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Making a 6ft long bow...help!
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ctviolin
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Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 961
Location: Roswell

PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 2:49 am    Post subject: Re: Making a 6ft long bow...help! Reply with quote

saralynn wrote:

Hello!
Please any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you!



Yeah, I'll bite - Definately, I do not know, but I WAS thinking...

sorry, it's probably not possible - but I have always considered the use of a very carefully manicured strip of leather for an experiment like this...

Smooth and finished side facing up (or outwards), it may well hold an adequate coating of rosin - on a face that is actually as lightly (roughly) non-uniform as a strip of hairs or strings might be.

it and may also be possible (?) to obtain a single 6' long straight & narrrow strip. I just don't know.

Would have to ask some leather guys & get some opinions. But, I'd be willing to bet someone could be found to supply such an item (if possible) out of sheer curiosity.

Getting a strip to sit correctly, under a standard bow tension, might well be the big glitch here - with trying to use it. But with attention paid to stretching, wetting, and pressing the strip flat - it might be possible. (Plus of course, making a bow with very much tension (or spring), might initially be called for?)

I've got a ton of (much shorter) leather atound here, and some 1/8 bows... Perhaps it wouldn't be that difficult to see how it works generally at that level?

just thinking out loud.
If you do make one - you HAVE to post a picture and description of your results. Why? Inquiring minds want to know is all.
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Will L
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Joined: 06 Mar 2011
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PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding using nylon for the hair, a friend of mine definitely used something like that years ago. Unfortunately he is deceased so I can't ask him exactly, but I recall he said it was nylon fishing line. I know it worked just fine and he used regular rosin. I would think your experimentation would involve finding out what diameter would work best, and if you need to rough it up.

At the very least you could have something that looks close to horse hair, and you'd have solved the length problem.
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saralynn
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Joined: 16 May 2013
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Leather, that's an interesting idea... I am going to stick with the nylon for now and see how it goes. I will be testing it on Friday!
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is no doubt that you will need to roughen the monofilament line. But you may try doing the roughening en mass after the bow is haired ... it will likely work and save a lot of time for you rather than roughening each nylon "hair" at a time... experimentation is the key!
Good luck... Mat
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
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Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 6:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Making a 6ft long bow...help! Reply with quote

saralynn wrote:
....(i already contacted manufacturers) ....

Have you considered contacting them again and asking what guage of nylon they use and if and how they treat the surface of the filament so that rosin sticks?
Cheers, Mat
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saralynn
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Joined: 16 May 2013
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 7:34 am    Post subject: *UPDATE* Reply with quote

Hello everyone!
Exciting news!!! It works!!! Made of spruce and nylon thread (roughed a lil with 400 grit sandpaper). Here is a video of a lil experimenting i did!
(Hope this loads, still converting i think)
https://vimeo.com/67378454

Thank you for all the help![/url]
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ctviolin
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Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 961
Location: Roswell

PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:20 am    Post subject: Re: *UPDATE* Reply with quote

saralynn wrote:

Hello everyone!
Exciting news!!! It works!!! Made of spruce and nylon thread (roughed a lil with 400 grit sandpaper). Here is a video of a lil experimenting i did!

Thank you for all the help!


Saralynn,

This is so freeking cool!
I love to see young human beings (well, or old - anyone really!) step outside the 'normal or routine' and succeed at or with their quest. (whatever it may be)
It always makes me feel that creativity isn't really dead (despite the current rumors) and, well, just congrats!

Well done!
- and thank you so much for posting your progress thus far!

(somebody better get to practicing, now that the 6 ft. bow exists!)
ct
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
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Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 4:30 pm    Post subject: Re: *UPDATE* Reply with quote

saralynn wrote:
Hello everyone!
Exciting news!!! It works!!! Made of spruce and nylon thread (roughed a lil with 400 grit sandpaper). Here is a video of a lil experimenting i did!
(Hope this loads, still converting i think)
https://vimeo.com/67378454

Thank you for all the help![/url]


Well done Saralynn! ...Five stars at least! I'm curious to see how you designed the frog and the anchoring and tensioning method... can u post a few close up pics of the head and frog of the bow? ... Cheers, Mat
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saralynn
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Joined: 16 May 2013
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are some details of the ends! It's very primitive. I made the whole thing with a jigsaw, drill, file, and sand paper.

At the top of the bow I drilled a hole all the way through where the wedge would normally be. I used two sizes of drill bits. First I used the bigger drill bit and drilled halfway through the top. Then i used the small bit and drilled all the way through. I tied a knot in my clump of hair, then pushed all the hair through the hole. Then when it got to the knot it stopped because the knot was too big to go through the hole. I wrapped it up around the top (covering the hole with the knot), filed the top edge a little to make an avenue for the hair then stretched it down to the "frog" end.....

There isn't really a frog...I just cut the shape of one and added thin strips of wood on the top to create an avenue for the hair. Then i cut a slot at the end , tied a knot at the end of the hair and stretched it down.

Here are some pics:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1262.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1263.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1264.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1266.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1267.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53721456/IMG_1268.JPG

I think I might remake it when I am back in the US (currently abroad and too expensive to ship home) ...I might try making a different shape of the bow and see if that gives it more even tension. But overall i'm pretty happy with it.
Smile [/img]
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

saralynn wrote:
..... But overall i'm pretty happy with it.
Smile [/img]

You have been pretty imaginative with making it work. Nice job & Congratulations!
I am amazed how evenly the hair is tensioned... With knotting the hair as you have done, as opposed to tying a traditional knot, I would have expected much greater uneveness with the hair tension.
You just may have the start of a new bow design!
Wishing you all the best in your studies and career!... Mat
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Ed Shillitoe
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 110
Location: Syracuse NY

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't believe this! I really didn't think it would work.

Congratulations! When is your first concert?
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