Varnish Process

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Varnish Process

Sealer Coat is Dry: Start Varnishing!

Since the sealer was dry, I gave the violin a careful rub-down with worn 400-grit paper, and began to add varnish. I am using a spirit varnish, the first coat of which was a yellow varnish, which I had actually hoped would be a little more “amber” in color, but I think it will be OK.

First coat of varnsih on back plate.
First coat of varnish on the Back plate.

 

1st coat varnish on side.
First coat of varnish on the Side.

 

First coat, Front plate.
First coat of varnish, on the Front plate.

 

2nd Coat of Varnish

The first coat of varnish was really only intended to lay down a yellow under-coat, and I am satisfied that it accomplished that purpose. From here on out, though, I will be trying to lay down more color in the areas indicated, to try and match the original after which I am modeling this violin. So, here are coats two and three. Notice that I leave some areas light, as the original violin has fairly severe wear in those areas.  (If you are interested, click here to see photos of the original.)

2nd coat of varnish.
2nd coat of varnish, on the Front plate.

 

2nd coat on side
2nd coat of varnish, on the Side.

 

2nd coat on back.
2nd coat of varnish on the Back.

 

3rd Coat of Varnish

And, a third coat, in the same manner:

3rd coat, front.
3rd coat of varnish, Front plate. The light was a little better, so it looks brighter.

 

3rd coat, side.
3rd coat of varnish, Side view.

 

3rd coat, back.
3rd coat of varnish, Back view.

 

4th Coat

The first few coats are thin enough that it is difficult to see the changes…but it is gaining a little more color and gloss.

4th coat, front view.
4th coat of varnish, Front view.

 

4th coat, side view.
4th coat of varnish, Side view.

 

4th coat, Back view.
4th coat of varnish, Back view.

 

5th and 6th Coats

It is pretty obvious, now, even on the ribs, that certain areas are getting less color added. As I explained above, those are the areas that typically get the most wear, so, to imitate the wear patterns on the original instrument, I am minimizing the color added to those areas.

Also, I have been making the varnish coats quite thin, right now, trying to adjust the color early, instead of trying to fix it later…so, from here on, I posted the pictures as I saw relevant changes, rather than after every coat of varnish. I also switched over to a more intensely colored varnish for the 5th and 6th coats:

6th coat, front view.
6th coat of varnish, Front view. Lots of changes still to come.

 

6th coat, side view.
6th coat of varnish, Side view.

 

6th coat, back view.
6th coat of varnish, Back view.

 

Starting to look closer to what I had in mind. 🙂

 

Final color coats, and two clear coats

I gave a careful look to the poster, again, and tried to get the “wear areas” closer to the original. It is still far from accurate, but it is beginning to at least have the “flavor” of the original. My color is still too bright, and some areas still too light, but it is getting closer.

Front, nearing completion of color coats.
Front, nearing completion of color coats.

 

Side, nearing completion of color coats.
Side, nearing completion of color coats.

 

Back, nearing completion of color coats.
Back, nearing completion of color coats.

 

“Dirt” and “Age”

There were a few areas to which I wanted to add more color…and to rub some pigment into the grain, to emulate dirt. (I had already rubbed in some real dirt, but it wasn’t very convincing-looking.) Then, I locked it all down with a clear coat or two, and will polish it to completion. But this is pretty much the final color:

Final color, with
Final color, with “dirt” and “age”.

 

Side, with final color.
Side, with final color.

 

Back, with final color,
Back, with final color, “dirt”, and “age.”

 

What’s Next?

The next thing will be to re-fit the fingerboard, dress the fingerboard, and begin set-up. I will continue to address “polish and finish” issues as I see them.

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Sealer Coat

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Sealer Coat

Cleaning off the Excess Gypsum

I used scrapers, very gently, in tight corners, and very worn 400-grit abrasive paper, more aggressively, on the easily accessible areas, to remove all the loose, or overly thick areas of the gypsum pore-filler from yesterday. It took longer than I expected, but this was the result:

Front, ready for sealer.
Front, ready for sealer.

 

Side view.
Side view.

 

Back, ready for sealer.
Back, ready for sealer.

 

You can see that the grain is somewhat obscured, and the color is quite light. I am wondering whether I did not succeed in rubbing the gypsum into the wood, as thoroughly as usual. Usually, the color has been nearly chalk-white. I can see the gypsum in the wood, though, so I am going to press on with the sealer coat.

 

Sealer Coat

This time, the sealer consisted of ordinary rosin in a solution of “pure spirits of gum turpentine”.  I probably should have made it a little thinner. It was about like light syrup; so, afterward, I dipped the brush in plain turpentine, and went back over the instrument to help the stuff penetrate a little better. The turpentine will all evaporate over the next few days (I hope), leaving only the rosin, solidifying in the pores of the wood.  It is always impressive to see just how completely the gypsum disappears, under the sealer.

The back plate, with the sealer coat applied.
The back plate, with the sealer coat applied.

 

Front plate and side, with the sealer coat applied.
Front plate and side, with the sealer coat applied.

 

Different angle
Different light angle shows the curl in a more attractive mode.

 

Now What?

Until that sealer dries completely, I will have to find other things to do.  But it is hanging in a warm room, so it should dry rapidly.

After that, It will be varnish coat after varnish coat, until it it is all done. Then the final set-up can occur.

 

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Final Shaping and Scraping

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Final Shaping and Scraping

The Channels and Edges

The last time I posted, the back purfling had been installed, but the back channel had not been begun, nor were the edges trimmed and rounded. I drew in the edge crest line, just as I did on the front plate, and carved the channel with a gouge, then began scraping the channel and fairing the curve of the channel up into the curves of the arching.

Beginning Channel
Beginning the channel

 

Sample corner, after preliminary scraping.
Sample corner, after gouging and preliminary scraping.

 

After I had gone over the entire instrument under a low-angle light, looking for “lumps and bumps” (any little discontinuity that will be visible under the varnish…and they all are), I wetted a cloth with black coffee, and rubbed the whole instrument down with the damp rag. This accomplishes two things: it begins to lend a very light yellow cast to the wood, and, more importantly, for now, it raises the grain, so that every little splinter that was pressed down by the scraper, instead of being severed and removed, will now stand up and be visible…easy to find and remove, using either a very sharp scraper or, eventually, a very fine abrasive. (In general, I avoid abrasives, because I am not convinced that the surface left by fine abrasives is the same as the surface left by a sharp scraper. But, as a means of smoothing between varnish coats, or just before varnishing, I feel it is viable. I also use it on the edges of the plates…especially the spruce.)

So…here is the instrument, dampened with coffee. When the coffee is dry, I will continue the smoothing and shaping process.

Coffee rubdown.
Coffee rubdown. When it dries, it will leave a pale yellow stain…very slight.

 

coffee surface
You can see the pale yellow color, and the shape of the corners. The surface actually feels rough, now, though it looks smooth.

 

Scroll with coffee dampening.
Scroll with coffee dampening. Notice the splinters on the edge of the curves.

 

Front of scroll.
Front of scroll. See how rough the wood looks…lots of scraping still to come. And maybe some abrasive smoothing.

 

Back plate with coffee stain.

Back plate with coffee stain.

 

Final Scraping of the Whole Surface

Once the coffee was completely dry, I went to one of the few places in the house where I can get a fairly dim, very low-angle light across the violin, and went over the instrument, intently searching for either rough patches or places where the smooth continuum of the arching is interrupted by a ripple, a ridge, or a bulge, etc. I want the arching to be as close to perfect as possible, and every transition from curve to curve to be flawlessly smooth.  (I have never actually achieved this level of perfection, but that remains the standard. Every time, however, after the varnish is applied, I find things I missed.)

After scraping every surface, very gently, with a sharp scraper, until all seem to be very smooth, I rub the instrument down with coffee again. Usually, this time, the grain will not raise as agressively as before, because I did not press the grain with the scrapers but just “brushed” the surface, taking off mere dust, but leaving the channels and transitions looking finished and shiny-smooth.  This is an important time to watch for anomalies of any sort, because once the varnish is applied, it is very difficult to go back and “fix” things. Several of my earlier instruments have an odd pattern of dark stripes in the upper front bass bout, following the curve of the outer edge, and adjacent to the neck. These could have been avoided by careful scraping under a low-angle light.  They remain as permanent record of my “learning curve.” (sigh…)

Here is how the instrument looks, ready to begin the finishing process:

Front plate, ready to begin finishing process
Front plate, ready to begin. (I will remove the fingerboard first.)

 

Side view
Side view.

 

Detail of Scroll.
Detail of Scroll.

 

Back view.
Back view.

 

Detail of button and neck heel.
Detail of button and neck heel.

 

Detail of Center bout, ribs and corners.
Detail of Center bout, ribs and corners.

 

As you can see, there are are a few things I will probably want to touch-up just a little more before I actually varnish, but, overall, I am satisfied that I am ready to move forward. There will always be little things I change at the last minute, but that is just my nature.

 

What’s Next?

So…the next “big” thing is to remove the fingerboard (easy to do…I only held it on there with three dots of hide glue), and then I will rub very fine gypsum mixed with coffee into the whole instrument, and rub it back off before it dries. The goal is to fill the pores, so that the varnish will not saturate the wood.

After that is dry (and it will look chalk-white), I will apply a coat of sealer (rosin dissolved in turpentine, at the moment), to lock the gypsum down, and further seal the pores. After that; varnish time!

Thanks for looking.

 

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