CHAPTER XV.
REPAIRS TO PURFLING (CONTINUED)—FILLING UP AN OPENING EXTENDING TO THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE VIOLIN—FITTING THE CORE—FIXING IT IN POSITION AND RETAINING IT THERE—FINISHING THE SURFACE.
Many old Italian violins bear indications of the haste of the maker to get the purfling done, and so without the delay of any intermediary process the purfling has been pressed in with great risk and sometimes an inevitable result of fracture.
In the present instance, the violin having all the evidence of great care having been expended on its construction and finish, the repair, to be as successful as possible, must be carried out on the same principle, every little deviation of curve being well imitated. For the bending of the purfling there may be, of course, any number of methods. According to the consistency of the material, so the management must be.
At present the piece of purfling, having been taken from a portion of an old violin bought for the purpose of breaking up and using for repairs, is very dry and rather brittle. The light coloured part or central portion is of some hard wood that refuses to accommodate itself easily to the requirements of the moment; this is found to be the case on trying a small portion with the fingers—it goes with a snap on very little attempt being made to bend it.
James having met with this kind of thing before, knows more than one way of meeting the difficulty. As is often found, a rough and ready way is good for a small amount of work such as he has before him.
He takes a candle and lights it. He has always at hand a jar of water ready for any damping required in the number of little odd jobs constantly occurring. Placing the jar of water within easy reach, he dips the purfling into it once and then wipes it with his handy cloth.
Taking the two ends with the fingers of each hand he passes it backward and forward near the flame of the candle, using a gentle pressure to make it assume a crescent or bow shape. The heat causes the damp to evaporate and steam the materials, and the purfling will gradually assume the required curve.
When this latter happens to be short or sudden, another dip and heating may be necessary.
This being successfully accomplished, recourse is now had to the glue pot, a pointed piece of wood is dipped into it, and a small streak of glue is laid in the groove. The purfling is now carefully inserted along the course, pressed in and left to dry.
After a sufficient time has elapsed, James looks over it, and finding all things ripe for finishing, takes a gouge of a size that will suit the channelling of the particular model adopted by the maker.
Great care is necessary to shave off but a small portion as the gouge is passed along. The latter has a very keen edge, or it will tear instead of cut. It is used here and there in contrary direction, as the grain of the several parts of the purfling does not run quite level. A curved file, and finally a little glasspapering, will complete the matter so far. There will be for the finishing of the whole of the fresh wood a further process to go through, that is, a slight damping.
This can be done with a small fine grained sponge or a moderately wet camel hair brush. This is for the purpose of slightly raising the grain. If this is not done at this time the soft part of the grain may show its automatic tendency to swell after the final process of varnishing has been gone through. When quite dry, fine glasspaper is used to reduce the surface to an almost polished level, after which some clear oil, having good drying qualities, is brushed lightly but completely over all portions of the fresh work.
It will not be absolutely necessary that this should be quite dry and hard before proceeding with the varnishing down to the tint of the old and surrounding work.
This being a separate and independent branch of the art of restoration, will be treated apart hereafter.
For the present we will be content to know that this varnishing, a very delicate process in connection with the repair, is undertaken by the chief himself, who sets to work at once and in a manner as if it were a true labour of love, there being no hurry, but careful time-ignoring attention to matching and calculation of effect. Just before settling down with colours, essences, solvents and brushes, he gives directions to his man James to "finish up the crack or fracture in that old 'Stainer' lying on the shelf there behind."
When it is taken down from its place of repose, James looks at it for a moment and then observes, "Rather an awkward job, this, sir! It is more than a crack along the whole length of the fiddle; somebody has been at it trying to mend it and made it positively worse. The edges are quite apart. You can see through in some places, and in others there is a lot of black hard glue."
The chief now has a look over the damaged part and then remarks, "The thread of the pine happens to be very straight, and that will lessen the trouble."
"Right, sir," is James's rejoinder, "not like that Genoese fiddle that we had some time back with the very curly bit of pine that looked as if the tree had been growing at the side of a rock and trying to look round the corner. Fitting a straight piece along the centre of that fiddle was no joke."
"Well, James, wash all that filthy dark glue away, and when quite dry, run a thin chisel along each side of the hole, taking fine shavings off until the upright walls have a sharp clean edge."
The washing out is at once commenced, and when finished, the upper table, which of course had been removed some time back for ascertaining the necessary amount of repairing, is placed apart for drying.
While this is in process, another violin is taken in hand. It has a different kind of fracture, which it has been thought well for appearance sake should be re-opened and made tidy, in fact, obscured as much as present skill will allow of.
The fracture, although not one of very common occurrence, is of a kind well known to professional repairers. It has been caused by a twist, possibly while being handled by some clumsy or heavy-handed repairer of olden times, and hastily filled with polluted glue, pressed together and left to itself. It is not at right angles with the plane of the instrument, but at a very acute one, very little evidence of it, possibly none, being seen from the inside.
The first step taken by the repairer is the cleansing and removal of all foreign particles likely to interfere with the adhesion of the surfaces to be brought into contact. As there is present much grime, and this not free from a suspicion of the presence of grease, James has recourse to the bottle of benzine, into which he dips a small brush, working it backwards and forwards, wiping it on an absorbent rag and re-applying the liquid.
This does not take very long; the evaporation being rapid, the wood is soon ready for the next stage, which is that of removing the dark glue and other foul matters from the irregular surface.
This requires the application of warm water, by means of a stiffer implement, used in fact as a small scrubbing brush; the moisture between whiles is pressed in and out by the fingers with repeated wipings and re-wettings.
After a while, being satisfied that the surfaces of the fracture are clean to the desired degree, James allows the wood to partially dry. In the meanwhile, he cuts a couple of pieces of wood to fit the back and front of the table, so that with folded paper as a pad the parts may be pressed together. All being in readiness, fresh strong glue is inserted all along the opening, the repeated pressing being kept up until he is sure that the glue has penetrated every part. The superfluous glue oozing from the inside, after a slight squeeze along the course, is lightly wiped off, the moulds applied back and front, and the cramps fixed.
Other little odds and ends of repairing have occupied the attention of the assistant during the time of waiting for the drying of the before-mentioned upper table of the Stainer. This latter being of full model, although not resembling the swollen or bolster-like form of many imitations of the master, requires special attention with regard to fitting in of the fresh wood or core.
The fresh wood must not be bent, or the matching of the grain with the old material will be impossible, and the repair when completed will be strikingly conspicuous. It must therefore be inserted in such a manner that when pared down, the direction or flow of the grain will exactly coincide in all respects with the rest of the table. The fact must be recognised that although the threads may be perfectly straight from end to end, yet they may rise higher at one end than the other or not run level with the plane of the table. (Diagram 37.)
| DIAGRAM 37, showing half length of core inserted before being pared down, and with grain. |
This being duly calculated by James when cutting the piece that is to be inserted as a core, the table with its opening extending nearly from end to end is placed on an even surface facing upwards, as when on the instrument. The core is then tried in the aperture. Perhaps a thin shaving or two is found necessary, when finally it is sufficiently exact. The next stage is that of getting ready the means of holding or pressing all the parts together till dry after glueing. Taking a flat piece of wood, perhaps the one just used, and placing the table down, a pencil line is traced on the board round the violin table as if for the purpose of copying the pattern. Two straight lines are now ruled on each side touching the most projecting part of the upper and lower curve (Diagram 38.)
| DIAGRAM 38. |
On the outside of each line, but touching it, a strip of wood about a quarter of an inch square is pegged or nailed down.
The table or plate when placed flat between these two small bars of wood, is within an acute angle, and can be held tight or not according to the degree of pressure with which it is pushed toward the smaller end.
It will at once be perceptible that a trifling pressure forward of the table towards the small end will result in the raising of the central part and the widening of the opening instead of closing it.
There must be, therefore, some means adopted to counteract this, and these are not difficult to fix upon. In lieu of pressing the table forward with risk of damaging the part of the border that will come in contact with the two fixed bars, it will be carefully tried as to fitting the exact position it is to take when glued, that is, sufficiently forward in the space between the bars that will only admit the table with a slight rise in the arching, the joint or part holding the core being in a more open condition as a consequence.
The exact place or point of contact is marked with a soft pencil or piece of chalk on border and bar. The table being taken away, the parts requiring it will be carefully glued.
Placed in position again, necessary means are taken that the surface or plane on each side of the core are quite level with each other; if they are not so, they will, after the necessary paring down of the core has been completed, cause an ugly, uneven appearance. To prevent this, therefore, the parts must be adjusted by the application of the fingers on one side or the other, or gently tapped by a piece of wood sufficiently heavy until exactness of level is made sure.
There is now necessary a weight to be applied along the whole length of the junction for keeping all in position until the glue is quite dry and hard.
Any kind of weight may be applied, the smaller and heavier in proportion to size the better, as so much more can be seen when several are used instead of one and that of larger dimensions.
These being placed in position, the table with its adjusted weights is placed away for drying.
When time has elapsed for this to be satisfactorily accomplished the table is taken in hand again, the weights lifted off and a slight tap at the upper with a piece of soft wood will set it free.
The part of the core now rising above the upper or varnished side of the table is pared down very gently, care being taken that the chisel does not work into the varnish on either side of the core, and that it is not driven against the grain, as by so doing the wood is nearly certain to be torn instead of cleanly shaven.
A close examination of the surface is now made, if found quite satisfactory, it may receive its final polishing by the application of some very fine glass paper wrapped round a piece of cork, with a little clear oil dabbed on it. This will give a dead smooth surface. If the above directions are carried out with clean and sharp work, the line along the table marked by the presence of the core will be so slight as to appear little more than the thread of the wood, in the highest class of repairing it will be nearly exact.
The part of the core projecting on the under side of the table is easily disposed of by a gouge in the same manner as described for the action of the chisel on the front.
The operations just described are of a kind that should not be undertaken without considerable experience, as, indeed, ought to be the case with many other repairs, the requisite dexterity of handling not coming at once even with much natural ability.