Hi Barbara, If at all possible, get an experienced player to show you how to apply rosin very soon. Scraping the wheel should be a *last* resort when all else fails, not a routine maintenance task. Over the long run it can create real problems with your instrument. The only time you should normally scrape the wheel is if it is out of round. If you really need to remove rosin that badly, then you can do it much less invasively with a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a rag. Scraping is a destructive process because a good wheel relies on building up a coating of rosin over time and scraping it destroys that and takes off some wood.
If you're getting ridges of rosin, you're definitely applying it wrong. (This is something of a hobby horse of mine on the list, so bear with me.) If you apply it correctly, it is almost impossible to apply “too much” rosin. Most people who get too much rosin have misapplied it (and this pertains, in my experience, to some very experienced players!). First, make sure your rosin block is perfectly flat and smooth with no sharp corners or edges. If it is jagged or broken, get a new one: it's not worth using a block that isn't right (although I have seen many players with ridiculous little bits of rosin that look like they could be used as implements of torture. Then take the block and, while turning the wheel slowly, gently move it back and forth perpendicular to the wheel motion keeping the surface of the rosin parallel to the face of the wheel. *Don't* hold it on one place as you turn it as that will result in uneven application with broken ridges (which is what “too much rosin” really is in most cases). If you end up with uneven application (it happens to all of us sometimes), use a cloth and turn the wheel while pressing down on the surface fairly firmly. That will resolve all but the most stubborn of problems. You should feel the surface get warm from the friction and you'll probably find that it's left a glassy looking spot of fused rosin on the cloth. If it helps, I can make a video about rosining wheels later on and post it to YouTube. Since this seems to be a consistent issue for many list members, it might be worth it. Maybe I should do a tutorial on shimming and cottoning as well. -Arle > Have I told you what I use to scrape my wheel? I have an Allway mini > glass scraper (like this > one:http://www.castlewholesalers.com/ALLWAY-GSM-Mini-Glass-Scraper-w-1-Bl... > . I believe Craig got it at a home show). I drag the single-edged > razor blade across a steel and I get a nice little curled edge, very > delicate. When it gets worn, I toss the blade and put in a fresh one. > This is particularly useful to me, as I do not have the hang of proper > rosining (being a beginner with a shiny, fresh disk of rosin) and I > have to shave off the high points, even after running the wheel > against a cloth. It is also quite lightweight and I can hold it > against a cottoned chanterelle to get the proper angle. Don't worry, I > am very, very slow, careful and conservative, mainly because the whole > process scares me. I tried sharpening a plane blade (spent hours with > the whet stone) and dragging it across a steel, and tried using broken > glass. I'm just not good enough and those were too gross taking too > much wood and sometimes leaving little shallow grooves as I was truing > my new wheel. The single-edged razor blade is just right. Craig and I > had the same idea at the same time and he found me this tiny plastic > scraper instead of the larger, heavier metal one I was using. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
