Can anyone identify the wood that my bow is made from?

[Streety2025]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone could confirm the wood that my bow is made from. I don't think it is brazilwood as it is too light weight, is it pernambuco or is it something else?

Thank you in advance!

 

Steve

[NickA]

I think "Brazil wood" is a catch all for lots of woods, sometimes including Pernambuco, but mostly Abeille

 

Some bows are called Pernambuco but the wood is not from the heart wood so less dense.. "Brasil wood" probably better.

 

Some bows are made of snake wood... 

 

Yours is not heart wood Pernambuco as the grain is not dense enough, it looks too light to be snake wood. It's been stained, so it's hard to tell the original colour.  I guess it is some kind of generic Brazil wood.

 

Light weight is not necessarily a sign of high quality wood .. cheaper woods are usually lighter weight.  The thing with Pernambuco is that it's very dense and evenly grained so you can remove a lot of wood and make it light (if you want), better balanced and springy are the real aims, rather than low weight.

 

I inherited a gold mounted fine Pernambuco cello bow which is the same weight as my ( generic Brazil wood ) student bow...but in the hand it feels like a sledge hammer.  Waste of nice wood according to a local dealer 😞

 

 

[NickA]

 

A couple of "fine pernambuco" bows.  The top one is at least 80 years old, probably a lot older but it was made so thin that the wood cracked near the top.  The bottom one is lovely wood, but it feels like lead in the hand!

The thing to note is that thin even grain. 

[Streety2025]

Thanks for your message. I guess it is a type of basil wood as I wasn’t aware that there were different types. I have another Brazil wood bow and this bow is much much different in grain to the other and in weight. The other bow is confirmed as brasilwood as I know who made it, I’m just shocked there’s such a difference despite being the ‘same’

 

if there are any other woods anyone can think of please let me know!

 

cheers all

[NickA]

https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/338769-bow-wood-identification/

 

You could ask this guy!