Violin Forum/Message Board

Chet Bishop · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:48 am Post subject: Steel wool and Tea???!

Well, yeah, if you want your wood black.

The iron acetate with the tannin in the tea (and the wood) will turn the wood dead black. That is one of the ways they dye the black veneers for handmade purfling strips. It is an old way of making ink, for that matter-- iron with oak-galls in water makes a very usable ink.

Tea alone will give the wood a nice, aged-wood look. I would keep iron salts away from your wood at all costs. Lots of makers won't use steel wool, for fear that tiny splinters of steel will end up stuck in the surface, and go black under their finish.

I once needed a (quick) flat shim to hold the end of a rib I was trying to glue and clamp. I grabbed a steel scraper... BAD decision! When I took the scraper back off, after the glue had set, the whole contact area was as black as charcoal, just from the reaction between the glue, the steel and the maple. Fortunately it was in the area I would later remove to set the neck, so I managed to save it, but just barely. You can still see a dark edge next to the heel of the neck.
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MANFIO · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 10:27 am Post subject:

You can use 3 tea bags for one and half tea cups and let it boil for 10 minutes in a weak flame.
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polkat · Member Joined: 16 Aug 2012 Posts: 32

Manfio, one last tea bag question if you don't mind. What brand and kind of tea do you use?

MANFIO · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:55 am Post subject:

I use Twinnings English Breakfast, but any black tea will work.
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antonio · Member Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 27 Location: Croatia

It looks to me that the bottom plate is higher than the top plate, am I right? What is the exact hight of bottom and top plate of your violin?

MANFIO · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:12 am Post subject:

15 mm for the top and 15 mm for the back.
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jfelton · Junior Member Joined: 08 Feb 2013 Posts: 5

Very impressive work. You should be proud of what you have created.
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violinarius · Member Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 171

Hey MANFIO very nice work!
Glad to see that you can post your work here, as I am a big fan of your work and am always glad to see what's new!

MANFIO · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:47 pm Post subject:

Thank you all. Yes, the enviroment here is more relaxed than in that other forum. Thanks!
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Lemuel · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:36 pm Post subject:

Michael Darnton · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:21 pm Post subject:

This is really not the place to discuss this, so I'll keep it short: recently I've become interested in the idea of consensus reality. Part of it is how everyone comes to agree about what they want, what they decide is "normal". I think that forum has reached a stable point, and this one, too. I like this one better. One reason I wanted to be a moderator here was to maintain the atmosphere I think this place has. No challenges to that, yet [crossing fingers]. I suspect we're all on the same page.
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Lemuel · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:54 am Post subject:

I should also clarify my last comment, lest it may have been misinterpreted that I'm putting the other forum
down, which I had no such intention to do. Again, I'm very happy if others benefit here or anywhere else.

kjb · Super Member Joined: 06 Feb 2013 Posts: 385

on forums in general.

from an amateurs viewpoint, it can be intimidating when you get stepped on in a forum, or not answered at all, and feel not part of the group. But where else can you get info if you don't have access to a violin maker?
So you have to roll with the punches, after a while you get known a little and things seem easier, I suppose its the same in most social groups.

Not to compare to others, but on its own, this forum is very friendly and welcoming.
It would be impossible for many to build VSO's at all with out this kind of information given out freely by experts in the field. So thanks to you all who contribute and the ones who take the time to put it all together with very little thanks , and at time even criticism, ( no good deed goes unpunished).
I would not be able to do it without your help. so
thank you all , kevin

MANFIO · Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:23 pm Post subject:

Michael, you are right, I will not comment about that anymore.

Yesterday the concertmaster of our State Orchestra Emmanuele Baldini gave a recital here at home (a very generous gift for my 50th birthday) with a Mozart and Franck's sonata and he played my violin, with pianist Dana Radu, here a video with movements III and IV of Franck's sonata:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFjoRe4N6cU
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kubasa · Member Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 212

Happy belated birthday, Luis. Thanks for sharing that video. Yes, that certainly was a wonderful gift!

James