Does new rosin need to be "broken in"

[Libersolis]

this is my first pack of rosin I have bough (carlson) its the same type I had before ( given to me) but it doesnt seem to be working as well.. am I supposed to do something to it before I apply it?

[Chasarms]

Short of removing it from the plastic wrapper, no.

Maybe you were sold an old cake?

[toman]

Actually I've found that a brand new cake does take a little breaking in; it's usually kind of glazed over and needs to be roughed up a bit. The harder the rosin is i think it's more likely to be this way. Carlson is pretty soft, but definately harder than some others. (poops)

[Bethelbass1]

In the past, I've taken a key to the rosin to "rough it up". It works pretty well. However, my new cake (of pops) has worked wonderfully without breaking it in. I guess it depends on the cake.

[Daniel Baskin]

I don't think it is so much of breaking in as it is in creating a grove.

[toman]

I always make a point of *not* making a groove in my rosin. Once you make a big ol' groove, it's a pain to use the rest of the cake unless you melt it down and reshape it. Also, I take my rosin from the edge of the cake. Seems to work better because I can dig into it more, especially with a softer rosin like carlson. Probably wouldn't make a lot of difference with a hard rosin.

[Daniel Baskin]

Let me elaborate. When I say a grove, I don't mean an abyss, I mean a place where the bow naturally glides through.

[MikeBarber]

Originally Posted by toman

Actually I've found that a brand new cake does take a little breaking in; it's usually kind of glazed over and needs to be roughed up a bit. The harder the rosin is i think it's more likely to be this way. Carlson is pretty soft, but definately harder than some others. (poops)

I just bought a Knilling bass (my first upright). I bought some Knilling rosin and it's very dark and hard stuff... and glazed on the top.

I tried scraping the glazed part off a bit and found that the rosin applies to the bow much easier than befor.