Planing of the wood ...

The wood for the spruce fronts arrived as thick pieces, which is ideal, giving me a chance to split a small piece from the sides. One then marks a line parallel to the split ensuring that the joint will follow the natural growth line of the tree. This is achieved by sawing the wood into two pieces along this pencil line.

This can bee seen in the video below. The person in the video doing the splitting is Vincent my part time assistant who has been learning violin making with me for close on four years now. He is a wonderful jeweller by trade and has his studio and shop near Cape Point Nature Reserve. To view his unique designs it is well worth visiting his web site: Casimi jewellery

It is always a great delight to take that first shaving after having sharpened my plane iron .... to listen to the crisp shearing of the wood unearthing its hidden exuberance, as yet unsung. 

Once the two halves have been carefully planed and matched to fit each other they are glued together using traditional hot glue.  This glue is quite remarkable and nothing of the modern era seems to match all its characteristics – that of being flexible, not leaving a glue line and being reversible - that in the long life span of a violin it can be easily repaired and taken apart without causing too much damage.

The cello produced quite a few wide shavings which Jessica and Jasmine thoroughly enjoyed playing in! (Not to mention luxurious hamster bedding for Vincent’s daughter’s hamster!)

 

For email subscribers the video can be viewed by clicking here: Planing of the wood video

(Best viewed in HD at full screen)