Nick Allen's Bench.

[Nick Allen]

On 9/21/2019 at 8:46 AM, Mike Spencer said:

Nick that’s a real nice looking scroll! Craftsmanship is great and shape and details excellent. For new looking fiddle, one small nit picky suggestion is about the pegs. When using ebony pegs sometimes (most of the time)  the ebony is brownish under the stain that comes on them. Once the shafts are shaved try blacking them with what ever you are using on your finger boards. Well done sir!

Thanks Mike! 

That's a good idea. This fiddle is gonna be on display in a storefront and I want the best first impression possible. And those brown peg shafts could break that. I wonder if my archival black ink that I use for my labels would work...

[Janito]

Soft black-brown can look good, especially when the shaft and head are congruent.

I burnish the shaft with well-used fine sandpaper (1000 or higher).  Nose grease is cheap, organic, renewable and, in my case, non-GMO.

[Mike Spencer]

I use India ink. Wipe it on and wipe it off. Then Janito’s suggestion of nose grease is a good one. 

[Nick Allen]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:28 PM, Janito said:

Soft black-brown can look good, especially when the shaft and head are congruent.

I burnish the shaft with well-used fine sandpaper (1000 or higher).  Nose grease is cheap, organic, renewable and, in my case, non-GMO.

I've got nose grease on lock. I actually use my greasy hair to sort of burnish and color my bridges when I'm done cutting them. It gives them a nice look. 

I usually go with 600. But 1000 could be good after the 600.

[Nick Allen]

On 9/23/2019 at 6:06 AM, Mike Spencer said:

I use India ink. Wipe it on and wipe it off. Then Janito’s suggestion of nose grease is a good one. 

Keeping it simple. I'll just go with my label ink. It's fade resistant too. 

[Nick Allen]

Trying to really refine my edgework. All about fine file work. I envy the guys who can do clean edges in a couple of swipes of the file and sandpaper. 

[Jim Bress]

Very clean!  I was taught to put the inside of the bevel half way between the edge and the purfling. FWIW. 

-Jim 

[Nick Allen]

7 hours ago, Jim Bress said:

Very clean!  I was taught to put the inside of the bevel half way between the edge and the purfling. FWIW. 

-Jim 

Thanks, Jim. 

I think you're right about that. But I've heard a few different proportions, from 1/2, to 1/3, to 2/5. I suppose it depends on the relationship between the edge thickness and how far the purfling is from the edge. On a normal violin with 4.2mm edges and purfling 4mm in, a nice 45° chamfer about 1/2 way in would do to start. But my guy here has 3.8mm edges, so I have to keep the chamfer farther away from the purfling, which is around 4.2mm from the edge. 

Michael Darnton came to the conclusion that the Cremonese must have used the purfling cutter to mark the edge thickness too, at the same offset. This I did not do, but will in the future. I'm attracted to thinner edges myself, but can't make myself put the purfling out that far to boot. But if I want that classic look, I have to play by the rules for now!

[Nick Allen]

Working on the top fluting. Trying to get a nice smooth scoop to work with. I'm learning that if one does as perfect of a job one can with the larger tool, then work with the smaller tool is made much easier. 

But I still haven't found the best way to keep the end grain section from crumpling, despite how sharp my gouge is... So I have to resort to cutting it fat, then working it smooth with a scraper. 

[Guest]

Nice work! That edgework will look great with a pristine varnish job. Hopefully you won't be wearing it down too much if antiquing. Purfling looks great too.

[Nick Allen]

On 10/21/2019 at 11:33 AM, Ernest Martel said:

Nice work! That edgework will look great with a pristine varnish job. Hopefully you won't be wearing it down too much if antiquing. Purfling looks great too.

Thanks E. I'm gonna try and keep this all as clean as possible. I actually redid the edge tonight to give it a more "Cremonese" look, hopefully. I've noticed that in profile, the edges kind of slope more shallowly on the top curve, so I tried to emulate that. 

[Nick Allen]

Here are also some moody bench pics. 

[Nick Allen]

Oh and B T Dubs the fluting in the purfling channel on either the top (obviously) or back isn't done yet. I'm trying to do edgework with the plate off of the body from now on, but I've decided to leave the fluting unscraped to account for any marks left by the clamps.

[Guest]

I like your clean working style! This one's a beauty. Are you learning how to antique and will you be doing that on any of your future builds?

[Nick Allen]

Still a bit of work to do scraping this top. The purfling is in. I think that my fluting on the edge side is too steep. Next one will have a more subtle curve that's more symmetrical. 

[Evan Smith]

That arch is beautiful,

It should work fine.

[Ken_N]

Nick, 

If you think the edge looks too steep, why not put the angle you like in, and let the edge thin to 3 mm or a little less?  The edge looks pretty thick.

I'm with Evan, the arch looks really good.

[Don Noon]

I too think that you could trade off edge thickness if you don't like the steep edge of the fluting.

It's hard to say without seeing the F-holes cut, and having the plate in-hand to examine, but something about the arch around the lower corners and lower bout looks like it could be a little smoother.  The upper bout transitions look better to me.

In any case, I don't see that either of these things would cause tone problems.

[Nick Allen]

9 hours ago, Don Noon said:

I too think that you could trade off edge thickness if you don't like the steep edge of the fluting.

It's hard to say without seeing the F-holes cut, and having the plate in-hand to examine, but something about the arch around the lower corners and lower bout looks like it could be a little smoother.  The upper bout transitions look better to me.

In any case, I don't see that either of these things would cause tone problems.

Yeah. I think I might rework the scoop to be less severe. But. My edges are already at 4mm. But I suppose 3.8mm is still in the norm. 

As far as the smoothness, I still have quite a bit of work with the scraper anyways. But I do agree that there is an issue right off of the lower corner. 

[Nick Allen]

19 hours ago, Evan Smith said:

That arch is beautiful,

It should work fine.

 

10 hours ago, Ken_N said:

Nick, 

If you think the edge looks too steep, why not put the angle you like in, and let the edge thin to 3 mm or a little less?  The edge looks pretty thick.

I'm with Evan, the arch looks really good.

Thanks guys. 

I couldn't help but go with the Amati-esque deep recurve. I'm just so attracted to that arching shape, and can't make myself go for the filler Germanic style arch that crashes right into the purfling. 

 

[Nick Allen]

Actually gonna lower the arch on this jawn. 

I originally wanted to give it a high arch, but given the softer properties, I think I'll lower it to about 15mm. 

[scordatura]

For softer less strong wood wouldn't you want a higher arch for strength and support?

[Nick Allen]

1 hour ago, scordatura said:

For softer less strong wood wouldn't you want a higher arch for strength and support?

Hmm. Perhaps you're right, but I thought that it was far too high. It was like 17mm. It's at 15.5mm now. 

[Ken_N]

I've made them 18-19 with light wood.  But people are so used to 15 they gasp, like it came down from Outer space.

[scordatura]

22 minutes ago, Nick Allen said:

Hmm. Perhaps you're right, but I thought that it was far too high. It was like 17mm. It's at 15.5mm now. 

You could still go with say 10 -20% more thickness.