Viola Log: Prepping Back Piece
The board that I got my piece from was huge - it took three people to hold it level to the miter saw (one of whom you can see) so I could cut a manageable piece from the end. Seriously, it goes on for a ways out of the pic still, and it was so thick… such a big, beautiful board isn’t that common, and the whole thing was definitely worth more than my flame maple. :P So I’m very grateful that they let me use a piece of it.
More cutting it down to size on the table saw. That thing scares the hell out of me, and those roller-dohickeys that are supposed to keep the board from flying away from me were really jerky due to a lack of grease. :P But admire my baggy Reed sweatshirt, if you will. ^.^
To save on time, I planed it to get it to the minimum thickness possible. Dorky picture of me waiting for the planer to spit my board back out again.
Once I had my board all pretty, I traced the outline onto it. It looks asymmetric to the rings from here, but it’s really not. *pokes at the picture* Anyway. It’s nothing like the front piece, with the tidy straight lines… this is going to have an almost whorled effect once it’s all carved out, and you can’t tell from the picture but between all those lines there’s a sort of iridescence and the color changes… it’s quite beautiful. I think I actually prefer it to the flame maple, when I compare it to the back of my practice viola.
And no, that’s not a crack in the wood, that’s just a little sliver where the planer jumped. Not relevant anyway.
Now to cutting it out.
The bandsaw at the usual shop broke, and I was getting impatient for it to get fixed, so I pestered the sci oly coach until he arranged for me to work at the school shop (which has no omniscient supervisors and the variety of tools is pathetic, but it had what I needed.) Bit of a shock going to a shop that was clean, well lit and heated, though. Didn’t even need to wear my scarf in there. :P
Anyway, opted for the scroll saw instead of the bandsaw this time around. It was very different to use… the bandsaw pulls the wood down, so all you have to do is move the wood around. But the blade is a lot thicker, so you can’t be nearly so precise. The scroll saw, on the other hand, goes up and down so you have to press down in addition moving the wood around relative to the blade… but it’s much more precise. It’s a tradeoff. I think I prefer the bandsaw, just because I’m on the smaller side and it’s harder to press down on stuff.
Plenty of pics; person I borrowed for taking pictures was having fun with it. XD Even have a little vid, if folks are interested.
Near the beginning. My hair’s doing something funny there. *pokes at it*
I find this picture to be very amusing, I’m not sure why. I think I was blowing off the dust, but I can’t be sure. Cherry wood does smell very nice, though.
It’s not that interesting, but I figure that if you’re reading this then you have to be pretty bored. Cutting, staring at board, adjusting speed settings, cutting more.
More cutting of wood. That cut I’m doing - you can’t do that on a bandsaw. When I was cutting out the front, I had to basically make lots of little perpendicular cuts on the bandsaw and then snap off the little pieces, then do a lot of sanding by hand to fix it. Scroll saw, one smooth cut. Vair cool.
And finishing it off at that dorky little knob at the end.
The job I did on the scroll saw is obviously imperfect - I cut a mm or two wide anywhere where it was delicate - but I got very close, a lot closer than I did on the bandsaw. Now to sanding.
The first thing to sand was all the broad curves using the belt sander. Pretty easy.
Getting the really tight curves is harder to do. For the front piece we had madea jig and just attached it to the drill press; we couldn’t find the old one, so we made a new one out of a bit and wrapping a piece of sandpaper around it. Turn it on and presto, perfect for getting those tight corners.
I still couldn’t at everything with this, so I did a little work with a file by hand. No pic of this at all, it took less than ten minutes, so I guess it doesn’t matter too much.
Not the prettiest pic, but whatever. Finished, and ready for carving.