I got this plan out of the Woodsmith magazine.

I got the maple a couple years back from a guy who had a PILE of it. He used to make doors. It was $2 bd/ft. 1 inch thick and about 11 or 12 inches wide. I should have bought all he had – hindsight!! He also had some walnut, but I didn’t need any of that at $10 bd/ft. Oh, well….

edit for size: 68-1/2” long x 27-1/4” wide. 3-1/2” deep. I modified the original plans by about 1” wider/longer.

Anyway, it’s taken me about two years to put this together due to the cold and some health issues. I got the idea for Lyptus from the local Woodcraft. It was cheap and hard – almost too hard…kind of splintery? Nice red color too.

The first pic is the whole bench, then closeup of the screw and box joint, some finger planes on deck, and then the tool tray in use. another closeup but with the one end oiled for comparison, I also picked up some wormy maple from Woodcraft as you may be able to see some holes just past the tools? It was inexpensive as well.

I need to work on box joints as these weren’t as snug as the mortise and tenons in the base. The dowel pins really helped lock it together. I used Tightbond III to glue it all together. I also made the vise handle from a 1-1/8” dowel. I cut the ends from square corner molding rosettes. Auto parts store had the 1” rubber “O” rings.

I planed the top using a 9 1/4, a block plane and my Baily #7. I also sanded it with a belt sander and then a jitterbug to about 100 grit.

I just finished oiling it today with two coats Watco natural wood floor finish. I read online that it isn’t made anymore, pity. I’ve had this gallon for probably 15 years? Still good stuff!

I’m going to hang all my clamps on 5/8” dowel pairs angled off the screw vise legs, got to put them somewhere!

I also plan to make an insert underneath with 5 drawers and a storage area. I copied that pic from the plan online. Hope that’s ok, else I can shoot the cover?

Oh, and I’m also going to install a front vise per the plan. It’s on order. I had originally planned on putting in a Groz quick release vise (on the floor), but the design called for a front vise. I bought the Groz before I really knew what the heck I was getting myself into…anyone want to buy a really nice vise? ;-) It’s heavy.

Thanks for viewing.

My first violin.

I also made the amber varnish in a similar manner as Strad. circa 1700’s.

In time (100 years) it should be a nice dark tan.

The drawing is the layout for the instrument using only geometry, a compass and ruler.

I learned the craft from Juan Mijares http://mijaresviolins.com/ in town.
He learned from The Violin School of America in Salt Lake http://www.vmsa.net/moreinfo.html
twenty+ years ago.

I’ve been learning bits and pieces for the last 15 years on my own. Juan helped me put the concepts together.

The wood top is 1/4 sawn spruce and was given to me by a local violin maker who has since died. I held on to it for 10 years before cutting it. It has very tight grain – almost like viewing the side of a ream of paper. Not sure if the detail will show in these pics, but there is some really nice flame in it.

The back, sides, & neck are 1/4 sawn maple. Ebony is commercially available, so no need to do anything but cut to fit and shape.