Bow Making

I’ve always been a bit of a tinkerer and for years I’ve wondered if I could make a bow. At its simplest a bow is really just a stick that suspends a strand of hair. I could make that! So with no formal training and minimal tools I finally decided to see if I could do it. I bought a piece of purpleheart wood (a promising alternative to the traditional pernambuco), drew on a design, and started sawing away. Guided by intuition, I cut out the blank and began shaving it down to size. While I don’t have nearly the woodworking expertise of the great archetiers, one thing I do have is a strong foundation bass playing. In this way, the project of making a bow sits somewhere near the intersection of folk and fine art.

I’m thinking of this first bow as essentially proof-of-concept. I’m taking some short-cuts. I bought the screw and tip plate online and plan to leave the frog open on the bottom. I’ll also leave the stick uncambered. I’m hoping to use it mainly for playing Early music. If this bow plays okay, the next one will get a little more complicated. I’ll try my hand at cambering and look into doing some metalwork and inlays. Ideally, I’ll expand my collection of tools and take some classes. Currently, I have the frog and stick shaped and my next steps are to cut the mortises, attach the frog to the stick, and put some hair in. I’ve tried to leave a little extra wood all around so that there’s wiggle room to adjust the balance.

The process to this point has been incredibly enjoyable. As opposed to playing music, it’s nice to have a creative outlet that doesn’t disappear as soon as it’s made. I’ve gained such a deep appreciation for the craft of bow making and I have a ton of ideas for bows I want to make in the future. I plan to update this page periodically but I’ve been posting photos regularly on my Instagram story; pop over there if you want the latest and let me know if you have questions!