Checkin out my bow a few days ago I noticed these marks on my limbs, they are identical on both the upper and lower limb. Not sure what they are, they are a little hard to see in the pics. But could they be stress cracks? Never noticed them before, should I be concerned? Any info would be appreciated, thanks!

Send these photos directly to the good folks at Black Widow. They would be the best ones to answer your question.

I've had them do some repair work for me (took a bad spill in a creek in Quebec), and they did it very quickly and reasonably.

Jerry

Hi Robert, I have had that before too on earlier model SA's. As long as the blemishes are running parralel to the limb you should not have a problem. They are also in a non working area of the limb. Just do not over tighten the limb bolts.

Thanks for the responses guys, Yes they do run parralel to the limb and they are only in the area of the brass and where the limb pegs are in the riser. I figured they were probably not a major issue but didn't want to take any chances. When tightening the limb bolts I normally try to just keep them snug.

What Weasel said , the folks at BW are top shelf

Another HUGE thumps up for the folks at BW .. they helped me with a problem I have without questions .. and fast! All products will have a few small issues .. it's how they are handled that matters.

The folks at Black Widow have some glue just for your limb issue. I used it some years back when I had the same thing on a pair of limbs.  I forced the glue into the crack, let it dry overnite, then sanded it back flat. I repeated the process agian. I then used thinned super glue as a finish. Those limbs are still working and no moisture has gotten in.
I still would call the BW guys and see what they say. Times change, products change.

Roger, Toby and John are great about this stuff. Good luck

Unfortunately it is a common thing. Not only on BW bows, but on many others too. As I understood it, there is only one glass supplier and that is Gordon's. The quality sucks and that is a pain in the ass for customers as wel as for bowyers. The cracks are caused by small bubbles or imperfections in the glass fibers which will cause cracks in a later stadium. It is for bowyers impossible to detect those bubbles.
As long the cracks are parallel with your limbs, it is only cosmetic and it won' affect your bow in any way.
I hate it, but it is the reality we have to live with, thank you Gordon!

QuoteOriginally posted by Flying Dutchman:
Unfortunately it is a common thing. Not only on BW bows, but on many others too. As I understood it, there is only one glass supplier and that is Gordon's. The quality sucks and that is a pain in the ass for customers as wel as for bowyers. The cracks are caused by small bubbles or imperfections in the glass fibers which will cause cracks in a later stadium. It is for bowyers impossible to detect those bubbles.
As long the cracks are parallel with your limbs, it is only cosmetic and it won' affect your bow in any way.
I hate it, but it is the reality we have to live with, thank you Gordon!

lol that is some good news and bad news! I'm glad its only a cosmetic thing but that does suck that they havn't invented a tougher glass. Is this the reason why we see so many vintage bows with the paralel stress cracks? like on vintage bear bows??

I had a bob lee longbow that had a bunch of those a lot longer and it shot fine.

It is not only on vintage bows, but on many. Some glass veneer may have white aereas too. There are already bowyers  who  mention the poor qualitaty of Gordons glass on their website and state that they can not be responsible for flaws in the glass, because Gordons makes it. I know from bowyers sending bad batches back, only to have it replaced with an even more poor quality. Problem is that Gordons is the only supplier and that they don' t seem to care about the ****ty quality they deliver...

Many bowyers even advice to take no dark veneers, because all the flaws become much more visible on dark veneers.
Problem is that the flaws only show up after gluing.

I think it would be time that gordons starts up a QC dept!

Hi Robert,

My PSA has the same issue. They told me, at BW, that was just the polish cracking a bit due to some bolt to thigh. That I should change the o rings on those small pegs.

Send them that pic and you'll get an answer.

I also bought that BW glue and those blemish got done.

Good luck.

Diogo

Talked to Roger and he said to put a little thin super glue over the blemish to keep moisture from getting in there. So I went ahead and did just that, thanks for the responses guys    

Best of luck.