riser cracks?

[AkDan]

Noticed on some laminated longbows that in the corner between the shelf and window on the BACK of the bow they devlop cracks from time to time...is this normal?  What causes it?  is it going to cause problems?  I have one and so does my brother and I've seen quite a few others like this on the market.

[Holm-Made]

Did the builder make that "corner" rounded or is it a sharp corner?  Rounded is much stronger.  

A lot of vintage bows are cracked in that spot because the shelf is not radiused and the transition of that corner is a 90 degree junction.  Chad

[ONE SHOT]

First of all you must remember that it is made of wood, and wood was a living thing. With that said as long as the crack runs the length of the grain in the riser and not accross the grain it should be just fine, it fact it gives the Bow some character in My opion.,,,ONE SHOT      

[AkDan]

the corners are rounded..the shelfs are radiused.  I not to long ago ordered three indentical bows from a bowyer and the first one cracked....instead of fixing things he replaced the bows.  I also had bought a bow for my bro not so long ago used on here and it also had a riser crack right in the corner on the shelf and sitewindow.   The last couple years since this has all happened I have noticed a few other bows with this similar crack...it runs through the cut out so acrossed the top of the glas and top edges of the exposed laminations that would be the bottom of the shelf on the back side.  The cracks are all very similar and all end faily quick, none of what I've seen run down into the glas as much as acrossed the top right there.   The bow I'm currently shooting also developed 'the crack'.  I plan on doing some light sanding to get to wood to fill and smooth out with epoxy mainly to keep moisture from entering.

Just found it odd.   how similar these cracks are and often amonst major bowyers I've seen them in.