Any of you bowbuilders havin any trouble w/clear glass? Just finished one that has a couple white lines with skips in em and a couple pinhead sized dots. First time this has happened to me in probably 30 or 40 with clear. Just wonderin if anybody else was havin any probs like this?

Never seen the dots but especially on darker woods, I have seen  streaks. They are really annoying. They are worse in the sun when the bow is held just right. I don't guess there is much you can do about them and I can't seem to see them until after everything is finished.

I have never seen the dots either, but yeah on the streaks. Seems like it comes and goes in spells.  Wish there was a way to see them beforehand.

Ive seen both and they stink cause you never see them till everything is glued up.

I have seen the streaks before. I was told by the bowyer that it is in the glass. It wasn't something he had done wrong.
Bill

Thought it might have been something I did,but its never happened like that with smooth on glue,did have a spot once with epon,but think it was a prob with the form. This looks like it is near the surface of the glass,not near the lams. Do any suppliers do anything about this sort of stuff?

can somebody show me a picture of what you are talking about I just scrapped out two bows with wenge limbs under clear glass but I thought I was light on glue or wood was a little oily and the glue did not stick

I had the same problem with my first longbow and thought it was something i did....i put presure on the hose and let it off to readjust the lams....thought thats what caused it....

Would laying the glass on black paper background before glue-up reveal the streaks? Maybe you could do that then sort out the streakier stuff.

Can't get a good pic of mine tonite cause its sanded with no finish yet,but its more like you took a straightedge and a scratch awl and marked it,but the surface is smooth,its down in the glass.
Thats a very good idea Bigriver,I've got 4 more pieces bought same time as this one,have to check it out!

I have had glass with the streaks and sometimes dots, it's really annoying. The black backgrond is a good idea. Might be worth getting a hold of some black laminate board and wet it before laying the glass on it the streaks might show up better...Glenn...

I try to wet the glass and look at it in the light, it's very hard to see some of the bad spots, my last 40 peice order had 9 bad strips. Gordon glass will not take resposibility for the bad glass according to my suppliers. Good idea using the black background.

Ok guys.....so if Gordon glass wont back up their "Clear" glass, and we have to live with the blems....what do you do with them? use them on lighter wood, or what? Kirk

Kirk,
Some I can cut in half and use for the belly glass, the rest I stack in the corner of the shop!

Might be good for some camo dipped or snakeskinned limbs....  Good info guys!! Thanks.

Check this out guys V - Archer has a solution......KirkII,

I used the bi-directional glass strip to get stability and prevent torqeuing. Also I wanted to leave the bamboo backing as much "natural" as possible, so no glass there.
I sanded the nodes a bit to smoothen the sharp edges.
The picture shows the layer details.

V-Archer

OOOOOPS! tghe picture didn't copy...go check out the boo backed bow thread....Kirk

Its a love/hate thing for me with clear glass,love that wood grain/hate the white streaks,guess its like playin the lottery.
Threatened to take a perm marker to this one before I spray it!! LOL

QuoteOriginally posted by kennym:
Its a love/hate thing for me with clear glass,love that wood grain/hate the white streaks,guess its like playin the lottery.
Threatened to take a perm marker to this one before I spray it!! LOL

You may have something there Kenny.....mimwax has a poly with stain added to it....the more coats you apply the darker the stain....Hmmmmm....i'll bet that might cover up a lot of sin there.....Whata ya think>?

I'm bettin if ya stain/poly the whole limb,it'll still show,but might have ta try it!