Sean Couch

Aye.

I have never shipped a bow, but I have had two shipped to me, with a third on the way. All of my bows are carbon fiber based, and one has a pernambuco veneer. There was no special packaging for any of them. They came in cardboard tubes with the frog attached. One from Florida and the other from the west coast of Canada. I like the idea of the PVC pipe. If you were to use that, I think there would be minimal humidity changes if there were matching PVC caps on both ends. I reckon you might want to consider the pressure changes that might occur during shipment if the package gets on an airplane. I wouldn’t make it air tight. I would use the PVC pipe with PVC end caps, bubble wrap, and a Boveda humid pack. Wrap the bow in the bubble wrap, with a humidity pack, and then stuff it inside a PVC pipe and tape the PVC caps on so that it doesn’t make a complete seal. Put that into a triangle box or a cardboard tube and send it. My main concern with detaching the frog is that it could cause damage, or, people would be confused upon receipt of the bow. They may not know what to do with it. We do not live in an intuitive world anymore. It seems that more and more people now days need explicit directions on how to proceed.

Probably so.

I wonder if my daughter still has that bedazzler thing I bought her 15+ years ago. lol.

I agree. I don’t want them to sit and collect dust and feedback from other players would be invaluable. I just can’t let them go right now, they have sentimental value to me. Maybe my attachment to them will wane as I make more. lol. If they are at my house, then I will play them. I have been trying to learn to play since I finished my first violin a little over a year ago. I can hear the difference between my first and second but I don’t really have the vocabulary to describe the difference that I hear. With having two here to play, it is quite easy to keep both instruments active and I usually play both each day as I practice. I was thinking that 6 or 7 would be great, then I can play a different one each day.

I used to use my rigged up thickness caliper measuring frame to draw contour lines, but it has a rounded anvil and was difficult to use. I always meant to make a set of contour line tools like Davide has, but I am lazy. My set up is simple and only took a few minutes to cobble together. My system probably isn’t as efficient as what Davide uses, but I only make about one violin a year. What I use is a square stick of scrap wood about 19mm square, drill a whole through it for a pencil and drill another small hole perpendicular to the pencil hole for a screw to hold the pencil in place. I place the stick and pencil on top of a 123 block, clamp it to a flat surface (my work table) and set the zero height of the pencil. Then I have a bunch of 1.5mm thick plastic shims that I put under the 123 block until I have the desired height/thickness of the isoline that I want to draw. All you have to do to trace the contour lines is slide the plate gently under the pencil point. Just make sure the surface of the plate and table are free from debris. Resetting the zero as the graphite wears away is easy and so is adjusting the height of each individual isoline. Below are a couple pictures that will hopefully explain it better. If my little drill press that I use as a graduation punch had a larger table, I would probably use that. I could use my mill/drill but that is in the basement and my shop is on the second floor, so too many stairs for my lazy self to navigate. lol. Top view with a stack of shims next to the 123 block: Side view with 4.5mm of shims:

I ran tests on some 1x4 lumber scraps that were sent through the saw so that the cut was 5 to 6 inches tall. The 3/16” 10 TPI blade produced too much cupping/bowing. The 1/2” 6 TPI blade did quite well. No cupping and a pretty clean, straight cut. I was surprised that it did so well. I may still order the 1/2” variable toothed blade as my current 1/2” blade is definitely not as sharp as the newer 3/16” blade. One picture showing the straightness of the cut, and the other trying to show the cut quality.

I will have to do some practice runs on some lumber yard SPF scraps with the blades I have. The 10 TPI blade I bought this past March and has only been used on violin #2. The 6 TPI blade is a year and half old. I bought that one for my first violin, but it is has also my go to blade for general wood cutting when the chop saw or table saw won’t do. I know the finer toothed blade is still quite sharp, I am not so sure about the 6 TPI blade. I ripped a bunch of 2x4’s with it while screening in the back porch earlier this year. I dug out my owners manual for my 14” Wilton and it does say 92.5” for the blade length. I also have my original sales receipt and the blade that I bought when I bought the saw, back in February of 2003, was a 93” blade. I know that blade had no issues on the saw and it was used/abused with cutting metal when I was forging pattern welded knives. I don’t think the 93.5” would be a problem, but I will double check before I order a new blade. I don’t mind buying another blade, but if what I have now will do a good job, then I will pinch my pennies. I was rummaging through my violin scraps and found a chunk of spruce block wood that I forgot I had. There is probably enough to make blocks for 2 or 3 more violins. It is probably Adirondack Red Spruce as it came from Old Standard Wood in Missouri. I looked over the billet and planed the ends and did not see any checks or other defects. I like Davide’s idea about cutting the block wood off of each end. My current plan is to cut 40mm (or so) off each end of the billet, then resaw the billet to make the two wedges. If there are any visible defects, hopefully I can work around them. If it is defect free, I will cut some bass bars from the thicker side of each wedge. Even if I can’t manage to get any usable block wood from the billet, I will fall back to the red spruce I currently have.

That cut looks good enough for me. I just checked at Highland and Timberwolf and it looks like I can’t get the 3/4” 3-4 TPI wide blade for my 92.5” blade length. Highland has the 3/4” starting at a 93.5” blade length and Timberwolf drops down to a 2-3 TPI and a much wider kerf on their 3/4” blades. I might be able to get the 3/4” Wood Slicer to tension up correctly on my saw. It isn’t a huge difference but I have never tried to rig up that situation before. lol.

I never thought much about my bandsaw blades until Hogo and Nathan brought it up. I have two wood cutting blades. One is a 10 tooth/inch with raker teeth and the other is a 6 tooth/inch with positive claw teeth. Neither of them would work well to cut the billet in the 144mm dimension. Both are Timberwolf blades and my max depth of cut is about 40mm with the 6 TPI blade. The 10 TPI blade works great at roughing out the plate profiles and getting into the throat of the scroll, but I will have to get a new blade to make the cut on the billet. I have a 14” Wilton and remember the 6 TPI blade working well on ripping 2x4’s in half. That was cutting the 1.5” dimension. The cuts were nice, but I don’t think it could handle anything much thicker. The boards were still a bit wet, so that didn’t help either. I was looking at Timberwolf’s variable positive claw blades last night. The blade from Highland that Don mentioned is almost identical to the one I was looking at from Timberwolf. It’s great to have options. It looks like the wood slicer blade has a thinner kerf than the Timberwolf blade, so I might go with that one.

Right on, thanks everyone for all the tips. I will give the billet a good inspection to look for any defects and clean the ends with a plane to make sure there aren’t any checks. My initial thought, since it is a viola sized block, is that it would be a shame to waste a bunch of the billet and to try and maximize what I can get out of it. However, I do understand the concerns mentioned above. I may give up on the idea of trying to get the corner and top blocks out of this piece and take the conservative route and just go for the plate wedges and a couple of bass bars. That should be fairly easy to do with minimal risk and buying some spruce or willow block wood is pretty cheap. A heck of a lot cheaper than a new billet. I do have some bass wood carving blocks laying around, but the little bit of research I did seems to show that bass wood is not optimal. I don’t know where the bass wood came from, but I would assume China. I got it off of Amazon quite a while ago for a non violin related project.

I haven't had a chance to read through all the replies, but I added a drawing to the initial post that hopefully helps explain things.

For my third violin, I have a spruce billet that is sized for a viola. Can I get corner blocks, bass bars, and a 2 piece plate from this one wedge? The billet is 460mm long, 144mm tall, 51mm thick at the bottom, and 22mm thick at the top. The grain lines on the 51mm side are a bit less than 1mm apart and on the 22mm side they are about 1.5 to 2mm apart. The specific gravity of the spruce was listed at 0.37, but I have not yet confirmed the density. In my mind, I should be able to get a few bass bars, a set of blocks, and the two wedges that I need to make the belly plate out of this piece of spruce. What is the best way to process this billet to maximize the yield of usable bits? Should I cut the bass bar(s) from the 22mm side or the 51mm side? Is using the same billet for the plate, bass bar, and block a good idea or not? My first inclination is to make a cut on the 460mm length and reduce it to 380 ish mm and use that 80mm bit for the blocks. The form for #3 should result in a body length of about 355mm. Then saw one or two 7mm wide chunks off the 51mm bottom (finer grain than the 22mm side) for a couple bass bars. The left over billet would then be cut in half and used for the 2 piece plate. I don’t want to get too greedy and screw things up so I am looking for some advice on the best way to process the billet. Edited to add a picture:

Being a new maker I follow Davide’s method that doesn’t use the hole cutters. I did a few tests with Forstner bits on the spruce and didn’t like how rough the hole was by hand turning the bit. I cut the f-holes at the same point of manufacture that Davide shows in his videos. I use a 3/16 inch Brad point bit to start each eye and then file it to the diameter I want. Then I go in with the fret saw to cut the stems and finish the profile with files. My knife skills are lacking, so I file.

I have pondered this topic also but I don’t have much of a desire to try and sell any of my violins. I am not saying that I wouldn’t sell one if I had one hanging around and there was an interested buyer and the price was right. I ruined a previous hobby that I really enjoyed by turning it into a job so I don’t want to have the same thing happen with making violins. I like the idea of loaning them out or donating them to students who can’t afford a rental. I know my violins are not up to snuff aesthetically, but I think they sound nice. I guess it is good that, according to the survey that was floating around here not too long ago, players aren’t concerned with looks. My violin teacher said that my first one sounds “really good” and sounds better than some violins she has played that were made by established luthiers. After playing #2 a few weeks ago, she said I was “two for two.” They sound different, but both ring very nicely. The first one seems to have a more focused sound than the second, but I am still struggling to quantify the sound. She is the one who gave me the contact information for her “bow guy,” who makes bows, violins, guitars, double bass, etc. I took both of my fiddles to him when I went to pick up my bow after he re-haired it. He said #2 was “perfect” except for the color of the varnish, I think he was yanking my chain a bit about it being perfect though. lol. My teacher has been playing for 50+ years and teaching since the early 1980’s. My luthier friend has been playing/making for just as long, if not longer. They both had very nice words for my work and the bow guy told me not to stop making violins. Considering their experience, I don’t take their compliments too lightly. With all that said, I asked Dan, the bow man, what he thought I could sell violin #2 for. He said somewhere around $2500. Not horrible, but to me, not worth it at this point considering I have 250 hours into it. $10 an hour (less if you take out my costs for wood, pegs, strings, etc) is not worth it to me to let one of mine go. I might let one go for $20 an hour. I don’t think I can get my build time much less than 250 hours. I’m kind of slow. The plan for my violins is to keep #1, #2, and #3 in my, or a family member’s possession. Either #1 or #2 is going to be given to my mom. I am taking both on Thanksgiving to let her decide which one she likes better. I just got the form done for #3 so it will be a bit before that one is done and strung up. My daughter recently said that she wants one of my violins, so that might take care of the third. I won’t burn any of my fiddles no matter how orange and ugly they are. Violin #1 is now called OJ, for orange jalopy. The second is currently BB, either brown beauty or brown beast. She has opened up quite a bit since being strung up 3+ weeks ago and is turning into a real screamer. Hehe. You are only a few years older than I am. I started making violins because I also needed an in depth hobby for my retirement. If you can sell your violins for a price you are happy with, then go for it, and start building your reputation. I think you will miss your early creations if you burn them or Frankenstein them. I know I would. They serve as very nice milestones to look at and see how your quality of work has progressed. I bought an old display case that I modified and gave it some humidity control to hang my violins in. It can hold about 6 or 7 violins and a bunch of bows. If I ever make enough violins to satiate the family and fill the case, I will start looking at donating/loaning them.