Making a piccolo bridge

I make my one piece piccolo bridges from a length of bridge blank profile. I've made about a meter of profile two times and only have enough left for one more after this one.

In the first pic I dial in the height. I'm happy to say that this value is quite consistent now, after loads and loads of piccolos. Jigs, solera and skillz.

In the second pic I shape the compensated saddle part. With an expensive Japanese gouge. This is the feature most people mention when scrutinizing my piccolos and I believe it's crucial for intonation.

In the last pic it's more or less done, save for some scraping and maybe sanding.

Using the fretting pliers

With an extra caul I should be able to fret a piccolo neck.

The fret is cut to length and the ends are shaped.

The middle pic [is bad but] shows the pliers as I'm about to press the fret in.

And it works! I need to work a bit on the technique, but who doesn't.

Splitting a spruce log

Armed with a riving froe and a helpful brother, I set out to split a log from an old barn. The barn was from the 19th century and fell down near a mate of mine.

Splitting was hard work, but the wood is perfect.