loar - La Belle Note

Long holes boring

February 20, 2018

8-Minute Read

Tapered Reamers

February 13, 2018

11-Minute Read

Toothed blades

August 24, 2014

2-Minute Read

Highly figured woods like curly maple or some burled woods are very difficult to work.

Thumb planes

August 24, 2014

1-Minute Read

My personal build of thumb planes.
Funny enough, thumb plane translates “rabeau noisette” in French, which means hazelnut plane.

A two handed gouge

July 17, 2014

2-Minute Read

For rough carving the top or back of a violin, or any other archtop instrument like the mandolin or jazz guitar, there are several possible methods. The fans of power tools may use a rooter to do so, but the true amateur of the “wood feeling” will by far prefer to use the gouge.

Bluegrass F5 style mandolin making

July 22, 2010

3-Minute Read

Here is an F5 mandolin I have finished during the Summer 2012.
It is built under the original model of Lloyd Loar, in the early 1920s, for the Gibson company in the US.
This kind of build, introduced by the Great American luthier, somewhat reconciles the traditional guitar type luthiery with the one of the violin makers :