The First Time I Splined the Same Bow Head Twice

[Brad Dorsey]

I was dismayed when the customer called to tell me that the head of a bow, which I had previously glued back together and reinforced with a spline, had broken again.  I feared that my repair had failed.  But, when he brought me the bow, I was relieved to see that my repair had not failed; the head had broken again, but in a different place, after being dropped.  Here is what it looked like when I received it:

 

I don’t remember ever seeing a bow head broken so far up — “far up” meaning close to the face.  They usually break down near the shaft.  The very end of my spline can be seen in the lower piece of the bow in the second picture.

The first step was to glue the head back together:

 

Next, I sawed the slot for another spline:

 

 

I cut spline slots with a circular machinist’s slitting saw blade mounted on my drill press.  This picture was taken after I made the cut.  The head cannot be seen because it is covered with masking tape, but you can see the slot that I cut through the tape.

The only place for a spline that will reinforce a break so “far up” requires sawing the slot through the face plate, which I've never done before.

 

I glued a piece of pernambuco into the slot:

 

And trimmed off the excess:

 

I gave the customer the option of having me remove the face plate with the pernambuco stripe and replacing it, but he chose to not spend the extra money for this.  It is an inexpensive bow.   And he likes the look.  Who has ever seen a bow like this?

 

 

[GeorgeH]

Looks like a racing stripe. :-)

How'd it break the second time?

[Brad Dorsey]

It was dropped on its nose.

[Brian in Texas]

I quite like it.

[Jay Higgs]

The customer made the right choice.  I like the stripe.  Which glue did you use?  

 

[Brad Dorsey]

Thin super glue.

[Violadamore]

I like it too.  That's a very pretty job you did on that.  Maybe it'll start a fashion.  

[Guido]

Very nice. Do you have the specs on the saw? Diameter, teeth, thickness?

[Brad Dorsey]

These blades are available in various diameters and thicknesses.  The one that I use has a 2 3/4 inch diameter, a 0.028 inch thickness and 72 teeth.

[M Alpert]

Well done! I think the stripe is very stylish!

[uguntde]

Maybe I am the onlx person who likes nicely splined bows. When done well they can last very long and in the age of superglue these repairs should hold for a very long time.

[Altgeiger]

Is there any reason for a bow maker not to spline bows as they're being made? It seems like it would be an improvement to their durability.