Any thoughts about this bow?

[Northerner]

If you have any ideas about the wood, workmanship or origin of this bow, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Many thanks!

[Wood Butcher]

It looks like a Brazilwood workshop bow, minus a face, lapping, thumb leather. Presumably, the fittings are nickel.

Is that a crack in the stick behind the mortice in picture 5?

[Northerner]

Thank you for your reply.

You are right on both accounts - that is a crack behind the mortise and the fittings are nickel.

[M Alpert]

Looks like either a good stick to practice inexperienced repair techniques, or to stake tomatoes.

Though that is really a bad joke; bows are far too short to make good tomato stakes!

In either case, value nil.

[Brad Dorsey]

2 hours ago, M Alpert said:

...bows are far too short to make good tomato stakes...

What about cherry tomatoes?

Yes, value is zero.

[Northerner]

As I am not growing tomatoes at the moment I shall practice repair techniques on this one. Thanks!

[Brad Dorsey]

If it were mine and I wanted to make a useable bow out of it, the first thing I would do would be to find a frog that seats correctly on the butt.  Perhaps you have one?

[LCF]

21 hours ago, M Alpert said:

Looks like either a good stick to practice inexperienced repair techniques, or to stake tomatoes.

Though that is really a bad joke; bows are far too short to make good tomato stakes!

In either case, value nil.

They make good tapered paint stirrers cut  in approx 6" to 8" lengths.

- for when you need to stir tapered paint. 

[M Alpert]

26 minutes ago, LCF said:

They make good tapered paint stirrers cut  in approx 6" to 8" lengths.

- for when you need to stir tapered paint. 

I've thought you could make good chopsticks from those bows, should you need chopsticks.

Or those cool hair sticks that some women wear to mangle their hair nicely

Or perhaps plugs to fill screw holes when they need filling and redrilling.

Or conductor's batons?

So many titillating upcycling options!!

[Guido]

What they said. And:

The wide mortise in the handle looks French. The small mortise in the head looks cheap.

Fittings are often easier to tell apart than bare sticks. Show them if you have them.

[fiddlecollector]

10 hours ago, LCF said:

They make good tapered paint stirrers cut  in approx 6" to 8" lengths.

- for when you need to stir tapered paint. 

Seriously be cautious doing this. I stupidly snapped one in half  (not cut) to stir some 2pk polyurethane one summer . I left it in the container with an extremely sharp splinter like  end sticking upwards. I went to pick up the container with sun in my eyes and the end of the stick pierced the artery in my forearm. Blood was squirting out but i managed to stop the bleeding pretty fast and the end of the stick came out cleanly. Could have been far worse if it was an eye.

[LCF]

4 hours ago, fiddlecollector said:

Seriously be cautious doing this. I stupidly snapped one in half  (not cut) to stir some 2pk polyurethane one summer . I left it in the container with an extremely sharp splinter like  end sticking upwards. I went to pick up the container with sun in my eyes and the end of the stick pierced the artery in my forearm. Blood was squirting out but i managed to stop the bleeding pretty fast and the end of the stick came out cleanly. Could have been far worse if it was an eye.

Erk!

I have bandsawn them but have never split a bow in anger. Where I live however even the typical firewood is harder and more deadly than pernambuco. A mulga boomerang with a sharpened edge  will kill and and a splinter of desert hardwood will fester.

That's if the centipedes or spiders which live under the bark don't get you first. 

 

 

 

[Northerner]

15 hours ago, Brad Dorsey said:

If it were mine and I wanted to make a useable bow out of it, the first thing I would do would be to find a frog that seats correctly on the butt.  Perhaps you have one?

Yes I do have both the frog and the button. The screw was very badly rusted and stuck, and the expanding rust has fractured the stick…

[Northerner]

9 hours ago, Guido said:

What they said. And:

The wide mortise in the handle looks French. The small mortise in the head looks cheap.

Fittings are often easier to tell apart than bare sticks. Show them if you have them.

Here they are

[M Alpert]

Looks like a German workshop frog, as expected. Though looks a bit nicer than expected. With the crack, still not worth much, except practice.

[Blank face]

11 hours ago, Guido said:

The wide mortise in the handle looks French

Unfortunately the general rule “narrow mortise not wider than the facet is German, wide short mortise French” doesn’t apply to 19th Century German bows, especially those of the Knopf school. There’s no clear point in time when this changed, at least not to my.