Just to recap, the front plates have been glued and the seam looked a lot better than when the back was glued.
After planing the underside flat you almost can’t pick out the seam because the grain of the wood goes in the same direction as the seam itself.
Front Plate Glued
Top Seam
Top Plates Glued Before Planing
Top Seam Planed
To move on to something more interesting, I cut out my pattern! Now these blocks of wood are going to start looking like a violin. First thing first I had to trace my pattern using my template. (Check out where the template came from on my update from 11-12-07). To make sure the template didn’t move and because it was a little bent, I clamped a piece of wood over it.
Tracing the Pattern on the Back
Half ot the Traced Pattern
I flipped the pattern over and did it again all while “fixing” some mistakes from earlier when the pattern was cut out. You may remember the upper bout corner was a little ungraceful upon review so I gave it a little more shape and curve this time round. I also didn’t like the shape I cut for the button on the back plate so I used a quarter (thank you Mr. Belote) to trace that and take it down as I go. (Sorry if the pencil lines are hard to see!)
The Traced Pattern
The Traced Back Pattern Second View
You may also notice that the pattern isn’t centered on the wood. After talking it over with a few people we decided that there are a few “impurities” if you will in the wood and by shifting it down I was able to avoid them in my pattern.
After a quick trip to the band saw, BAM! A violin looking plate appears.
The Back Cut Out (Top)
The Back From Below
View 2
Of course I still gave myself some room in places like the button and corners but the plate is pretty much cut down to the line. I started to file down the edges since they are rough from the machine and to get a final shape that will hopefully match my original pattern or be a new one based on human error! Here’s a picture of that now more graceful corner as well that I had to fix.
Filing the Edge
Files and the Corner
Files & Corner View 2
After filing for a while I seemed to be hurting the process more that helping it. I wasn’t filing flat on the edge because they were so thick. Millimeters are miles in the violin making world. So to make my life easier I started to rough out the arching with a gouge and take down edge to about five millimeters (where the line is on the pictures). This way when I go back to filing there is less of an area to shift around on and I can carve a shape closer to what I’ll want. To brace the plate I clamped it in a cradle which I borrowed from Mr. Belote and then I went to town taking out a lot of wood.
Back in Cradle
The Gouge
Gouging the Back
Gouging the Back View 2
Rough Arching with the Gouge
Closeup of Gouge Work
I had to use a lot of force to get the wood to cut and I ended up with a few blisters on my hand as well as I start to form calluses from the handle of the gauge. Even though I’m not taking strict measurements there is a lot of wood to take off and I am still periodically checking imaginary lines up to the top of the arch.
Thomas Gouging the Back
I have to be careful not to take corners completely off and eventually I will go back with finger planes and probably some rough templates to precisely shape the arching.
Rough Arching
Places that Still Need Work
