VIOLIN MAKING | The TOOLS I use in my workshop in Cremona

[@LucasFabro]

🎥🎻Online violin making course: ​ obrienguitars.com/courses/violin ⚒️ Some of the tools, strings and equipment I use: - Excel version: www.dropbox.com/s/c6n6zq7om6hqo9g/Tools.xlsx?dl=0 - Pdf: www.dropbox.com/s/5ua7zy0e3h2olm2/Tools.pdf?dl=0 Other media: ♦ www.lucasfabro.com ♦ Instagram: instagram.com/fabroviolins/ ♦ Facebook: facebook.com/fabroviolins/ns/

[@woodandwandco]

Lovely build! Regarding the planes, that small green one is called a squirrel-tail palm plane (because it looks like a squirrel's tail!), and the #6 is called a fore plane ('fore' coming from the word 'before', since this plane was used before the other planes to rough out the surface, perhaps a colloquial term among English woodworkers [Hand me ye olde 'Fore plane]!). The smaller planes are all called block planes, and these are planes that are smaller than the #3 Stanley typically, with the bronze one being a low-angle block plane (named so for the low angle of the blade). The low angle makes the plane work better on some tough endgrain surfaces. Funny enough, block planes were designed for carpentry work and not fine woodworking. Their small size made them portable and perfect for use on the job site. Their size did not afford fine woodworkers in their own shops with many benefits, since the #4 was more than capable of handling most tasks a block plane could do more efficiently. Their use was appropriated later on in fine woodworking for working on edges, chamfers, and endgrain, though a modern #4 can do those tasks quite well, too! I very much enjoyed this breakdown of the violin maker's toolkit. I would like to try my hand at a build soon!

[@londontechnician5186]

Hi Lucas, thank you for making this video, I live here in Central London England, am thinking to make a violin for me in the future and am happy that you did this video and it will help me to know more about the tools I need when I am ready to build one. Thanks.

[@LucasFabro]

Thank you very much for your comment! It helps the channel a lot! I'm happy to hear that you're finding it useful :) I travel to London relatively often and it's been a while now, so I think I should pay the city a visit soon!

[@leiyawonsiro7684]

This is ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING, almost intimidating. I am in awe. And the tea.... The tea break was wonderful. 🌸

[@LucasFabro]

Thank you very very much for your comment!! I’m really glad you enjoyed the video and the tea break 🙃

[@murrayhardie8025]

Hello Lucas. I am so very grateful to you for sharing your wonderful expertise and craft on KZbin. As a passionate Viola student, an amateur woodworker attempting to make my first instrument (and as it happens, a teahead and super fan of all things meileaf, as I see you are too!), I find your videos both fascinating, extremely enjoyable to watch and an invaluable resource for my amateur endeavors. Thank you for being so generous with your craft and let me wish you good health, happiness and a long and successful career. Warm regards.

[@LucasFabro]

Thank you so much for such a nice comment! Not only it helps the channel a lot, but if not that it's also a pleasant thing to read :) Funny enough, I'm replying to this comment while having some silver needle! 🙃​

[@richardstumph7833]

Very intricate, precision,iz key,

[@LucasFabro]

Thank you so much!

[@charangosurf]

Meravglioso! Very informative and entertaining too!

[@MaxMerrier]

I love the tea break! ❤️🥰

[@LucasFabro]

I always always love my tea breaks!

[@jlingviolin]

Excellent video. I didn't hear you talk about the bench and lighting.

[@LucasFabro]

You're absolutely right! I know a lot of people who work without a workbench, but good lighting is a MUST!

[@kierannolan8859]

Excellent video as usual,,, But very poor sound recording and lighting on all your videos

[@kathmatsushita]

Just what I wanted to see, Lucas!!! I love seeing what kinds of tools different people find useful. One thing I was just wondering about yesterday was how you sharpen your tools. I see you have a Tormek --- I have one, too, and still need to learn how to use it more effectively. I would love to see a video on how you sharpen your tools, especially the gouges!!! I'm not very good at sharpening yet.... :)

[@LucasFabro]

Haha, for us tools are so much fun 😅 That’s a very controversial topic :p as people have many different ideas on how to sharpen things haha, nevertheless I thought while I was filming this that I could make a video about it. Regarding the tormek though, I think the absolute best thing to do is to read the manual that comes with it several times until it’s super clear, as it can be quite confusing at the beginning, at the beginning I did it “my own way” and then I started doing it as they say and it’s really better. Also, there’s a small gig that works super well for the gouges, not very expensive so I’d consider buying it if you don’t have it. I listed it on the file!

[@kathmatsushita]

@@LucasFabro When I first got the Tormek (an older one from 2002), I got the Universal gouge jig. It works, but is kind of fiddly to set up. Recently I saw a video where someone just used the short tool jig (the one you referenced) instead, to sharpen his gouges. I tried it and it was so much easier to use!

[@banzay]

Awesome video! Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@LucasFabro]

I'm very glad you like it :) And thank you very much for your comment! It helps the channel A LOT!!

[@Tostra1997]

Man... You have a well equipped workshop. Must be nice being in there with everything ready to go :-D Only thing I'd be missing with what you showed and mentioned is an opening knife, which I find myself using for gluing (reversed function, but it works), a screwdriver for taking the planes apart for sharpening, a nice moveable light source, a strop for sharpening and maybe a bandsaw if we allow ourselves to use that sort of thing ;-) I guess a UV chamber would be nice as well, but I don't have one myself. No room...

[@LucasFabro]

Having a well equipped workshop is key! Although I try to keep it to the “minimum” if not it’s easy to make the place look chaotic. I actually think I have too many clamps for example 😬 True about the missing things! Specially on the screwdrivers and light. Would be almost impossible to work without them!

[@Tostra1997]

Haha, you can't have too many clamps ;-) I agree, and that's actually a problem for me when I'm at home. I don't have a proper home workshop, so everything is packed away in boxes here and there. Actually my most used tools, (gouges, planes, measuring) are just lying on the floor now because I never get to put them away before I need them again 😅 That'll change soon, I hope. In a few days I'll hopefully be able to get a small two room apartment in which I immediately saw livingroom and workshop :-P Anyway... To return to the tools, I think moulds and templates count for me as well, even though that's something you make. And just a square block is something I need often. I also forgot that my most useful tool ever is actually a gouge that I didn't see on your wall. It's a 1" wide number 6 I think, although I'd like to have one even wider and even flatter. I'm not sure why it's that useful, but it tends to just fit every task from roughing to scroll carving, and I keep it razor sharp at all times.

[@Tostra1997]

Btw, I've heard of the Kunz plane several places, but I have never realized what's special about it. Can you enlighten me?

[@LucasFabro]

I actually have a wider gouge but don’t really use it that much anymore. I ended up finding myself more comfortable with the ones I use, although you never know when I’ll change my mind again 😅 Congrats on the flat, and get ready to have wood chips everywhere, but I’m sure that’ll be a big positive change indeed :)

[@LucasFabro]

I still remember the day I was told to buy the kunz and how I pissed off I was about it 😂 Over time, when you learn how to use it (as it’s quite annoying to regulate the blade and maybe you need to rectify the plane too), it just becomes very comfortable, good weight and fits the hand nicely. I know some people have it super sharpened and use it even for the bass bar. I feel that as it’s light but not that light and small but not that small it allows you to make very quick moves, which for the right task it can be great

[@Mojokiss]

I like your voice, and to me it sounds like that of Bjork a bit.

[@LucasFabro]

Thanks! Hahaha, I'm not a big fan of my voice so a comment like this is highly appreciated :)

[@simonecamplani2430]

Ciao, block plane è un termine che si riferisce soecificamente alle pialle piccole senza manico anteriore, per nomonarle tutte insieme è più accurato plane e basta

[@LucasFabro]

Ciao! Grazie per il commento. Si, mi l’ho anche scritto un’altro ragazzo sui commenti prima. Purtroppo non ero sicuro come si diceva in inglese e l’ho scritto così 😬

[@violinistcom]

Is their any way I can learn with you in person???is there any course for violin restoration and violin making .

[@LucasFabro]

Hi! Thank you for your message. Unfortunately I don't give lessons in person as the time it'd take me to teach someone and join that person in the path of making a new instrument would be longer than the time it takes me to build a violin (and from start to finish that's over four months), which means that for an even longer period than that I wouldn't be able to build and so the price should be at least the same than the one for one of my instruments. That being said you can find the link for the online course here obrienguitars.com/courses/violin And you can send me an email to [e-mail] if you want to discuss other possibilities. Hope you're well! Lucas

[@chuckwavra8832]

Gongfu cha! What's your favorite tea for violin making? 🫖 🎻 😊

[@LucasFabro]

Oh, that really depends! If I'm taking a quick break in between the making, then I might go for a green or a white (usually Long Jing, Silver Needle, or Bai Mu Dan). If I'm going to keep having the tea while working then I might go for a long oolong session, or a black or pu erh (of all these my typical ones are the classical Tie Guan Yin, Da Hong Pao, I recently got a Jin Jun mei that I'm loving!, and many different pu erh cakes... Quite typical choices actually, but these are some of the ones I have more often while making. And as you can probably tell, I base my decision a lot on how many infussions I can get based on the amount of work I need to do and whether I'm stopping for a while or not haha. What are your favourite ones? Any recommendations? :)