Glass Flaws Bug You?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

It doesn't show up so bad on lighter colored woods, but on Walnut, Ebony, Bocote, and other darker stuff there is always going to be some imperfections.... Nature of the beast

i take my glass and sort it to find the clearest stuff i can. If you wet it down and hold it to the light you can sort out the really bad stuff.

 But we as bowyer's cannot guarantee glass to be clear that is called "Transparent" by the manufacture. They won't guarantee it for steaks or spots either.   Kirk

[billy shipp]

It drives me absolutely nuts. I fully understand that it's not a bowyers fault, but I have a hard time believing in this day and time, with the technologly available, someone can't produce nice, clear glass, without flaws.
Not all of us like brown or black glass. I like nice woods and I don't mind paying extra to get them on my bows, but it sure is disappointing to pay $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 or more for a bow with streaked glass.

[Sixby]

What Kirk said. I take the side of the buyer to the point that last year I built three sets of limbs for one bow with fancy koa veneers. I got a clean bill of health on the last set of veneers I had. I was getting scared though.
End of the conversation was that two customers got super fancy koa veneers that cost me a ton of money and time free of charge konwing that there were a couple of light spots in the glass. These were definately in the glass and didn't hurt the limb at all.

I understand the frustration of the customer but you ought to be on the bowyers end and feel that one.

God bless you all, Steve

[RAU]

Flaws like that on a bow I made myself or bought at a reasonable price wouldn't bother me a bit. If the bow in question was hi end bow that I paid a bunch for and I waited months for it I'd be really disappointed

[Bjorn]

To me it makes no difference at all...........I like a dulled hunting finish and specs like that mean nothing.  I'm looking at the wood not the glass.

[bamboo]

Originally posted by billy shipp:
It drives me absolutely nuts. I fully understand that it's not a bowyers fault, but I have a hard time believing in this day and time, with the technologly available, someone can't produce nice, clear glass, without flaws.
 

they can -and do produce glass without flaws---it just that they won't inspect closely enough to find them--and the cost of culling the flawed glass falls on the bowyers ---i agree billy--in this day and age....they can see thru your clothes at the air port!!!

[wingnut]

There was a time when we could get "clear" glass.  But the builders of the glass don't care that much about this industry to do it any more.  It costs more to produce and they just don't have the market to make up for the costs.

I've been looking at glass from other producers for a couple of years hoping to find the holy grail.  So far nothing.

Mike

[tradlongbow]

Originally posted by Jason Kendall:
They make me want to use black glass on everything. I love the classy look of black myself.

X2

Darren

[Leland]

I love a pretty bow too,but how it shoots matters more than how it looks.If it's just cosmetic don't let it get you down,they all get dinged up sooner or later.Just enjoy shooting the bow.
Leland

[David Mitchell]

Originally posted by tradlongbow:
 

Originally posted by Jason Kendall:
They make me want to use black glass on everything. I love the classy look of black myself.

X2

Darren [/b]

x3

[Sixby]

My belief is that some of this happens when the bowyer grinds the edges. instantly the wood is exposed to the air and gas goes from the air back into the wood . I have noticed perfectly clear limbs get little silvering streaks when I grind the edges. I have begun sealing the edges as soon as I grind the profile. This seems to get rid of some of this but still it is a technicaly unavoidable situation. As to inspecting the glass, yes some of us do tht but you can still miss some streaks ect that are inside the glass itself. We have to live with that.
I do my best to caution and warn customers agains dark veneers but, that is all you can do.
When I do dark veneers I have found that it helps to grind them very thin. .015  However that can get very dangerous to the bowyer in that he can break so many of them that he ends up without enough to do the job. I broke two pairs building Kirks Christmas bow because I wanted to use walnut burl and had to grind it that thin. I started with three pairs of beautiful , expensive veneers and got the job done with the very last of it I had. Do that several times a year and it really eats up your profit.

God bless you all, Steve

[hvyhitter]

those marks are small compared to some of the dings I'll put in a bow during a good season........

[Mike Mecredy]

That's what I'm talking about John!  To me a bow is a hunting tool.  The ones I personally use are uglier than ugly.  I don't have, never will have, and don't want a beautiful work of art, when it comes to a hunting tool.  

But if someone wants them that way, I'll make them that way.

[PaddyMac]

Originally posted by 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.

Same here. I have dark walnut limbs for my Signature and Shedua. They're perfect near as I can tell, but I'd rather risk a few blems for the wood grain. My next one is going to be light maple I think, so shouldn't be a problem.

[H-MANEOD]

Mike, didn't know clear glass is so upsetting but thanks for going ahead and making mine. Yes, I paln on hunting with it once I improve my traditional shooting...love the MUTT.

P.S.
Also retired USAF, twenty years of EOD

[BWD]

Bugs me a little, but I know it can be the nature of the beast. I have one bow that has so many streaks it looks like it has some sort of yeast infection. 99.9% of them are on the belly side of both limbs, which still makes me wonder if was a natural occurrence, or that particular glass came out of the "belly glass stack".    

That bow has been shooting just fine, with no changes that I can determine, for over a year now, so it is what it is.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by billy shipp:
It drives me absolutely nuts. I fully understand that it's not a bowyers fault, but I have a hard time believing in this day and time, with the technologly available, someone can't produce nice, clear glass, without flaws.
Not all of us like brown or black glass. I like nice woods and I don't mind paying extra to get them on my bows, but it sure is disappointing to pay $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 or more for a bow with streaked glass.

Hey Billy, if it makes you feel any better i went through 30 sticks of glass looking for something as clear as possible for that ebony. and i lucked out on the first set of limbs.

Unfortunately all a guy can do is try and cull the obvious stuff, and pray a lot on a set of high end dark wood veneers. I'll bet i have 20 sets of perfectly good limbs that have streaks in them that i set aside rather than send it to a customer. One of these days I'll mount em on risers and send them into you to get dipped Billy.    

[58WINTERS]

No clear here unless the bow is finished and I can see it in the sunlight.  I'll take black glass.
Since glass is the topic many years back there was some thought that white was the fastest and clear  the slowest.
Bowyers was this fact or fiction???

[Zradix]

Anyone have a pic of what would be a typical example?
Don't need to show the whole bow...so this doesn't turn into a "this bowyer has streaky glass" thread.

[atatarpm]

I'm glad to fine this thread. I think I'll go shoot a bow I was worried about.