Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 157
Scan 157
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
18 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 131. See the scan on archive.org.
1It would be advisable for those who wish to experiment with bow making always to have a well-constructed bow in sight, to serve as a model, since even the most detailed explanations are not always sufficient.
3We have left the bow in a square form. The time has now come to give it an octagonal or round shape. If one desires that the bow be entirely octagonal from one end to the other, the four edges which form the four faces of the stick must be planed down equally with a small plane, care being taken never to remove more wood in one place than in another, so that the octagons may be perfectly regular. In order to plane down these four edges, the bow is taken in the left hand by the head end and placed on the workbench, with the end of the stick turned toward the body.
5There is one portion of the stick which the planes cannot reach, that portion of the belly which lies near the head, and here the file must take the place of the plane.
7If the stick is to be round, it is first blocked out in octagons as already described, and then, always using the small plane, the edges of each of these eight octagons are planed away. This is the only manner by which a stick can be given proper roundness.
9Before attempting to give the stick either an octagonal or a round shape, the wedge box which is intended to hold the ribbon of the hair, should be dug in its head.
11One should take a drill whose size is in proportion to the size which one wishes to give the wedge box, and at the proper place in the head of the bow hole 7 millimeters (1/4") deep should be made; then, holding the head of the bow firmly in place on the workbench with the left hand, take a chisel whose dimensions are suited to the purpose in the right hand, and give the hole the square form which has already been traced on the plate, as shown in Figure 6, Plate 38.
13Side A of this wedge box drops perpendicularly into the head of the bow, while side B, as it enters the bow head, grows larger than its exterior surface. This slope serves to hold solidly in place the small piece of wood cut with an edge which keeps the hairs in position and which is known as the wedge.
15The next thing to do is to cut the elongated mortise in which the screw of the nut slides back and forth. Ordinarily this mortise is 2 centimeters (about 4/5") long by approximately 6 millimeters (1/5") broad, which is easily hollowed out, since all that is necessary is to drill three or four holes in its center, and afterwards, by means of knives and chisels, give it its actual dimensions, dimensions which, as to their length, are determined by the space taken up by the button of the screw of the nut.
17This mortise properly finished, the hole is drilled which is to receive the screw which governs the forward and backward movement of the nut. This hole, perhaps, represents the most difficult piece of work on the whole bow,
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