Fitting Violin Pegs

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I need to fit at least one, and ideally four, pegs to my sad old violin.

The usual tools are a reamer and a 'pencil sharpener' that come in for about $130 the pair..The reamer has broad flutes so it cuts wood gently, the incl;uded angle is given as 2 degrees, or a taper of 1 in 30.

My thought is a silver steel to copy the reamer, and make a d-bit style reamer at the same setting. use this to make a giant pencil sharpener with a gauge plate blade.

Or bodge a way of holding the pegs in the lathe and turn the taper (I made a satisfactory aluminium peg this way, but I shaped the knob after making teh taper.

Neil

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Here’s a challenge

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Hi Neil,

Google says replacement tuning pegs would be much less expensive. Could that be an option or is it more of a repair job?

Cheers,
Ed.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi Ed,

Four pegs cost me about £2.00, including shipping from the states! They did take about a month to come though. But they are supplied oversize, which is apparently normal. Much too oversize for a quick bit of sanding to bodge them to fit.

Neil

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Hi Neil,

I've made several string instruments with friction pegs – including a couple of lutes (that's a lot of pegs). Most of them were fitted using home made kit.

I made the tapered reamer from silver steel and milled 3 flutes on half the circumference, leaving the other half plain. I didn't harden to avoid distortion. Experience suggests that one flute will do and that cutting the wood is best achieved by creating a burr on the cutting edge like you would when sharpening a cabinet makers scraper.

The "pencil sharpener" was made by reaming a hole across a plank of wood and then planing this down until a narrow parallel slot is revealed. The blade from a hand plane can then be fastened to the plank, bevel up, with a G clamp so that it is tangential to the peg.

Using some commercial peg paste makes the pegs turn and grip very nicely.

cheers,

Rod

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Here's a couple of photos:

The reamer – not my best work, one of the first things I made after getting my old Zyto many years ago but it works very well to this day

This is the sharpening arrangement, the hole having ben reamed with the horror above

Rod

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

That'[s smashing Rod, I'll have a go at doing it your way.

Thanks,

Neil

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