It's now the year 2025 and I'm months away from my 80th birthday. I'm still ambulatory and of sound mind. I'm still happily married to the sweetheart of my youth and thankful for every minute. My woodworking years are becoming less and less and I have turned to oil painting to fill my bent for creativity. My wife and I have started talking more and more about a smaller place to live with nothing solid yet. More, later.

Donna Marie Violin, completed in 2014.

2022 Update

It's a cloudy but pleasant day in Smyrna, TN. I'm sitting in our sun room facing west to our back yard and beyond to a large approximately 2 acre field of grass that has been set aside for rain water runoff. Things have changed since I last made contact in this blog.  Electric cars are starting to be driven on the road. Elon Musk has become a prominent figure in the United States and the world with his Tesla, SpaceX, Boring and Twitter companies.  He is, at this writing, the richest person in the world. 

We are witnessing a very bloody war started by Russia in late 2021 with no provocation in Ukraine. Russia is attempting to take control of the country but has encountered stiff resistance by the Ukrainian people, both civilians and military.  Support for Ukraine has been world wide with NATO countries unified against Russia in words, sanctions and munitions with the United States leading with billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid.

From a political standpoint and despite much protest from the left, the current liberal party has done much to bring difficulties to the United States with a continuation of out of control deficit spending, decreasing oil supplies and a constant and unlawful flow of illegal aliens crossing our southern border.  We are now suffering a huge increase in gas prices, rapidly rising inflation and a resulting surge in the cost of good and services nation wide.  

I finished my third violin. I call this one the Donna Marie.  It is not my best work craftsmanship-wise, but I believe it is the best sounding of the three.  It needs some setup work but seems to have good potential.

I haven't been very active on this blog for quite some time. Still, that doesn't mean I haven't been doing things!  I have always been interested in the creative arts and have been doing some oil painting along with some furniture restoration for clients.  Below are a couple of things I have been working on. Not great, but fun to do.

Holly in Zimbabwe

Three Fruits

Elephant At Tea

Red Elephant with Vase

Self Portrait

Cherry Credenza

My Son-in-Law and my daughter requested that I build this cherry credenza for them when I offered to make them something for a wedding present.  They are both architects and decided to create a functional design for their New York apartment. It was quite an experience bringing their ideas to life, much different than building something of one's own design.  The collaboration was a joy and they were happy with the result.  There are two full extension drawers on each side and a center shelf in the middle.  The drawer on the right side is set up for a record player with openings for wires where needed.  The back of the credenza is fully finished wood so the unit could be floated in a room that would allow it to be viewed from all sides.

Old Forgotten Cello Restoration

This cello was given to me by a gentleman I have known for many years at the church I formally attended.  He had no intention of doing anything with it and decided that he would give it to me.  In my mind, I hoped it would be in reasonable condition.  It turned out to be in pieces.  The top was in four pieces, a section of rib from the neck to the corner block was detached completely with a small section of wood missing.  The biggest problem was something I had never seen before. The neck and top block was made out of one piece of wood!  Since the projection was off and the neck was too short to begin with, I decided to put a new neck, top block and bottom block into the instrument.  The original bottom block was not wide enough to install an end pin.  The original bass bar was very small and had to be replaced along with a bass bar crack almost the length of the instrument that had to be glued and cleated.  Some might say all this work for an antique factory instrument wasn't worth it.  I wanted to hear that old wood sing again, as I believe old instruments have a tonal advantage over more modern instruments in many cases.  It took a long time to complete this project, but the instrument really sings, now.

Irene Violin

 This is the Irene violin (2014) I made in honor of my 95-year-old mother. It was made in a pattern taken from the 1715 Titian Stradavarius violin.  My mother was very influential in the development of her children's interest in music and taught us all to play and sing when we were very young.

Simple Purfling Jig Setup

I am in the process of making another violin. The back plate is the next phase and I wanted to have a more predictable and secure purfling jig arrangement for doing the harder maple wood back.  Below is a simple design I came up with, as many woodworkers do, of a stabilizing jig.  I thought I might share this with anyone interested.

 This jig was attached to my table saw fence, held in place with two clamps.  The purfling channel cutting jig is held in place by the wood arms and is secured with a c clamp.  Two blocks of wood next to the stabilizing arm eliminate movement from side to side and the weight of the c clamp over the purfling jig is sufficient to keep the jig down at the proper depth. also important with this jig is to have an external power source switch within arms distance as you cut so you can turn the Dremel tool on and off easily.  The Dremel tool is fixed and you move the violin plate with both hands to the right around the jig.  The process is scary but is very controllable. Just make sure to keep the plate in contact with the plate edge perpendicularly to the cutter and down with hand pressure as you work and you won't have any problems. Always test on scrap wood before cutting into the plate to check depth and distance from the plate edge.

Greg's Cello Restoration

I completed the repair of this cello. The neck was broken at the base of the old scroll and the neck was broken out of the instrument destroying the button at the top back of the body.  The button had been repaired before and was mutilated beyond usefulness.   I morticed in a new button tab from inside the back of the instrument, removed the bass bar, added support (cleats) to a bass bar crack, replaced the bass bar over the cleats, replaced the top and installed a new neck.  It was quite a project but a joy in that the instrument was my brother's high school instrument!  Please click on the link below to view the restoration process

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDj77B0fcQ&feature=em-share_video_user

New PTP! Classes Begin on Janu

New Class Beginning in December

Convertible High Chair/Table

Donna requested that I restore this convertible high chair/table.  It was in pretty bad shape, structurally, most likely due to excessive exposure to moisture and temperature changes.  The seat was falling apart, all the joints were loose, the base/table plate was wrinkled, loose and decayed with the plywood laminations separated from each other.  Other problems included mismatched bolts and screws, a missing spindle and tray top hardware.  It was an enjoyable project and the customers were pleased with the results.  The baby was born during the restoration and the chair awaits his growth to the right size!

Rose High Back Rocker

A woodworker friend of my had this old mahogany rose rocker that a client had given to him quite some time ago sitting around at his house. He said he didn't have the time or engery to fix it and offered it to me. I took it home and it sat around my house for over a year with broken legs and no cane in the seat. I finally decided to get the seat caned after I had fixed the legs. I accidently bumped into a fella that knew a lady that did caning and I decided to give her a shot at it. She did a beautiful job and now we have returned this old gem back to usefulness. What a joy!

http://www.corlissnelsonwoodworks

Cello Neck Replacement

I'm in the process of replacing the neck of this cello for my brother.  This is the instrument he played when he was young.

 

I didn't take a picture of it, but I decided to drill small holes at the base of the tenon show here, create a shallow mortice and insert a new maple button for the disfigured and broken existing button.  It was in too bad shape (broken in half and disfigured) to use. The maple insert was around four inches long and the width of the button (under 30mm).  I chose this method rather than removing the back, which I felt was ill advised. I created the illusion of a center seam going through the button.

 

 

There was a significant base bar crack on the top.  I decided to remove the base bar and attach four cleats to the crack.

 

 

Finally I was able to get to the neck replacement!  I'm still working on refining the shape of the neck. 

 

 

 

Cello Shots

Robby's Fiddle Restoration

Singer/Songwriter and good friend, Robby, received this violin from a relative. I offered to fix some of the problems it had including a shiney lacquer on the fingerboard that had areas of a chipped finish among other problems. The back had come unglued at the bottom block leaving a gap that needed to be closed. The bridge had been poorly fitted, was warped and needed to be replaced. The strings were old, dirty and oxidized.

The violin is old but has no label inside. It is an inexpensive instrument but has pretty darn good tone and would make someone happy to play. There is no ebony anywhere on this instrument. It does have blocks and linings and a well fashioned scroll. I had fun bring this instrument back to use again.

My Daughter

On August 15, 2010 my daughter, Holly went missing while on a pontoon boat with her friends at work.  10 days later her body was found in the general area of where she was last seen.  This has been and continues to be a very difficult time for me, my wife and daughter.  We miss our youngest daughter very much and struggle every day with a range of emotions.  We are people of faith and take comfort in the promises of God in our lives here on earth and the life beyond.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Violin Maker's Shop

Recently I visited Chicago with some very dear friends.  I knew this gentleman had a violin shop there and called to see if I might visit briefly.  He was very gracious with his time and talent.  Michael Darnton is a very accomplished violin maker with whom I came in contact through an online violin making forum.  He has been a regular contributor to the forum and has been very helpful to me (and many others) regarding violin making.  While there I witnessed him carve and fit a new bridge on a viola for a member of the Chicago Symphony.  A very valuable lesson indeed!  I took this snap of him before I left.