This bow had the back of the tip break and the back of the bow mortice blow out. Here are the repair steps and some photos.
Carefully glue the broken piece back
Remove the damaged tip
Fit a piece of fiber into the mortice so that it's attached to the two sides and spans the back
Glue the fiber piece into the mortice
Fit a new tip, leaving a little thick
When rehairing a bow that has broken this way, make the block and hair so that it's only a sligltly snug fit.
IMG 20181231 105106
IMG 20181231 110443
IMG 20190102 101621
IMG 20190102 104047
IMG 20190102 104114
IMG 20190102 111130
Here is another broken bow head mortice that was blown out the back.
IMG 20230311 120045 759
IMG 20230311 155501 237
IMG 20230311 155531 726
IMG 20230311 160347 621
IMG 20230312 185806 517
IMG 20230313 163302 412
IMG 20230325 144449 564
IMG 20230325 145552 669
IMG 20230325 150011 710
IMG 20230325 150240 223
IMG 20230325 151335 596
IMG 20230325 160246 538
IMG 20230325 160258 560
Comments (1)
Starting my first re-hairing
# -39
Monday, 10/16/2023
Bill Kafig
Hello and thank you for your wonderful site!
As I stumble through my first violin bow re-hairing, I've been able to remove a piece of the tip plug, but I'm not sure if I've gotten it all.
How deep is a typical tip mortise?
Many thanks! Bill
Depth of mortise
Thursday, 10/19/2023
Craig Scollard
The depth of the mortise is all different sizes. Is it a wood plug or one of those odd plastic ones?
If you removed all of the wood plug and you don't see the wood of the stick at the bottom, there is most likely some leftover hair and string from the knot that is still at the bottom. If someone glued all of that into the tip, it's the same problem just more work to get it loose. Take a small sharp knife and carefully cut through that material and pick out the remnants. When everything is cleaned out it should look very even and bare wood on all facets.
Good luck, it takes several hundred rehairs until you are decent at rehairing.
As I stumble through my first violin bow re-hairing, I've been able to remove a piece of the tip plug, but I'm not sure if I've gotten it all.
How deep is a typical tip mortise?
Many thanks!
Bill
If you removed all of the wood plug and you don't see the wood of the stick at the bottom, there is most likely some leftover hair and string from the knot that is still at the bottom. If someone glued all of that into the tip, it's the same problem just more work to get it loose. Take a small sharp knife and carefully cut through that material and pick out the remnants. When everything is cleaned out it should look very even and bare wood on all facets.
Good luck, it takes several hundred rehairs until you are decent at rehairing.
Craig