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Vulture Hill Apple Orchard
As you drive the hill around Sebastopol you will see many old apple orchards, white with blossom in the spring and warm with color in the fall. These orchards represent are an important cultural and historical legacy in our region, but sadly the apple industry has been in decline since the 1970’s, out-competed by larger,…
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Re-sawing the apple wood
I normally buy the wood that I need for the back, top, sides and neck of the violin from specialist violin suppliers in Europe. The wood comes in billets that are small enough to allow me to work them easily with hand tools. For that reason I’ve never acquired many of the machines that feature…
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Wood for the fittings
The violins “fittings” include the fingerboard, pegs, tailpiece, chinrest, endpin. All of the black parts you see in the photo. The fingerboard and pegs in particular get a lot of wear over the years and need to be made of a hard material. The most commonly used wood on a standard violin is ebony which…
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Mike Center, Woodworker
Mike has always had woodwork in his life. Both his parents were woodworkers and throughout his career as a biologist he had some sort of wood shop going on. Since retiring he devotes more time to it and he now has a very nicely put together home shop in Santa Rosa. He specializes in guitars…
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Wood for Purfling
The purfling is an inlaid band of three strips of wood, colored black, white, black. Its function is decorative, highlighting the edge of the instrument, but also functional, helping to prevent the top from cracking near the edges. All kinds of woods have been used for the purfling, they usually have a smooth , non-porous…
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Steve Wigfield. Custom Woodwork and Radius Millwork, Petaluma
Steve Wigfield earned an architecture degree from UC Berkeley and worked for architecture firms in California for many years before moving into high end residential woodwork in 1972. Initially he worked from his home workshop in Inverness. 1982-1985 I worked at Skywalker Ranch in the mill shop as a Lead Millman. The mill shop was…
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Wood for the back, sides, neck and scroll
Maple The back, sides, neck and scroll of the violin are normally made from maple. Characteristics: Maple is a medium density hardwood with lightly porous structure, It carves relatively easily and leaves a clean cut from a gouge. It’s color matches well with the spruce that is used for the top of the violin, both…
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Interview with Don Jereb
Don Jereb, Chairman of Sonoma County Woodworkers Association, came by my shop with a sample of propolis from bee hives that may be a useful wood or varnish coloring agent in the later stages of the violin construction. Sitting outside, in my rather nosy, back yard I asked him about the SWCA [Correction from Don:…
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Presentation to The Sonoma County Woodworkers Association
With the help of local knowledge The Sonoma County Woodworkers Association is a 30 year old, non-profit association of over 100 professional and amateur woodworkers. Their Artistry in Wood exhibition displaying members’ work is held in the Fall at the Sonoma County Museum and is that institution’s most attended annual event. I’ve been a member…
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Young People’s Chamber Orchestra Rehearsal
The Young Peoples Chamber Orchestra is a group sponsored by the Education Department of the Santa Rosa Symphony. It has around twenty members and, because they are all string players and are able to wear masks, their rehearsals for the spring season are going ahead. They didn’t have an approved site for their first rehearsal…
