Well, this week is a learning experience. Since I’ve worked on violin repair before I am very familiar with the tools used by a violinmaker. One of the smartest tools is a plane. Planes can be set to a very fine degree and when used properly will supply amazing results.
Squared Half with Tools
Bigger Planes
In the case of what I did last week, the wood joined to create the back has to be planed down and squared off. The square can not have any gaps in the seam. Even the smallest hump, bump or dip will cause a lot of problems down the road in the process. For me, I had to remember how to use a plane efficiently again. At first I could barely pull off any wood without skewing off to the side or splitting the grain on the surface. After some study and practice I started to analyze the plane like I would a piece of music that is giving me trouble. I found that I was shifting my weight and I had more success if I didn’t hover over the plane.
Tools used to square back.
Mr. Belote also gave me the trick of looking at the strips of wood coming from the plane to make sure I wasn’t leaning to one side or the other. I finally was able to succeed in planing the bottom side flat. I had to use a flat edge to check all my angles and make sure there was not just the absence of humps but also light beneath the edge. The most common straight edge I know of and used is a large ruler as you can see here in this picture. Next I had to use a square against the joint side to help me measure a 90 degree angle against the flat side I just created. This was trial and error and I had a lot of help from Mr. Belote since Mr. Vartanian was out for part of the week.
Square
Squared Plate
The other way to check the flatness of a surface is to compare it to a flat surface. A piece of marble seen here can show the difference of the two plates and then the final product after working both sides. Here’s another picture of the back seam itself before gluing. I took down some of the extra wood with a band saw since my joint edge was now flat to help with the amount of arching I’ll do later.
Back Glued
Closeup