Violin Forum/Message Board

[M.Lange]

Sorry for the tardy response, I wasn't at home for some days.
Thank you again Manfio. I just ordered everything I need and will make some varnish as soon as the weather outside is better.
Couldn't find burnt alum, so I'll just throw in some normal alum.

Matthias

[MANFIO]

Yes, nobody knows what "allume arso" means... I use some normal alum too.
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www.manfio.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7875988@N02/with/464604020/

[Geemac]

burnt alum? What if it was toasted golden brown in a pan on a stove or perhaps burned with a propane torch and then added? Someone must have tried this? What happened?
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GeeMac

[MANFIO]

I neve did that...

But give a look here:

http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=313316&hl=burnt,AND,alum
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www.manfio.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7875988@N02/with/464604020/

[Geemac]

I searched specifically for 'burnt alum' on the net and came up with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_alum

Burnt alum is not alum as we know it. There is much more about burnt alum to research on the net.

Keep having fun folks.
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GeeMac

[Geemac]

I took a walk through our wooded park area and collected hardened spruce sap from the trees. I took it home and melted it on the stove. IT was stinky. Then I filtered the liquid through some cheese cloth six times.

After it cooled a bit I eyeballed an equal amount of raw linseed oil into it. Then I warmed it again and added a cube of violin bow resin. After cooling I took it OUTSIDE and added about 4 ounces of methel alcohol (I didn't have any ethel). I still need to cook it, but I won't do that in the house with alcohol in the mix. It's too dangerous. It is still very cold here, but when it warms in the spring, I'll cook it in the back yard and see how it turns out.

Note that I dipped a scrap piece of oak into it and put it in the sun to dry. two and a half days later, it is dry, clear and shiny varnish. I might add the burnt alum then just to see if it makes a difference.

All in all, it's a fun project that should be conducted in a safe outdoor place for two reasons. The first is that it is a fire hazard and secondly, it has a vile odor that stinks up the house for at least 24 hours.
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GeeMac

[Oded Kishony]

I've never heard of alcohol being added to the cooking process in making an oil varnish. Where did you come up with that? Did you read it somewhere? It seems extraordinarily dangerous to me.

Oded

[Geemac]

Thanks for the warning. The only inside heating I did was to melt the dried sap so I could filter it and add a bit of oil and resin. None of that required much heat at all. It's minus 21C outside and I'll not be out there cooking anything at this time of year. As mentioned. I'll not finish until I can do it in the back yard and well away from the house and trees.

Carry on having fun folks.
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GeeMac

[byacey]

I've dissolved spruce sap, propolis and other alcohol soluble resins in ethyl alcohol, and then stirred into warm oil, continuously stirring while heating the oil hotter. Eventually the alcohol boils out leaving the resin suspended in oil.

[M.Lange]

This week, the weather here was good enough to make some varnish.

Manfio, your recipe worked very well. I brushed some of the varnish on a piece of maple and it looks fantastic! It has some golden color and looks very deep and bright. It also dries within one day in my UV Box.
Thank you very much for sharing the recipe!

I made some pictures of the process and I'll try to upload them somewhere.

Matthias

Edit: I posted the photos in a gallery on Maestronet. Here is the link: http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=1