Bowed Psaltery Kit

[Jarno Verhoeven]

Note that usually there's already a burr on them if bought new, but if not you'll have to do that yourself. Paul Sellers has a good youtube tutorial on it.

[Teresa Wiggins]

Note that usually there's already a burr on them if bought new, but if not you'll have to do that yourself. Paul Sellers has a good youtube tutorial on it.

Wow, so complicated, I don't have any of that stuff, lol.

[Jim McConkey]

I have never tried it myself since I own a proper re-burring tool, but the tool is nothing more than a smooth, hardened steel dowel, about 8 mm or 5/16", held at an angle by a wooden holder. I would guess the shaft of any big screwdriver you might have laying around might do the job. Any screwdriver should be hardened and close to the right diameter.

All that being said, you are not going to dull your new scraper any time soon on this instrument. Happy scraping!

[Jarno Verhoeven]

Was going to say that, a big drill bit also works. And you probably have a file, right

[Teresa Wiggins]

I don't know what happened to my last post where I said that I returned the scraper and sanded it down to remove the glue. My pyrography faded, but was still there enough I can just fill it in again. I didn't want to have to worry about sharpening the scraper, I'm no good at that, I have an entire set of wood carving tools that are duller than they should be because I messed up trying to sharpen them.

Also the scraper would have removed some of my design as well. Trying to scrape off just the glue would've left an uneven surface. Anyway, it's done now, and burning in my design again is going well. Once that is finish, I'm only going to clear coat the sides and stain the top and bottom. It'll have a two-toned wood look that way.

[Jim McConkey]

Scrapers are different for most people, but once you use one, you will almost never go back to sandpaper! Well worth the minimal effort to learn to sharpen. Don't be afraid of the sharpening - it is ridiculously easy and quick, and you only rarely need to sharpen them anyway. You could scrape your excess glue off that instrument 50+ times and not even be close to dull.

Sharpening is a fact of life for anyone who works with wood. Don't be intimidated by it, embrace it and run with it! We have a number of old discussions on sharpening tools, and you can find all sorts of videos on YouTube demonstrating the Scary Sharp and other methods. It does take some practice, just like any other tool, but the joy of using a sharp tool will more than compensate you for the time spent learning to do it properly.

[Teresa Wiggins]

Oh, I watched several videos on how to sharpen my carving tools, but I only made them worse. It's probably my spatial dyslexia that messed me up. I'm sure I got mixed up when they said, do it this direction, and I went the opposite way.

[Jarno Verhoeven]

I use a jig for all my straight cutting edges (planes and chisels), and it is pretty easy to get them heinously sharp. Scrapers really are not that critical and pretty easy to get a usable edge on.
Gouges are another matter though, those do require from fine motor skills (or maybe shipping them off to be sharpened ). I have a few gouges and chisels from Pfeil, and those are REALLY sharp out of the box, Kirschen, not so much.

[Teresa Wiggins]

Yes, mine are the Pfeil gouges, nothing straight about them.

Update - finished the pyrography, again! almost finished the staining. Getting close!

[Teresa Wiggins]

Finished burning designs and clear coating the bows, same design on both sides.

[Barry Daniels]

If you used Original Titebond you can wipe the dried glue away with a rag dampened with warm water. Take it slow and keep wiping. It may take several minutes depending on how thick the glue is.

[Teresa Wiggins]

She's all strung up!

[Teresa Wiggins]

If you used Original Titebond you can wipe the dried glue away with a rag dampened with warm water. Take it slow and keep wiping. It may take several minutes depending on how thick the glue is.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for next time.

[Jim McConkey]

Came out nice! I really like the triangle knot in the soundhole. Have you tried to play it yet?

[Teresa Wiggins]

Thanks! Not yet, I'm still tuning it, it's going to take a while, you have to go really slowly.

That tri-knot came with the kit, they gave me a choice of about a dozen designs.

[Teresa Wiggins]

Update, I've played this for a while now. I gave up on the bows that came with it, a regular violin bow sounds much better. I played it in church the first time this past Sunday and got lots of compliments on it!