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I sliced some different materials today
the large piece is mammoth ivory, a really nice piece. For reference it is just over five inches long. Everything I’ve read says it’ll bend with hot water/steam. The next two are fossilized walrus ivory and walrus teeth. Not sure yet if they’ll bend. Once I get my preform press made I’ll give them a try. For obvious reasons the mammoth should work perfect but I also like the antique look of the walrus. I cut up a small sample piece of walrus, and a larger piece might have better color overall. Cost of material for each tip preform 
is approximately a buck fifty
might even attempt a tailpiece, nut and saddle from the mammoth ivory
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I managed to get three deer hooves. Does not look very promising.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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I see they have ox horn frogs, might make a nice tip?
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Steve, I think you have a new profession.
Always interesting to see what you and Irv are working on.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Just saw the nicest looking ivory bow tip. Transferring photos for reference. It might take multiple posts to do this. Here goes.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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Well, that was underwhelming.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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I was a welder for quite some time. GTAW in aluminum and stainless steel. Binding glue to metal is easy just use rough grit sandpaper and rough up the surface. Gives it something to adhere to.
Aluminum could easily be polished up but is currently in high demand as US facilities that make the large quantities of sheet stock are devoted to Detroit. So everything you see is coming from china now. However its still easy to get. It'd be easy to make a punch for aluminum.
Stainless steel is good but if its scratched it will rust. Hard to work with.
How about composites? Surely the cost of a sheet of some composite and the resin to harden it will be far less (and easily sourced than organic exotic materials)
Also how about polycarbonate?
Main thing is thickness. How thick do you need this to be?
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@Batto
back in the day, ivory was ample and the material of choice and of course now prohibited. That’s the only reason I’m using mammoth ivory, just for rebuilding the older bows close to original. Look up “armor tip”, it is a polymer that is a fabulous product for newer and student bows. Look at your bow tip and you’ll see how thin they are.
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steveduf said
@Battoback in the day, ivory was ample and the material of choice and of course now prohibited. That’s the only reason I’m using mammoth ivory, just for rebuilding the older bows close to original. Look up “armor tip”, it is a polymer that is a fabulous product for newer and student bows. Look at your bow tip and you’ll see how thin they are.
I know ivory was commonplace. I'm just trying to think of DYI options because I'm one of those lunatics who likes to see what they can do themselves.
I do think a carbon fiber tip would look delightful
Or aluminum. Or hmm brass. I love brass.
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Batto said
I know ivory was commonplace. I'm just trying to think of DYI options because I'm one of those lunatics who likes to see what they can do themselves.
I do think a carbon fiber tip would look delightful
Or aluminum. Or hmm brass. I love brass.
My mammoth is about as DIY as you’re going to get, lol
my daughter and I just started working on these just over a year ago. Right now she’s been busy and isn’t helping me as much... but she sets them up and works on the finishes. It’s a lot of fun
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@Irv had a good idea
Made a bow tip preform from of a piece of Corian sample, cuts fair 
and was able to bend it after warming it with a lighter. By shaping with a coarse grit, I believe it will stick when glued. Would have to be pre shaped with heat first to get it close.
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Jerry Rosa is using an adhesive for binding that a viewer gave him and he swears by it. I looked at one of his recent videos attempting to get the name of it. Saw part of the bottle but could not make out a name. Oh well. I am sure that high viscosity ca glue would work on corian. Glad it worked out for you.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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@steveduf and others. Got it. The glue is called canopy glue and is used for making r/c models. Got some ordered through Amazon.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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I like the looks of it. Will have to give it a try
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I looked up the site of the English bow maker Andrew Bellis (he makes bamboo bows). He is not a fan of metal bow tips. He said they are too compliant and just transfer the energy from a fall onto the underlying wood. He has seen a lot of damage from their use. His favorite is ivory. He is thankful for every cracked ivory bow tip he replaces because they had done their job well by avoiding damage to the rest of the bow.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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@Irv
ordered the canopy glue yesterday, wrong stuff came today.
otdered 2 oz bottle of canopy and received an 8 oz bottle of this.
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And thus another hobby takes birth.
Since I got your attention, what do you think of the appearance of this scarf joint? 
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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Wow, impressed
that looks clean...
what did you end up doing
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Not my work. A bamboo bow by Andrew Bellis. The head is cocobolo, which is the same wood used by Cocker. If you expand the photo you can see a vertical joint line with the scarf on the upper portion of the stick. Bocaholly gags when I mention grafting a cf bow head to a bamboo stick, so I am looking for alternatives. My first choice is a laminated bamboo head, with cocobolo the fall back.
I found a recording artist that plays a bamboo bow. Check out the YouTube video entitled “I Love the Bamboo Bow” by Barbara Lamb.
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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