Guido Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 From a German bow. Can anything be said regarding how the ferrule is soldered? (And if it’s made of one or two pieces?) Is this an “older” working method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Dorsey Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 13 hours ago, Guido said: ...Can anything be said regarding how the ferrule is soldered?... With solder, flux and heat. 13 hours ago, Guido said: ...one or two pieces?)... One 13 hours ago, Guido said: ...Is this an “older” working method? Older than what? Most ferrules are made from two pieces -- one flat and one curved -- joined with two solder joints. But when the outer corners are curved, as in your picture, I think they are often made from one piece. Ferrules on bows of the Vuillaume shop and Otto Hoyer often have curved outer corners. Your ferrule looks to me to be a commercially mass-produced one. The process may have been to make a long tube of this cross-sectional shape which was then cut into a number of ferrules. It is not nickel, but I have doubts that it is silver. I'm thinking it could be stainless steel. Test it with a magnet. If it is lightly attracted, it is stainless steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido Posted November 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 Thanks Brad, for spelling out what I was trying to show in the picture ;-) This is not a Vuillaume style bow with rounded ferrule; and it is nickel, just cleaned it a little. One of my reference books points out such a one piece (or top soldered) ferrule at a Nuernberger-Suess bow, but doesn't give any background regarding the practice of making ferrules in this way. It seems to be a pretty rare feature and I wonder if it has ever been a more common approach in German bow making, maybe early on (say 1850 or earlier), and then may have remained with some lines of makers until it disappeared altogether. Pure speculation. Would be good if someone knows and could share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Dorsey Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 1 hour ago, Guido said: ...This is not a Vuillaume style bow with rounded ferrule... I know, but its corners are a lot more rounded than those on a standard ferrule. If you attempted to make a ferrule like this by soldering together a flat piece and a curved piece in the usual fashion, and then filing the corners as round as these are, you would file the solder joints away completely, and the two pieces would separate. Years ago, I decided to make an Otto Hoyer-type ferrule, which has rounded corners similar to yours. I had to make a custom forming mandrel, and I made the ferrule similar to yours, with one joint. I started a discussion about the project on this forum, which included a picture of my mandrel and the partially-finished ferrule I made: Question about Ferrule Making - The Pegbox - Maestronet Forums Regarding the age of this type of ferrule: "L'Archet" says: "From 1845, Vuillaume wanted to take absolute control [of his shop's bow production]. He created the frog known as the "Vuillaume" frog, with the rounded ferrule..." This suggests that the rounded ferrule was first produced in the Vuillaume shop around 1845. It would have been impossible to make this type of ferrule with the standard two solder joints at the corners. The most logical way to do it would have been to use one piece of silver with one joint. And the most logical place to put the joint would be in the center of the curved part, where it is on yours, because it would not normally be visible there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido Posted November 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 Thanks again Brad! The link took me through to your Hoyer frog copy which was inspirational to see! However, I dare to speculate, that while Vuillaume may have started with a design idea in mind, the Hoyer (and comparable) ferrules have slightly rounded edges because of the working method, rather than making them that way to achieve rounded corners. A reverse logic. Sill hoping for some clues on the timeline, if any exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Dorsey Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 11 minutes ago, Guido said: ...the Hoyer (and comparable) ferrules have slightly rounded edges because of the working method, rather than making them that way to achieve rounded corners.... I don't understand how you conclude this. How do you know that weren't made this way to achieve rounded corners? (Some Hoyer frogs have standard ferrules with two joints.) 11 minutes ago, Guido said: ...Sill [sic] hoping for some clues on the timeline... I thought the 1845 citation from "L'Archet" was a pretty good clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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