How to identify whalebone purfling?

[Geoffrey N]

Hi all,

My violin has an old certificate which states that it has whalebone purfling, which I kind of doubt (the other certs are silent on the purfling material). I've read other Pegbox posts that say that whalebone purfling has a deep black plasticky consistency which I don't think resembles the purfling on my instrument. I also have a Dodd bow with whalebone wrappings and, to my albeit inexperienced eyes, it doesn't look similar to the purfling. Any suggestions on how best to identify the purfling material? (I'm expecting ebony or a stained wood instead).

Can any of you tell from the photos?

Thanks!

[Wood Butcher]

Under a UV light, whalebone purfling, or a bow lapping will fluoresce.

[fiddlecollector]

this is whalebone purfling

[fiddlecollector]

Ive just took a couple of photos of instrument in last post under UV.

[reg]

Thank you

Very interesting

[Wood Butcher]

1 hour ago, fiddlecollector said:

Ive just took a couple of photos of instrument in last post under UV.

 

 

Although it often gets mentioned, I think it is really quite rare to find an instrument which actually has Whalebone purfling.

What do you think the centre section could be? It seems to be a different material to the blacks.

[fiddlecollector]

59 minutes ago, Wood Butcher said:

 

Although it often gets mentioned, I think it is really quite rare to find an instrument which actually has Whalebone purfling.

What do you think the centre section could be? It seems to be a different material to the blacks.

I assume its just some type of light wood. When you look closely the centre strip is extremely fine/narrow.

You could easily be mistaken that two channels were cut using the actual back wood as the centre strip. That would be difficult to do but you could cut one first ,glue in the baleen and then cut another channel leaving a gap to act as the centre strip. 

Unless you went back 328 years  to watch it being done then its just hypothesizing on my part.

 Ive never heard of two channels being cut other than on double purfled  instruments.

¬See this photo ,the grain marks of the centre strip seem to look identical to the back.

 

[Shelbow]

3 hours ago, fiddlecollector said:

Ive just took a couple of photos of instrument in last post under UV.

Nice, these are the best pictures I have seen yet of how Whalebone purfling looks under UV. Many thanks.

[Geoffrey N]

Huh, I have two different types of UV lamps (one short-wavelength UV-C 254 nm) and one long-wave UV-A. Neither of the lamps makes the baleen on my bow glow, nor does it on my purfling. Do I need a special kind of UV light? Or perhaps my Dodd bow's wrappings aren't made from baleen after all and neither is the purfling?

[jezzupe]

A regular black light should do....If if don't glow, there's no "thar she blows"

[Geoffrey N]

Thanks so much! I don't think my local luthiers would have known this test. Looks like my violin and bow have no whale on them after all, which is fine by me. :-)

[Michael Appleman]

One also usually sees different levels of shrinking between the whalebone and the light wood in the middle, which is kind of visible on Fiddlecollector's example. I don't see those kind of cracks in the OP purfling. Here's some whalebone purfling where one can see the relative shrinking of the wood part:

[fiddlecollector]

You can make out the light middle strip in this photo at high magnification of one corner. There appears to be a layer of glue , varnish and dirt on the top of it though . Clearly shows the layered structure of the baleen. The whole purfling channel is only about 1.3mm.

[Wood Butcher]

That is a really great picture, only under this level of magnification, can you see what is really going on.

Thanks for posting this

[Delabo]

Another thank you from me for posting the enlarged picture and the other ones