Brian in Texas

Note to self in case I become a world leader someday: Don't start a pointless trade war with your closest allies for no reason whatsoever. I feel like that should be a no-brainer.

I've been very happy with International Violin so far. Although admittedly, I only have a sample size of one purchase.

Good to know! It was just a little bit though, nothing near the amount it would take to really soak into the wood.

I haven't finished it completely yet. It still needs pegs, bridge, and a soundpost. I used the Joha brand oil varnish from International Violin. It came out much more bright orange than I would've cared for, despite buying the red-brown varnish (and its separate color extract additive). I think I'm going to try the Old Wood brand for my next one. Last night I started carving the arching on the back. That European poplar is some hairy stuff that likes to chip out. I couldn't find a glove for my left hand and ended up bleeding on the workpiece. But is an instrument ever truly yours if you haven't bled for it?

From what I've seen, the gouges from Pfeil tend to have very steep bevels around 15 degrees or so. But I also don't know what kind of steel they use, it sure holds a super edge! I have a couple of Pfeils and I love using them. I just need to get more that are suitable for scroll work. The main set of gouges I'm using is from Wood River, which is Woodcraft's name brand. I found them for a steal on FB Marketplace, so I jumped on them. They do ok, but I'd prefer to use all Pfeil or better across the board.

I think this may explain a good chunk of my difficulties. My gouges have a primary bevel closer to 25-30 degrees.

Absolutely lovely work! Looking forward to seeing more from you. Welcome aboard.

Thanks! I'm not far along enough to comment on whether or not there's relative difficulty with the viola versus violin. I imagine it'll be much of the same, just slightly larger. Tuning the plates will be different, for sure. As for making a cello, I grew up playing the instrument. So naturally, I absolutely have to make one someday soon. It's a moral imperative.

What's going on with the metal inserts on that mold? I'm not sure what purpose they serve.

Looking good, Sean.

Ah, that makes perfect sense. Thank you!

Wow. Now that is interesting.

I'm in the same boat, buddy. My first violin is taking me waaaaay too long to finish, and that's not even accounting for the day job. That said, it sure looks like you're doing a fine job.

I ran into this exact problem carving my first violin scroll. I'm guessing it's caused by my tools not being sharp enough, which is aggravating, because I really thought I have a pretty dang good handle on sharpening. A friend of mine is a knife maker and says that my finished edges always beat his. I've seen a couple of ways that people deal with carving these difficult areas. One involves lightly wetting the grain, and the other involves rubbing a bit of candle wax on the underside of your tool to help the cut glide just a bit better. I haven't tried either one, and I'm wondering if anyone could weigh in on those methods.

I get where you're coming from, and that certainly applies to something like Buzzfeed or Tiktok. But when it concerns a methodical process like violinmaking, it just makes sense for me for the text to be equally as methodical while also providing good context. Heron-Allen is difficult for me to follow not because he's wordy, but because his writing is awfully disjointed. His book advanced the craft, no doubt. But there are much better books nowadays.