I thought I was doing a fine stroke of business buying a bag of NOS old style bows 17-22 mm.

Turns out it is not that simple. Also needed is a bow lathe to make the little nipple on the ends of the bow, The one pictured sold for $200 a while back on ebay.

Are those nipples case specific or are they all done the same? I do have bow removal pliers and checked a few, some are done and some aren't.

Anyone care to give a short tutorial on this?

Picture 2

These are easy to use even I figured out how to use it with no help. Basically you turn the wheel to the desired cutter lock the wheel with the pin shown then load the bow in the spring loaded holder and turn the handle. I actually have one of these laying on my desk I picked up but the cutters fell out when the knurled handle came loose so I am waiting to come across the bits so I can complete it.

Gee I had this one a couple weeks ago for $75.00

Oh well

regards,
bb

Buster, I was watching the one I mentioned just because I had never seen one before. It was BIN, up for about 3 days then gone.

Some bows will need to be milled or "stepped down" as in your picture. It all depends on the "ear" and what size the hole is.

Yeah my bow mill just lasted 1 day on a BIN on site before it went "down under"

Peter, the buyer PM'd me and said his postman had left it behind some furniture on his front porch and he had just found it, didn't know how long it had been there......

regards,
bb

Lorne, if the bow is too large for the hole in the case neck you need a Bow cutter (lathe?) to fit it. The machine has a selection of different diameter cutters you can "dial in" to the cutting position to address most popular sizes. You can usually "eyeball" the correct size.

Does that answer your question.

Yes it does Dave thank you.

These tools are more interesting than woodworking tools, I wish I had gotten into this 25 years ago.

Why wasn't I told?