Sometimes when you are rehairing a bow, you remove the ring off a frog and there is nothing holding the broken tongue together. Where there is a large crack surface area it can be glued back together. The edge that holds the slide was broken off. This frog's tongue broke off. Here is one way to do it without inlaying in a new piece of ebony. This is a nice ebony and silver Hill bow. The back of the mortice broke away. This is the first time I have ever seen this type of break. Here is a frog that I repaired about 10 years ago. The surface area of the crack is very small, so I needed file a 1/2 round slot in the tongue and insert a stainless steel pin. I have rehaired this bow many times since the repair. This is a Chinese bow with an abalone lined from. These frogs are made in China and they have a nice look. The only problem is when you try to rehair the bow. Basically the inside of the frog is a plastic or resin material and the block hole is very tiny. The two sides are faced with abalone, but whatever type of glue they use does not hold. Sometimes once you take the ring off, both sides of the frog basically fall off. Then they need to be reglued back onto the center core of the frog.
Here is a frog where the tongue was missing. About a year ago when I rehaired the bow there was no tongue, since it was an inexpensive bow, I casted a new tongue and glued it on. Recently the bow came back for rehair and from the outside everything looked ok, but when I took it apart, the replacement tongue was no longer attached. I reglued the tongue and this time added a thin strip of fiber that stretches from the cast piect into the frog. This seems very solid, but time will tell if it holds up till the next rehair and beyond. Another frog that's completely missing the tongue. |