified the setup with a removable spacer as described there. The spacer is removed before making the cut. Maybe we can use this as basis for discussion?

I used miter saw because (at least compared to my small band saw) I got a nicer surface quality when cross-cutting spruce blocks. Since I have both types of machines in the shop I just use what works best for me. But of course that is just personal preference.

Thank you bkwood. I will try that next time on my table saw! Further down in the article they also describe a process using a miter saw and an auxiliary fence/deck plus a stop block with space. The table saw process seems more straight forward to me though.

Thank you bkwood. Sounds like the process described in here, correct? https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/sawing-small-parts-making-little-cuts-with-big-tools

I will delete my original post because the described method is seen as unsafe by some of the members here. I do not want to promote unsafe work procedures using power tools.

Since we are getting creative here: You could also visit your local cigar dealer and pick up some cedar cigar boxes. Cut some up for practice and turn the others into cigar box fiddles.