New bow by Sue Lipkins

[Eric Swanson]

Great story, about epoxy, ingenuity, vision, and the magic of Sue's work. As an aside, I'll share an epoxy tale of my own.

About twenty something years ago, when visiting my Grandmother, she asked me if I could fix the corner of her garage; she had brushed it with her car. About 6" x 1" x 1/2" of wood trim was obliterated; gone, missing, no longer there.

Of course I would do what I could, but I'd have to work with what I could get either at the local hardware store or from her house. I dammed the area with duct tape. I used Devcon 2 ton epoxy and flour for thickener (works just fine in a pinch). I cast a new area "proud" of the surrounding woodwork and let it harden.

After rasping it down to the level of the surrounding work, sanding it, and hitting it with the touch up paint she had in the basement, you couldn't tell that it had ever been damaged. The repair was still intact and invisible twenty years later, when I last saw the place.

I'll broaden my expression of gratitude for 2 ton epoxy, your guts and ingenuity, wood that breaks along the grain, your playing skill, and for Sue Lipkins' bows!

[Ken Smith]

All fixed and ready to play. When something like this happens, you never know if all is back 100% where it was exactly.

It feels good and sounds good but I had to chisel down the ends of the two dowels I glued in to the old wire slots and get it flush with the Rosewood with not much room to work in those curved channels. Some sanding and touch-up and it looks just fine.

Then drilling new holes thru the top of the Tailpiece on a beveled surface, angling the holes slightly from outside to inside to spread the wire and getting the wire clamp back on and to a similar length was nothing short or tedious work. I must be getting soft, too much bowing and not enough chiseling because my fingers and hands are sore!

But, shes ready for service now without changing anything else and that's a relief.