violin bow material
Tho X. Bui
orange, which probably is a very bad choice, but at least I can now say
that I used the ultimate (archery) bow wood to make the bow. I also
made it too long (same length as a modern Tourte), making the stick a
little noodly...
Other than pernambuco, what other choices are there? I know about brazil
wood, and I heard that snakewood was also a popular choice for baroque
bow. I've also seen pics of maple bows, but mainly for viols and heavier
bows. I'm not quite ready to commit on an expensive pernambuco blank yet...
Thanks,
Tho
Bob Goddard
<bla...@earthlink.net> writes
>
>Other than pernambuco, what other choices are there? I know about brazil
>wood, and I heard that snakewood was also a popular choice for baroque
>bow. I've also seen pics of maple bows, but mainly for viols and heavier
>bows. I'm not quite ready to commit on an expensive pernambuco blank yet...
Tho - you could try greenheart or lancewood. These both share
pernambuco's properties of extreme density, hardness and stiffness and
can usually be found with good straight grain.
(Bob
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PeteSchug
The ultimate bow wood is English yew, but it is hard to find. Yew bows used
both the heartwood and sapwood, with the sapwood on the back. Since the
sapwood is white and the heartwood is brownish red, it would make a striking
bow, but I have no idea if it is any good for string instruments bows.
The little pochette bow on my web site is made from lemonwood (degamé, not
actual wood of a lemon tree) which is the third best archery bow wood. I
think it is a pretty good bow.
Pete
--
Check out my fiddle making site
http://home.att.net/~PeteSchug/
in article 3DEAFB0E...@earthlink.net, Tho X. Bui at
bla...@earthlink.net wrote on 12/2/02 1:17 AM:
Tho X. Bui
(aka osage). Yew is for those sissy english archer.
:-) Just kidding of course, yew vs. osage is an old debate among
bowyers. I vote for osage because of its extreme durability compared to
yew. It's like a work horse vs. a race horse.
I don't think any of these (osage, yew, or lemonwood) have sufficient
stiffness to make a proper thin diameter stick. They have plenty of
strength, and don't take too much of a set, but just don't have enough
stiffness. I ended up having to do a bit of recurving to sustain
sufficient hair tension. Will post pictures later.
Tho
Jack_H.
"Tho X. Bui" <bla...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3DEAFB0E...@earthlink.net...
Pernambucco is the best.
I have found Chinese dealers in the city that sell blanks for as little as
$30 each.
Not bad wood either.
Jack
PeteSchug
bla...@earthlink.net wrote on 12/2/02 1:06 PM:
> Nonsense. There is only one practical archery wood, and that bois d'arc
> (aka osage). Yew is for those sissy english archer.
> :-) Just kidding of course, yew vs. osage is an old debate among
> bowyers. I vote for osage because of its extreme durability compared to
> yew. It's like a work horse vs. a race horse.
>
> I don't think any of these (osage, yew, or lemonwood) have sufficient
> stiffness to make a proper thin diameter stick. They have plenty of
> strength, and don't take too much of a set, but just don't have enough
> stiffness. I ended up having to do a bit of recurving to sustain
> sufficient hair tension. Will post pictures later.
>
> Tho
I wish you could try my lemonwood pochette bow. I don't know if it would
blow your mind, but it is very different feeling, and holds the hair quite
tight enough for all practical purposes. The flex is mostly in the last
eight inches or so, and unflexed the bow is _straight_ as an arrow. ;-)
PeteSchug
bla...@earthlink.net wrote on 12/2/02 1:06 PM:
> Nonsense. There is only one practical archery wood, and that bois d'arc
> (aka osage). Yew is for those sissy english archer.
> :-) Just kidding of course, yew vs. osage is an old debate among
> bowyers. I vote for osage because of its extreme durability compared to
> yew. It's like a work horse vs. a race horse.
>
> I don't think any of these (osage, yew, or lemonwood) have sufficient
> stiffness to make a proper thin diameter stick. They have plenty of
> strength, and don't take too much of a set, but just don't have enough
> stiffness. I ended up having to do a bit of recurving to sustain
> sufficient hair tension. Will post pictures later.
>
> Tho
>
BTW, where do you get osage orange? The tree grows in NYC, and I even saw a
down osage orange in Central Park, but I've never seen the wood itself
except in a finished bow. I guess I could search for archery sources, but
that might be expensive.
Pete (who lost a lot of interest in making bows when he got his Musicary.)
Tho X. Bui
I used to be very active with archery and have a personal stock pile
that I air dried. the tree-shrub grows mostly in SE US, but you can
find them all over the midwest also. Most of them grow very gnarly and
straight pieces fetch a premium. Some hardwood lumberyard carries it at
about 10 bucks/boardfoot.
As with all things, with exception of (perhaps) a mate for life, you can
find it on ebay :-)
The wood when freshly cut has an unholy yellow flourescent color.
Unfortunately, it quickly oxides into a pearl-like brown--not
unattractive, but the original yellow is simply amazing. It is very,
very difficult to work, probably as wild a grain as one can ever get.
You don't really plane osage, you scrape or sand it.
I'm sold on graphite bows also, but I want to explore the baroque bow
and how it feels playing baroque music. Not enough to worth buying one,
but pretty easy (for me) to make. I think it can be used to make
shorter bows just fine, e.g., bows for viols or baroque cello. But
making longer, lighter bows require a wood with higher modulus of elasticity.
Tho
Bob Goddard
<Pete...@att.net> writes
>>
>BTW, where do you get osage orange? The tree grows in NYC, and I even saw a
>down osage orange in Central Park, but I've never seen the wood itself
>except in a finished bow. I guess I could search for archery sources, but
>that might be expensive.
Try a Google search for it. I did come across a site offering billets of
osage orange when looking for stickmaking materials, but I seem to have
lost the URL during a clean-up here :-(
Dwain Wilder
used to be made of osage orange.
Dwain
PeteSchug wrote:
>
> BTW, where do you get osage orange? The tree grows in NYC, and I even saw a
> down osage orange in Central Park, but I've never seen the wood itself
> except in a finished bow. I guess I could search for archery sources, but
> that might be expensive.
>
> Pete (who lost a lot of interest in making bows when he got his Musicary.)
>
>
--
Dwain Wilder
Bear Meadow Folk Instruments
http://www.bearmeadow.com
_______________________________
"Men who seek happiness are like drunkards who can never find their house but
are sure that they have one."--Voltaire
Tho X. Bui
http://home.earthlink.net/~blahx3/_images/buhrokebow01.jpg
I ended up chopping 2 inches from it, bringing it in line with the
baroque bows I've seen, playing hair length is about 23 inches,
At this length, only a slight recurve is needed for sufficient playing
tension.
weight is 50 gram.
I won't put my name on it, but hey, it's a first effort. I'll probably
buy a lathe before attempting another.
Tho
"Tho X. Bui" wrote:
>... Will post pictures later.
engelbrecht-wiggans richard
>
> I used to be very active with archery and have a personal stock pile
> that I air dried. the tree-shrub grows mostly in SE US, but you can
> find them all over the midwest also. Most of them grow very gnarly and
> straight pieces fetch a premium. Some hardwood lumberyard carries it at
> about 10 bucks/boardfoot.
Are we talking about the Osage Orange that grows as hedgerows here
in central Illinois? 6" to 8" diameter trunks and warty, baseball
sized fruits? The next time that I see a farmer cutting these down
and disposing them by the dozens (or even hundreds), should I be
offering to take some of of the wood off his hands?
Richard.
Tho X. Bui
osage, osage orange, etc.
Ugly little tree/shrub that grows everywhich way, fruit looks like it
should be edible but ain't.
Burns cleanly with very high heat in your fireplace, and make nice fence
posts with high resistance to rot.
And the ultimate archery bow wood (so there, Pete!)
Tho
PeteSchug
I like the frog too.
Pete
in article 3DEE5437...@earthlink.net, Tho X. Bui at
bla...@earthlink.net wrote on 12/4/02 2:14 PM:
PeteSchug
engelbrecht-wiggans richard at epl...@uiuc.edu wrote on 12/4/02 2:40 PM:
Yes, if you want to make bows of the archery type or experiment with string
instrument bows.
Pete
PeteSchug
bla...@earthlink.net wrote on 12/4/02 3:00 PM:
> Absolutely. Other names: Hedge, hedge apples, bow dark, bois d'arc,
> osage, osage orange, etc.
> Ugly little tree/shrub that grows everywhich way, fruit looks like it
> should be edible but ain't.
> Burns cleanly with very high heat in your fireplace, and make nice fence
> posts with high resistance to rot.
>
> And the ultimate archery bow wood (so there, Pete!)
>
> Tho
[snip]
Actually, if you read Saxton Pope's book, "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow"
he claims the bow made by Ishi, the last Yahi indian was the best of all the
American Indian bows he tried, out of some 170 or so in various museums
around the country.
Ishi's bow was made of juniper with deer sinew backing laid in fish glue.
Musicial content: Art Young, Saxton Pope's hunting partner was a violinist
and carried a pochette on hunting trips and was popular for providing music
wherever they went. His fiddle is on the internet, and was my inspiration
(sight unseen) for making my pochette.
Pete (juniper is probably related to yew)
Karl Perry
> Here it is:
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~blahx3/_images/buhrokebow01.jpg
>
> I ended up chopping 2 inches from it, bringing it in line with the
> baroque bows I've seen, playing hair length is about 23 inches,
> At this length, only a slight recurve is needed for sufficient playing
> tension.
>
> weight is 50 gram.
> I won't put my name on it, but hey, it's a first effort. I'll probably
> buy a lathe before attempting another.
>
It's a beaut, Tho.
Karl Perry