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Dave Chandler's Workbench
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Dave Chandler
Super Member


Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting a little morning light on a fresh coat of varnish made of only balsam resin, turp, and walnut oil. Takes forever to dry, but oh, the clarity and depth you can't appreciate from a photo.

This violin was one I finished last year, never happy with the final edge work, tool marks, etc that showed up when varnished, so I stripped it out, reworked edges and scraped again.

There are probably 6-8 coats of varnish, each applied with fingertips, with a little shading for eventual light antiquing.

Since I had played this one quite a bit, it will be interesting to see how the tone is. It had great clarity, but no color to the tone before, will be interesting to see what this does.


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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo
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Mat Roop
Senior Member


Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave Chandler wrote:
.....
If there's a way to get the colors as intense, but more transparent, would be nice to hear. I really like putting the color on this way, saves a lot of time, and alot of varnish. Maybe time to start buying "the good stuff", so I'm looking for your opinions on this.

Being a varnish neophyte, and thinking with my mouth open....What if you were to make the color layer shellac using dyes like these?
http://www.woodessence.com/ColorFX-Dye-Concentrates-C12.aspx
i've used these dyes with shellac on repairs and the dye works well and seems to not hide the grain.
Looking forward to more opinions.... Cheers, Mat
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Dave Chandler
Super Member


Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've used the dyes you mention in spirit varnish, but have had poor luck in application. Yes, beautifully clear and intense colors.

With my latest varnish effort, I'm using Joha powdered varnish colors "soluble in turpentine" with good results.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo
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jethro
Member


Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 178

PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave- that's beautiful ---- a great looking brunette !

I tried starting with a naked plate--- brushed on a couple light coats of hyde glue ground. Burnished with a rough cotton rag until the surface feels warm. (gets glossy)
Then put on a thin coat of organic dye tinted purple shellack. I think I did it with an air brush type thing. easy to sneak it on a little bit at a time.
Then used steel wool (de-greased) to further equalize it a bit. Then more coats. Steel wool again. seems like when you steel wool it down- it preferentially leaves it in the flame and less in the non-flame area. this seems to kind of highlight the stripes with whatever color you have chosen.
This kind of produces a base color. Then I used tinted varnish (oil varnish)
painted on with a very fine expensive brush. One coat takes a week in the UV box. (or maybe a little more) Definitely the brush puts more on than the fingers/rubber gloves technique. has to be thinned with turp just right
to get it to flow on. But it makes a flawless coat. Due to how the turp
flashes off pretty quick you have to get it in one pass and not touch the areas which you have all ready done. Looks like a wet hot rod paint job.

I refinished one (store bought) which had been sat on--- with regular
polyurethane spar varnish. Kind of glossy but worked fine and made
a good durable finish. It was a student instrument- not an antique.

I hope to get moved up to northern Tennessee and re-start making
violins. Florida sucks. Getting hurricaned right now........
I have a friend who was a col. in the army-- any chance you had met him ?
he used to teach part time at the army school in Kansas. I think he taught
officers something at fort leonard wood. Retired now to middle west.


Tim
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Dave Chandler
Super Member


Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Situation -- I'm building a cello and since I used the back with rib garland attached as a template for the top, the back and ribs have splayed out a bit and I'm having trouble getting the top to fit without a lot of tension. I probably should have clamped it to a sheet of plyboard while working on the top. I'm thinking of just steaming the back/ribs a bit to get some flexibility back so I can fit the top without all this stress. Does that make sense? Have not run into this situation before, but never made anything this big before. Making with violin tools, it has taken me weeks instead of days to complete the top.

My workshop has a dehumidifier running most of the time because I live right on the bank of a river.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo
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