Starting to Finish

Where we last left off...the violin looked like this. 3 pieces ...if you notice...there is the little black strips in the back. That's the purfling...it is 3 pieces of wood thinned down so much that when glued together they are only 1.2-1.3 mm wide total. You cut a channel all the way around the violin and inlay the purfling...the hardest part of this is that there is indeed a power tool that does the channels for you...but you can't cut the corners with it and have to do that by hand.



After the inlaying happens...this is what you get! (top)

Back:

Last night also marked the beginning of the journey to the end. The final archings...the metal template will perfectly match the curve of the whole entire plate when it's finished. For now...it's getting closer on the back. There's still some day light and gaps and they are pretty big ones. the little tiny thing holding up the metal template is a finger plane. That's what is mostly used to finish the plates and make them nice and soft looking and feeling and the right shape.



A view of the side. Where the shadow is is where the wood is removed to make it closer to fitting.

And next...hopefully I'll be able to show a further stage in finishing the back...then it's the same thing for the top...and after that is when things start to get nerve wracking (arching the inside and making the whole entire thing flexible and as thin as 3 mm or so.