self made useful tools or templates for violin making/repair

[David Beard]

I don't end up using that much.  It was a common European device for working with proportion, called a sector.  If for example, I set the 7s to a given width, then the 3s will show 3/7ths that width, etc.

Sectors are once again finding use with some cabinet makers that are also focused on reviving old ways.

I made myself three sectors of different sizes, only showing the largest one here.

But I'm very much in the habit of just walking out my proportions with dividers. Only very rarerly do I reach for my proportional divider, or for my sectors.

 

And yes, quite a few wonderful Japanese hand tools have snuck into my workshop.  Such a beautiful tool tradition. Most of my favorite gauges, chisels, and saws are Japanese.

 

[Andreas Preuss]

@David Beard

here is another tool for the Stradivari method recreation. 

A lining clamp made from the rests of split wood cutouts. 

Simple and fast to use. Just push it over linings and ribs. We experimented before to make the depth of the cutout to just the clamping strength we need. (Of course not all clamps in the set of 100 have the same clamping force.) 

[David Beard]

9 minutes ago, Andreas Preuss said:

@David Beard

here is another tool for the Stradivari method recreation. 

A lining clamp made from the rests of split wood cutouts. 

Simple and fast to use. Just push it over linings and ribs. We experimented before to make the depth of the cutout to just the clamping strength we need. (Of course not all clamps in the set of 100 have the same clamping force.) 

That's very interesting.  Are there examples like this lining clamp in artifacts from Cremona?

 

[Andreas Preuss]

3 minutes ago, David Beard said:

That's very interesting.  Are there examples like this lining clamp in artifacts from Cremona?

 

Actually not. Because there are to my knowledge no preserved tools for clamping the linings I just tried to make a 'possible design' following the principle 'efficient and as simple as possible'.

[David Beard]

16 minutes ago, Andreas Preuss said:

Actually not. Because there are to my knowledge no preserved tools for clamping the linings I just tried to make a 'possible design' following the principle 'efficient and as simple as possible'.

I like it.

[MANFIO]

Used the broken tip of a Vallorbe Grobet needle file (knife type) to make a small knife for bridge cutting. No heat treatment just worked it on my TORMEK grinder. Very very sharp! Rosewood handle.

[Andreas Preuss]

19 hours ago, MANFIO said:

Used the broken tip of a Vallorbe Grobet needle file (knife type) to make a small knife for bridge cutting. No heat treatment just worked it on my TORMEK grinder. Very very sharp! Rosewood handle.

Nice!

Grobet files are made of very good steel. All my hand made chisels are made from Grobet files. Since a few years now I never toss a file into the metal waste any more. Sooner or later I find a use for it.

[DonLeister]

[Ron1]

   Got this set of 25 clamps from an old luthier friend who said his father, also a maker, had made them.  The work quite nicely, just close them with the desired pressure, and they hold until released.  No springs, etc.

[Jeff White]

On 10/10/2020 at 6:12 AM, DonLeister said:

 

Hey Don, I like that!  What do you use the worn area for that is closest to you?

[DonLeister]

Hi Jeff, I used to use smaller spools of thread and so they would be held on the end there with a carriage bolt.

Then I was given that big sample spool from Coates and Clark manufactures, at least a mile long, that you see there. It was too big to fit on the holder so it sits under the bench and I pull the thread through the clamp as needed.

[MikeC]

I made a few tools but this one is my favorite. 

 

[Andrew tkinson]

Hello,

Here is a strange little figure I made sitting with a small plane that I made inspired by Dutch planes

Here are some f hole cutters I made earlier this year which, surprisingly work quite well

I am probably a bit too interested in tools but I finally managed to make a violin this year, here is a picture of it being assembled with my homemade clamps made from blocks of wood from a pallet, cork floor tile and string on the ones that broke (the were just as good when held together with string)

Best wishes,

Andrew

[Andrew tkinson]

Here are a couple of other things I have made and despite their rough appearance work quite well.

My bending iron seen here in action on a ukulele side. ( I did clean my sink - eventually)

My biscuit tin charcoal forge in action heat treating two knife blades I made. Here they are being heated for hardening

The blades after tempering. It works ok for heating small things.

[Wood Butcher]

16 hours ago, Andrew tkinson said:

My biscuit tin charcoal forge in action heat treating two knife blades I made. Here they are being heated for hardening

The blades after tempering. It works ok for heating small things.

Very inventive! Did you enjoy the pilchards though?

[Andrew tkinson]

3 hours ago, Wood Butcher said:

Very inventive! Did you enjoy the pilchards though?

The pilchards were necessary to give me heartburn of sufficient heat to light the charcoal with the added bonus that the empty tin served as a handy container for tool quenching water.

I need to make some more posts, as in my haste during signing up I accidentally missed the A off my sirname. When I attempted to correct this mistake I found I could only change the name after making 10 posts! So here are some more selfmade tools.

Here are the peg type clamps I made for gluing linings. I was working on my very cluttered small old table, in the space where my laptop computer usually was. Actually on closer inspection the computer is still in place under the violin. Does that mean I was making my violin on a computer?

[Andrew tkinson]

More tools.

I decided to make some Stradivari style calipers and the best thick wire I could find was an old paint bucket handle.

Here I have straightened the wire and made some sketches to work things out (a very poor previous  hastily made version of the calipers made from thinner galvanized fence wire can be seen at the top)

 

Here are the finished calipers in action along with a small calibrated wedge I made which is inserted gently in the open end to read off the thickness.

It actually works quite well, but I have to admit I am not the greatest perfectionist. However I am very fussy when it comes to pilchards!

Here is a better view of the calipers along with my measuring wedge. I hope nobody minds me posting all this tool stuff?

[violguy]

I hope you will post more!! 

[Andreas Preuss]

5 hours ago, Andrew tkinson said:

More tools.

I decided to make some Stradivari style calipers and the best thick wire I could find was an old paint bucket handle.

 

Here I have straightened the wire and made some sketches to work things out (a very poor previous  hastily made version of the calipers made from thinner galvanized fence wire can be seen at the top)

 

Here are the finished calipers in action along with a small calibrated wedge I made which is inserted gently in the open end to read off the thickness.

It actually works quite well, but I have to admit I am not the greatest perfectionist. However I am very fussy when it comes to pilchards!

 

Here is a better view of the calipers along with my measuring wedge. I hope nobody minds me posting all this tool stuff?

 

I made this too. I think the V shaped section of the caliper was used to put a 'rubber band'. This didn't exist in Strads time but thin leather strips work pretty well for this purpose.

[Andrew tkinson]

1 hour ago, violguy said:

I hope you will post more!! 

Hello, I'm glad you don't mind, here are some more picturesof my tool making activities then.

I have experimented with making metal planes. I wanted one for use on violin arching but didn't really know what kind of curve to make it. Here you can see my drawings with the flat steel plate I used lying on top.

I used these very big shears, I got off e-bay, to cut the steel into smaller strips to form the sides and bottom. The shears worked but distorted the metal a lot which added to the work.

I used cold chisels, a hacksaw and files to make the dovetails in the steel. After hammering bending filing and fitting a wooden bed for the home made plane iron I ended up with this strange little plane that I have sinced used on my first violin. It is not very comfortable on the hands - maybe I could make a wooden infill for the front to hide the sharp corners - it works reasonably well but is really a protoype (like a lot of things I make). Here it is, not quite finished, being tested.

In this photo, this and another metal dovetailed construction plane (copied from pictures of one of Stradivari's planes but I made the curve too extreme) can be seen having a rest in the background and I am using a dutch style plane that I made from some kind of boxwood a few years ago. It works ok to me but as my violin making knowledge has been gained largely from books  I have never tried a well set up violin makers plane  to compare it with.

[Andrew tkinson]

1 hour ago, Andreas Preuss said:

I made this too. I think the V shaped section of the caliper was used to put a 'rubber band'. This didn't exist in Strads time but thin leather strips work pretty well for this purpose.

Hello. Thanks, thats an interesting idea, I never thought of that! Maybe even strips of the right type of cloth or twisted string could be elastic enough to use as baroque rubber bands?

When I have been using them I found it convenient to hold them by this V shaped section and thought it made sense as it helped me to apply less of a bending force to the caliper, being nearer to the pivot, which avoided flexing the calipers too much when taking measurements?

I notice that you are in Tokyo. Nearly 15 years ago I noticed that a large sycamore had been cut down in the local churchyard. The vicar said I could have some of the wood. I tried to split it and failed and then remembered that a few years previously I had made my own version of a Japanese one man wide bladed ripsaw, Whaleback Saw or Maebiki. I made a handle for it and sharpened it and spent over fifty hours in the churchyard sawing the log over many days, one time having to stop when luckily I heard the bell tolling and saw a hearse and mourners arrive for a church service. I was out of site but they would have heard the sawing if I had not stopped. I ended up with five sections of log which I could just fit in a wheelbarrow to take home. During this time I thought of looking on e-bay and managed to get a real Japanese saw which I used to convert the sycamore into what I hoped would be violin, viola and archtop guitar wood. The wood is mostly quite plain but used it for my first violin and am using bits for my next two violins and flatback guitar and lots of other things. Here is a picture of one of the saws in action on a smaller sycamore log. This saw came from Japan with no handle so I made one from some willow. The biggest problem I experience with this type of thing is holding the awkward shaped sections of wood when sawing it!

Shortly after this picture was taken I broke my big toe by dropping one of these pieces of sycamore on my foot.

I wish I could find out more on how to use these really special big japanese saws. They produce shavings, when used on green wood, instead of saw dust. I really like the idea of making things from wood that I can say where it grew and I have cut and seasoned myself.  I hope I am not straying too far from violin making, I'll get back on track in my future posts.

 

[Wood Butcher]

10 hours ago, Andrew tkinson said:

The pilchards were necessary to give me heartburn of sufficient heat to light the charcoal with the added bonus that the empty tin served as a handy container for tool quenching water.

That's awesome!
I like the wooden skull too

[joerobson]

Instrument cradle for varnishing.

Bicycle inner tube cut for fingerboard clamping.

Pieces of parchment paper cut to go on varnish jars under the cap...non stick lids!

on we go,

Joe

[Andreas Preuss]

In between Just wanted to thank all those who posted pictures of their handmade tools. Awesome stuff and I think a great inspiration for all following this thread!

[DonLeister]

My latest gadget-