e natural position of its
growth, _i.e._, the root end at the top, thus, as the scales point
downwards, giving the greatest attack to the down bow. Some have
tried placing half one way and half the other but I do not think a
very perceptible difference results from this proceeding.

CHAPTER X.

QUALITIES ESSENTIAL IN A BOW MAKER--SHAPING THE STICK--SETTING THE
_Cambre_--THE FACES--THE TRENCHES--THE NUT.

The manufacture of the bow is an industry calling for rare qualities
of patience and concentration on the part of its followers. The skill
required is of quite a distinct kind. Strength and delicacy of hand
must both be exceptionally pronounced, and mathematical accuracy of
eye is essential. Delicacy of touch to readily appreciate the varying
degrees of elasticity found not only in different sticks but often in
the same piece of wood. Strength to work with precision in such hard
wood. And for this kind of work the strength required is not that of
the carpenter who can use the weight and swing of his body; it is,
rather, a self-contained strength in which opposing forces must
co-operate in order to ensure the absolute accuracy so indispensable
in a bow. Then the sight must be of unerring judgment, for nearly all
the work depends on the eye. Bow making is distinctly nervous work
for it keeps the mind constantly alert.

I am indebted for most of the details given in this chapter to the
late Alfred Tubbs, son of James, and a good workman, who died
comparatively young in 1909. He told me that he only made one bow at
a time for the reason that each stick has its own individuality, some
intrinsic feature that has to be borne in mind through all the
details of fitting, mounting and adjusting. The mind is apt to lose
its certainty of retention when exercised on as few, even, as three
sticks simultaneously. Therefore each bow is completed before the
next is commenced.

Taking the rough stick as shown in Fig. 34, the first operation is
that of "rounding the throat," in other words the square rod is made
round for a few inches just below the rough block left for the head
to be cut from, this portion being called by some the "throat," and
by others the "neck" of the bow. After this the corners of the
remaining square portion are planed away, thereby making the stick
octagonal in section. Should it be intended that the finished bow be
octagonal, naturally the throat is not rounded but the planing away
of the corners is