How is horse hair harvested

If you find evidence of an infestation, remove your violin from the case, clean your case thoroughly, and leave your case outside in direct sunlight for several hours. In order to dissuade the pesky creatures from taking up residence in your case, a container with holes filled with cedar chips is an effective deterrent.

There is a plastic alternative to horsehair available , but it is a poor substitute for the real thing, even at the earliest stages of study. At Robertson and Sons Violin Shop, Bryan Robertson daily bends over his workbench rehairing and restoring bows as he has done since he began serving customers in He began learning the trade long before that under the careful guidance of his father, Don Robertson.

As a young teen, every Saturday after youth symphony rehearsal he plays the double bass , Bryan would head for the shop to hone his skills. Now he rehairs somewhere between 2, and 2, bows per year! His clientele consist of performers, pedagogues, and students from across the country.

They regularly ship their bows to Bryan for rehair and restoration because they trust him to use the best hair and to install it with a practiced and steady hand. Over the years, Bryan has accumulated a vast body of knowledge regarding bows, bow makers, and of course, horsehair. His goal is to make each bow the best instrument for tone production that it can be.

He takes great pride in his work. In the world of bows, Bryan is a virtuoso! He would be pleased to serve all of your bow needs. Robertson and Sons Violin Shop also has a wide selection of bows for all stringed instruments in every size and price range. Will the knowledge that your horse lived in an exotic far-away land inspire new richness in your tone? Perhaps , at least, you will have a new appreciation for the partnership between man and beast to create the beauty of music!

Susan Baer is a freelance violinist and violin teacher residing on Whidbey Island in Washington State. If you have tried to have a horse put down God forbid! If this happens to you-you need to make sure that you are getting that precious horsehair. Not only is it worth a fortune but it would also be a great memory to keep for the rest of your life. It can also happen at the slaughterhouse where the fine hair is collected before the horses disposed of. The horse slaughterhouses work quite similar to slaughterhouses for cattle.

The horses will arrive on a trailer after being purchased at a horse auction. The horse will then be killed with a pressure gun bolt pistol being pressed to the forehead.

The horse will be hang upside down to drain the blood and the meat will be sold as a delicacy to countries like France or Italy. But before that happens the horsetail is typically cut off. The fight hair is now sold to a company that creates violin bows as the fine hair from the horsetail is excellent for this purpose. So, as you can see, the horse is typically not killed in order to make violin bows or any other products because the hair can be harvested when the horse is dead or while it is alive.

And so are several other various parts of the horse that are used for many products such as glue. You can read here how horses are turned into glue. Most products are made from fine hair but other products are made from the hooves which contain gelatin. The gelatin is often used for glue and other sticky products such as Gello and gummy bears. In Mongolia, Siberia, and Canada you find most of the horses that are being used for violin bows. They have a cold climate that is perfect for getting thick hair.

In Mongolia especially, horses are treated much more like cattle and they will kill the horses in order to get the meat, the milk, and the horsehairs. They will drive the horses to the slaughterhouse as the most natural thing in the world. The horses are bred for food and the various products that can be made from the hooves and the horsehair. Are horses killed for their hair?

Most horse hairs for violin bows are when the horses are already dead. So no horses are killed or harmed in order to get horsehair for violin bows. Violin bows are also made with synthetic hair but the best bows are made from horse hairs. How is horse hair harvested for brushes?

Horse hair on the other hand, is gathered during regular grooming. Is horse hair still used in upholstery? Horse hair is still available from upholstery suppliers though often horse is now replaced with hog. The use of horsehair in upholstery and the manufacturing of textiles became popular in the mid 18th Century though uses have been reported as far back as the 8th and 9th centuries for textiles and artwork. Vie-Long horse hair brushes have really caught on with those who are concerned with the humane treatment of animals.

Horses are not killed or harmed during collection of hair unlike badger and boar. Not if done properly. Horsehair products that I mentioned here do not benefit from slaughtered animals. This is a craft like yarn.