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Chipped Scroll

 
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Jack Rushing
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 170

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:45 pm    Post subject: Chipped Scroll Reply with quote

Hi, I have an old German Strad Copy, that has a chip out of the first
turn of the scroll on both sides. one is about 12 mms long, and about
2mms deep. the one on the other side, a bit smaller.
How would you repair this?
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jessupe goldastini
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Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 169
Location: sana' rafaela'

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

these are very tricky repairs based on the fact that the amount of "wood" you need to add is so thin

one trick may be , depending, to reshape the chipped area and then mimick the profile on the undamaged side, then faux bois the color back in...

if you decide to fill it and attemp to repair i would suggest bondo,

timbermate is the strongest traditional wood filler such as zar and such however timbermate drys harder and stronger, but in this case with the damage you describe im not sure if it will hold over a long amount of time, timbermate is availible at stewert macdonald, and is good stuff...{shamlees plug for my buddy barry}

the bondo if done right will hold well over time, i have employed this "trick" on many wood objects from furniture to rare moulding and casing,

what to do

first protect the rest of the violin if the finish is in tact...

a paper "dress" that iscolates the scrcoll area is a good idea..

ok, now that the violin is "drop clothed"...we proceed

first clean the affected area, if spirt base clean with mineral sprit, this solvent will not melt alc based finish, a few dabs with a q tip will suffice...

once dry take a largish sewing needle, poke sevral holes in the affected area with some of the hole just outside the damaged area....

then mix up a small batch of bondo with a little more hardener than ussual...

quick like lighting take some inbetween your fingers and make a little "roll", the bondo must be the right consistancy to make this work, it will start to dry and get stiff work quickly, discard and do over if you don't get it right

anyhoo take your little "snake or roll" of bondo and press it in place, make sure enough is used so as to allow for bringing it down back to the original shape...use your fingers to do any shaoe forming you can while its still plyable

once dry, carefully sand back to the original shape best as possible

after that, use LIQUITEX ACRLYC artist paint thined with water to bring the color back, once good one can fake grain and match any wood color with these products, once buried under clear coats the repairs become invisible...

good luck
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jessupe goldastini
Member


Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 169
Location: sana' rafaela'

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

these are very tricky repairs based on the fact that the amount of "wood" you need to add is so thin

one trick may be , depending, to reshape the chipped area and then mimick the profile on the undamaged side, then faux bois the color back in...

if you decide to fill it and attemp to repair i would suggest bondo,

timbermate is the strongest traditional wood filler such as zar and such however timbermate drys harder and stronger, but in this case with the damage you describe im not sure if it will hold over a long amount of time, timbermate is availible at stewert macdonald, and is good stuff...{shamlees plug for my buddy barry}

the bondo if done right will hold well over time, i have employed this "trick" on many wood objects from furniture to rare moulding and casing,

what to do

first protect the rest of the violin if the finish is in tact...

a paper "dress" that iscolates the scrcoll area is a good idea..

ok, now that the violin is "drop clothed"...we proceed

first clean the affected area, if spirt base clean with mineral sprit, this solvent will not melt alc based finish, a few dabs with a q tip will suffice...

once dry take a largish sewing needle, poke sevral holes in the affected area with some of the hole just outside the damaged area....

then mix up a small batch of bondo with a little more hardener than ussual...

quick like lighting take some inbetween your fingers and make a little "roll", the bondo must be the right consistancy to make this work, it will start to dry and get stiff work quickly, discard and do over if you don't get it right

anyhoo take your little "snake or roll" of bondo and press it in place, make sure enough is used so as to allow for bringing it down back to the original shape...use your fingers to do any shaoe forming you can while its still plyable

once dry, carefully sand back to the original shape best as possible

after that, use LIQUITEX ACRLYC artist paint thined with water to bring the color back, once good one can fake grain and match any wood color with these products, once buried under clear coats the repairs become invisible...

good luck
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Michael Darnton
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 1281
Location: Chicago

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This isn't an impossible repair. You need to clean up the holes to be perfect round-bottom trenches--as you might by just filing in place with a round file, but doing it with a file won't leave precise enough of a hole. I assume, not seeing your scroll, that one end of the trench would run out at the edge of the scroll, and the other would become shallower and shallower, ending like a bullet point. You'd want to remove the absolute minimum of wood to take out the mess, obviously.

When the hole's perfect, fit and glue in a mating piece of perfectly-matched wood and when the glue is dry, cut back the new piece appropriately, and retouch it.

This is called a finger patch, because you're basically cutting a finger-shaped trench and gluing in a finger of new wood. If it's done well--a perfect joint and good wood choice and retouching--it can disappear completely. If you don't have a lot of experience, the chances of that are slim, but still, it's not difficult to do something visible and clean that looks better than the original mess.

The trick is getting the boundary edges of where the patch will fit clean and sharp, not rolled over, and fitting the patch perfectly, so there will not be a slight gap and obvious glue line around the edge of the patch. You can't do this with a file--you can start with one, but you have to finish the hole with something like a gouge or knife and a scraper, very precisely, and then fit the patch equally well.
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jessupe goldastini
Member


Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 169
Location: sana' rafaela'

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yes this is also an effective way of patching with a "dutch" piece of wood, with out seeing it, its very hard to say what the best approach is...

marrying the glue suface is the trick, flatening of the damaged area may be needed, do as much pre shaping as possible with the peice to be dutched on....

the real issue after successfully doing a patch is how to approach the finish blending, to get the color matched back in, and the finish uniform to have a invisible repair is as much fun as the repair itself
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Jack Rushing
Member


Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 170

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank You jessupe and michael, for your informative replies.
I believe these chips resulted from some idiot hanging the
violin on a wall, using an old, rusted, stiff, piece of barbed wire
for a hanger. Where the chips are located, it would be nearly
impossible for them to have been caused by a fall, or a collision.
I will start my attempted repair on them soon.
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