How do you cut a purfling channel?
The cutting itself is done with a knife. You can use your regular knife with bevels on both sides, or you can try a knife with just one side bevelled, which makes the cutting of flat, perpendicular walls a little easier. Go with light strokes followed by heavier ones.
What is a purfling cutter?
Description. Two knives are used for violin purfling and one for guitar purfling. The cutting width is adjustable from 1/16″ to 1/4″. Handcrafted of cherry wood and brass, it is about 5″ long overall. Designed by Irving Sloane.
What is inlaid purfling?
Purfling is a narrow decorative edge inlaid into the top plate and often the back plate of a stringed instrument. Inexpensive instruments may have no purfling and instead simulate the appearance with paint. Purfling was originally made of laminated strips of wood, often contrasting in color as a visual accent.
What is the purfling on a violin?
Violin makers are particularly careful about the purfling corners. The purfling is a three-ply black, white, and black piece of wood that goes around the entire edge of the top and bottom plates to a depth of about 2 millimeters.
How do you make a purfling violin?
Purfling is made from three pieces of wood sandwiched together to make a black-white-black pattern. A very small channel is cut parallel to the edge of the instrument and the purfling is glued into this. Materials for purfling vary widely among makers and can be a useful way to identify older instruments.
How do you make a Purfling violin?
What is the purpose of violin purfling?
As with so much of the violin, it serves a dual role: practical and aesthetic. Practically, it helps keep your instrument together—literally. The purfling acts as a binder, preventing cracks from developing and traveling into the plates as they shrink and expand due to changes in the weather and humidity.
What is the purpose of purfling on a violin?