Neck Carving...

I was somewhat intimidated by the prospect of carving a new neck for the fiddle, but it has turned out to be less complicated than I thought.

All I've done is carefully follow instructions, and remove small amounts of wood at a time!

I started by making a pattern from a piece of paper and tracing that onto a block of straight-grained maple.

Next, I roughed out the shape with the bandsaw.

I then used a microplane to remove the extra wood outside the lines.

The next step was to start shaping the scroll.  That began by tracing the pattern onto the scroll area.  Then the bandsaw and a fine-bladed Japanese saw were used for roughing it out.

My brother let me use his carving tools to do the fine shaping.  It took a while, and I forgot to take pictures of the process...but here's a photo of the scroll today, when I was working on shaping the peg-box.

  The book Violin Making: a Historical and Practical Guide has been very thorough in explaining the process, and I would be lost without it!  I'm also using the old scroll as a visual aide...

Disappointing Discoveries...

Well, removing the fiddle neck in order to re-set it turned out to be much more complicated than I originally thought.

The block refused to be loosened from the back and ribs of the fiddle, so I ended up removing it in pieces.

The neck job was revealed, and much worse than expected.

There were wide gaps between the neck and the block it was supposed to be anchored in.
After much careful work, I successfully removed the neck without damaging anything other than the block.

I smoothed the surfaces with a scraper, then tried to take apart the broken rib to re-glue more neatly.  Whooops!!

I gave up after the break, and just glued it back on as neatly as I could...

My plan at this point was to make a new block to correctly fit the neck into.  After a little investigation, I realized the base of my neck was missing far too much wood to be re-set properly.  How frustrating!

A few options now presented themselves:  I could make a new neck from scratch, buy a neck blank, or risk getting a bad neck and buy one from a parted out fiddle off ebay.  

I decided the most economical option for me at the moment was to try my hand at making a neck myself.  The blanks from Stewart MacDonald were more than I wanted to pay at the moment, and plus, if I made one myself, I sure would learn a lot!  Wow!  The prospect of carving a neck out of maple myself is a rather daunting idea!

Fiddle Trouble...

The repairs necessary for making the fiddle playable ended up being much more extensive than I was expecting.

I was hoping a new bridge, strings, tailpiece, and a re-set sound post would be all...but I was wrong.

When I strung it up, the neck was slowly pulled forward...bad news!!

I now have to take it out, and re-set it properly.  A previous repair was done very badly, so that needs to be un-done.  What a pain!  

Oh, well...that is why I bought a damaged instrument....to learn!

Dad did some research on how to get the neck off, and I have started that process by removing the front...

It appears that the fingerboard was glued on with something other than hide glue...so it cannot be removed.

That could be an issue...but...I'll need to build a new block anyway, since it is cracked....

There is also a messy repair that I'll hopefully be able to fix on one of the ribs near the neck.  

You can see in this photo the bad neck job and the broken rib.

I know this is a huge undertaking...and I'll do my best.

 The fiddle is a beautiful instrument; I hope I can make it playable...and not ruin anything!

What have I been Doing?

I'm sorry, it has been a very long time since I posted anything.  I haven't been doing any interesting cycling-related activities.  

I have just been regularly riding across town for various reasons.  My ankles healed completely, and now I am sure to remember the correct height for my saddle, to avoid any other such mishaps.  My knee doesn't give me trouble, unless I exert it more than normal without stretching.  

A local cycling group recently advertised my canvas bags to those on their mailing list!  I haven't gotten any responses, but it is a first step...

A fellow bicycling traveler who decided to stop in Buffalo contacted me through Warmshowers, and now we are making a bicycle bag for her bike together!

I've been renovating a room in the basement to turn into a cheese cave, for aging cheese.  It has been a lot of work, but it is nearly done.  

Just recently I was the happy recipient of a supply of milk for cheesemaking.  The farmer gives me milk, and I give him some of the cheese I make!  A pretty swell deal for me I think!

I got my first shipment of milk last Thursday, and made Gouda, Neufchatel, and Ricotta out of the three gallons.  Neufchatel is similar to cream cheese; just made with more milk than cream.  

Here's what the Gouda looks like...and for some reason there are holes in the surface...I guess the curd was more firm that it should have been.

Another project I've wanted to get started is repairing a fiddle.  I was able to buy a damaged fiddle off Craigslist, and now have to figure out how to fix it up.  I'll get some books from the library on repairing violins, buy some tools and supplies, and carefully try to make it sound like a quality instrument.  This will be my first time repairing an instrument, and I'm hoping to do well and learn a lot!

Here's the project as she looks now...

So there you go, these are a few of the things I've been doing while not updating my blog.  

Life really is a journey into the unknown.  I had no idea at the beginning of the year that I would be able to get back into making cheese.  Not in my wilder dreams did I think I would get good milk for cheese making  in exchange for just some of the product.  You never know what will happen, what opportunities will present themselves.  Always be open to the unexpected, it is probably the beginning to a great story.

I could use this blog to document all the random adventures of my life, or I could keep it focused on cycling.  You, my readers, help me decide!  Focus on cycling, or allow for any adventure life throws at me?