Glass Flaws Bug You?

[Swamp Yankee]

Am I the only one who gets really annoyed at visible flaws in clear glass like this?

[mooseman76]

You're definitely not the only one. I can't stand them. It is a shame. I love the darker woods, but almost never get them in the limbs of a bow. They really show them. It seems there is really nothing that can be done about them, though. It stinks when you get a really nice bow and the glass is all streaked up...Mike

[ssoden]

I can't stand it either .. with experience some bowyers you just expect it from them because most of thier bows have it .. others it's very limited ..I just can't pay a premine price for a bow and it has flaws in the glass.

[lpcjon2]

Flaws sometimes can not be helped, but pen marks like that drive me nuts! It could always be worse.

[Lamey]

would rather have black or brown glass then really streaky, cloudy or spotty glass.

[ssoden]

You sure the spots you see aren't glue voids?

[Danny Rowan]

Not the bowyers fault, they do not make the glass. Any dark wood is going to show that, streaks, cloudyness etc. Like I said not the bowyers fault almost impossible to get clear fiberglass clear as glass.

[KentuckyTJ]

Never has bothered me. Just look at it this way, No one else has one just like yours!

[Mike Mecredy]

What happens  is there are very small nearly invisible bubbles in the epoxy.  When the bow get glued up and put in the form, it's put in a laminating oven and heated up.  I usually heat it up to around 150F.  those invisible bubbles expand with heat and have nowhere to go.  It ends up in the form of those spots.  

I really don't like using clear glass.  I've lately been talked into it by some customers but I explain to them that it could happen.  Also sometimes clear glass has uneven clarity that happened while it was getting made I guess.

[Glunt]

I have tried to find the flaws in glass before glue-up and its really hard.  Sometimes what looks like a flaw ends up not showing and other times you get one that shows up and I never saw anything in that spot before gluing up.  Raw clear glass isn't really clear.

Haven't ran into what you are showing (usually streaks with the grain), but that size of defect would be almost impossible to find before gluing.

I find that after a while and a few scratches I add myself they don't bother me.

[BOHO]

they bug the crap out of me.

[Covey]

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:
Never has bothered me. Just look at it this way, No one else has one just like yours!

Well put!

Jason

[Prairie Drifter]

Originally posted by Mike Mecredy:
 

I really don't like using clear glass.  I've lately been talked into it by some customers  

Hey, I resemble that remark,! LOL  :D

[Hermon]

I don't like them, but would rather have the 99.9% of the limb showing me the woodgrain underneath with the .1% spots than have the colored glass.

[JamesKerr]

I do get bothered by them but it happens. Even the best bowyers cannot control the if the glass has streaks in it.

[Rossco7002]

I've got a bow with quite a few knots in the lams and have marks like that over some of them. It got me kinda freaked out when I first noticed because I thought it was a structural thing which might cause the bow to break. After I did some research I developed the opinion that this is not likely to happen so I'm no longer concerned - the wood is still beautiful and the knots enhance that rather than the blemishes taking away from it.

[BowZen]

Bothers the heck out of me. You pay a premium for a custom bow, wait months, and then the streaks!!!  I know its not the bowyer's fault, but wish I didn't have them in my bows.

[Swamp Yankee]

The kicker is those blemishes are under the glass where you can't fix them and definately were not there when I first recieved the bow, but developed during the first month of shooting.  I've had it happen with several bows; but it seems to happen more often around the knots with yew.

[Jason Kendall]

They make me want to use black glass on everything. I love the classy look of black myself.

[Mike Mecredy]

I wish Green was more available.  I offer black brown and white on my order form but if somebody asks me about clear, I try to talk them out of it, but if they have that in mind I usually can't.  My biggest problem is clear cost so much more than the colored sort but it probably costs less for gordons composites to make.