THE SCROLL.
On plate 19 you will find the outline of a scroll I use generally. I
will employ the original from which this was taken now, and mark on
a piece of old sycamore the exact representation of it.
The thickness of the wood must be one and eleven-sixteenths of an
inch, ten inches in length--and broad enough to allow the outline to
be properly cut for further operation. After I get this cut exactly
by a band saw, I place the outline on the wood cut for the scroll,
and with a sharp-pointed, hard pencil, prick the holes where the
volute has to come on to the sides, both of them. After that, on the
face of the wood--that is to say, the front, as though looking at
the fingerboard, I mark at four-and-a-quarter inches from end of the
head, which is to be the end of peg-box, and three inches from that,
the narrow end of said box that is to be cut. Then I take centre of
narrow end and mark off seven-sixteenths of an inch--width of said
end, five-eighths of an inch for broad end. Then at five and
five-eighths of an inch from broad end of peg-box, I take centre of
extreme end of wood, here to be one and three-eighths of an inch
when ready for the fingerboard afterwards, and I divide it, making a
distinctive mark as to breadth and centre. Then, allowing full
three-sixteenths of an inch for cheeks of peg-box, I draw two lines,
one on either side of centre line, from end of wood to head, so that
I just shall catch outer side of each cheek of peg-box that is to
be, and which, running on to where crosses the nose of the scroll,
gives a width there of bare nine-sixteenths of an inch. Afterwards I
mark the three-sixteenths for cheeks of peg-box.
This is all I can mark at present, until I cut with the saw and with
the chisels, as shown (figs. 21 and 22), I can now trace lines ready
for manipulation of the volutes and the fluting. That of the volutes
is my first business. The lines denoting the ascending spirals, and
the pencil dots not yet touched, are my guides, and, with small hand
saw, No. 30, I cut very carefully, by a dot at a time just low
enough to touch the spiral line at its junction, cutting the bit
away sideways, of course, just by the said line, and then a small
piece more, until I arrive at the end of where the spiral ceases, at
its base; but now that the volute is developing, I am enabled to
complete the line, which brings the whole to its actual junction
with the mainspring of conception. This, in a very great state of
roughness, I show at an angle (fig. 23), and I reverse the sides,
cutting the other in the same manner. It is necessary to have the
wood firmly cramped to the bench on all occasions.
[Illustration: PLATE XXI.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXII.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.]
I now select gouges 57, 24, 22, 43, 39, 50, and I carefully trim
both spirals, gauging the front and rear levels as I proceed by
one-eighth of an inch at a time, until I can find no fault, all
being square to the eye (for by nothing else can you prove your work
here) when I prepare to cut the trench which was only wanted to
soften off this essential to beauty.
Here I use all the gouges marked above; and in doing so I have to be
most careful not to FORCE any one part; for such is the brittle
nature of the wood (sycamore) that the delicate edges, as the
slender spiral ascends under your, perhaps, too eager hand, may not
be able to bear the strain put upon them, and a breach stares you in
the face, past remedy, save by an accomplished master of his art.
The next step is to soften the work done, and to smooth down with
rough to fine glass-paper, wetting every part after each course.
Then I cut off all the sharp _outer_ edges, from the terminal of the
back part of the whole to the top of each volute, this cutting to be
a good one-sixteenth of an inch broad, neatly filing and
sandpapering the same when done. The outer edge of the peg-box is
done in like manner.
Fixing the wood now, face downwards on the bench, I begin the
cutting of the fluting at the upper part, using gouges 57, 24, 22,
just in the order in which I write them, obviously the terminal part
being that which needs most attention and care. Reversing the wood,
I cut down by the nose of the head to the broad grooves which soon
appear, terminating just over the narrow end of peg-box. All should
be done neatly,--in a masterly manner were better--I file and
sandpaper over and over again until I get to my mind what now
appears in plates 24 and 25, and you will see the neck end is
finished, ready for insertion in the mortice, which is done later
when the fingerboard is added.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXV.]