The first kontra bow I made was OK, but I thought I could do better, especially when I was lucky enough to get some black horsehair!
As with the first bow, it’s made from a bit of tree lopped off when trimming.
I didn’t take a photo until I had sliced off the sides – but you get the idea.
After some initial shaping it’s getting bow shaped …
It then needs quite a bit of work to thin it down to something desirable:
At this stage, the mortice for the hair can be cut in the tip. It needs a wedge shaped hole big enough to take the glued end of the hair, which is fixed in place with a little wooden wedge. The stick itself has been polished with beeswax.
Here’s the hair fixed in place; you can see the wedge.
Here are the bits for the frog:
The silver wire holds the frog onto the stick; it’s soldered and the ends cut off. In this photo I was still checking it was OK and hadn’t soldered it.
Here’s the hair ready for the frog:
Finally, the completed bow (as at the top of the page).
On first trial, it works really well; it’s much better than the first one I made.