Which is the machine to buy for cutting violin pegs ?

[Mark Norfleet]

I've always just used a bandsaw, but wouldn't buy one just to trim pegs.  As others have mentioned, it's pretty easy and quick to do by hand.  After reading everyone's concern about splitting and chipping I had to think about why that's not a problem for me...  I just put a small piece of scrap plywood on the table and saw into it so about 1cm is to the right of the blade and leave it in place.  I set the peg on that and saw close to the mark I've made with my knife point.  Once I've gotten to about 40% through I rotate the top surface of the peg shaft away from myself and a bit farther away until the unwanted bit comes off.  If you use a coarse toothed blade and or don't hold the peg firmly there is the risk of the blade grabbing the peg and messing things up.  I think I've only had that happen to me once though, and it was on a bushing I was making.  My bandsaw is close to my bench, so it takes very little time.  I hate to think of how many sets of pegs I could have trimmed while writing this....

[TimRobinson]

Not that I would know, but I've held the end of the peg in a drill chuck, with the drill fixed in a vice and turning slowly.  Then I use an Exacto saw to make the cut.  Is this in Johnson Courtnall?  Can't think of where else I would have picked it up.

Tim

 

[Dominic E. Crowe]

I think the band saw is the best machine to do this kind of cutting. i have also done it once. it was good. 

Edited August 31, 2020 by Dominic E. Crowe
forgot soemthing previsously

[stringcheese]

I use a band saw and a 1 X 2 piece of maple with a notch in it so I can rotate the peg, putting a groove in it before cutting all the way through. Then I trim the end on a belt sander, bevel it slightly and finish with 120 and 220 grit paper on a piece of rug. I get nice looking peg ends in little time. But then I'm working mostly on student grade instruments. Takes a bit of practice, but I've seen expensive stuff that looked a lot worse.

[TJ Fuss]

I like seeing some of these jigs, I may cop a couple of those. I've been using a jeweler's saw... a bit slow but a very fine toothed blade and very little risk of chipping out the back side.

[Jason RT]

I agree with most of the comments here, band saw can be used to cut curves, even in thick lumber, such as in creating cabriole legs, to rip lumber and to crosscut short pieces as well. That makes it the perfect machine for that task.

If you are willing to purchase one, you can find out all the needed info about the best band saw for your needs at: https://toolsbros.com/best-band-saw/

 

You can also find many more resources if you Googled it.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Jason RT
Added more info

[Dave Slight]

I’ve been using these for over 20 years. Essentially it is a hacksaw type blade which cuts on the pull stroke. The blades hold up very well on ebony, which will soon blunt and destroy the teeth on other Japanese saws.

You can get replacement blades, which makes them very cost effective. A new blade will cut hundreds and hundreds of peg ends, top nuts, saddles etc before starting to get dull.

 

[David Burgess]

On 8/6/2020 at 2:55 PM, Mark Norfleet said:

I've always just used a bandsaw, but wouldn't buy one just to trim pegs.  As others have mentioned, it's pretty easy and quick to do by hand.  After reading everyone's concern about splitting and chipping I had to think about why that's not a problem for me...  I just put a small piece of scrap plywood on the table and saw into it so about 1cm is to the right of the blade and leave it in place.  I set the peg on that and saw close to the mark I've made with my knife point.  Once I've gotten to about 40% through I rotate the top surface of the peg shaft away from myself and a bit farther away until the unwanted bit comes off.  If you use a coarse toothed blade and or don't hold the peg firmly there is the risk of the blade grabbing the peg and messing things up.  I think I've only had that happen to me once though, and it was on a bushing I was making.  My bandsaw is close to my bench, so it takes very little time.  I hate to think of how many sets of pegs I could have trimmed while writing this....

Pay attention to that dude. He's among the best in the business.

I have not yet run across some sort of peg end rounding machine which could do a better or faster job , than someone with as little as one year of good training.

[JPherson]

I remember seeing somewhere at some point a peg shaver that looked like a old fashioned pencil sharpener. Did everything from fitting the shaft to rounding the end. 

 

Jesse