I got some pretty ugly clear glass last batch is there any other supplier then Gordon?

I kinda thought Gordon was the best

Gordon is the major producer. May try calling somebody (Bingham's?) and ask if they can hand pick some.

To be honest you can make your own. I have done it but its a pain in the ass. Gordon has generally set the standard though .I would be trying to sort it out with Gordon.If you don't get satisfaction then you could make your own.I have only done it to get a spacific color or sometimes to experiment with different resins and fibre glass or carbon graphite lay ups. Gordon do it better than me though. OSR

Nothing against the folks at Kustom King, but you'll think the streaky Gordon glass is great if you get any of the Bearpaw glass. :^)

I bought some several years ago out of curiosity but I had to return it for a refund.

It was the worst stuff I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty bad stuff.

I got it from Binghams but they told me they felt bad but sorry bout your luck. I have used them for 13 yrs but I'm gonna have to switch to Rosewood Archery.

Is his Exel glass from Finland the same stuff at Bearpaw and Kustom King. If yes never mind. If no then you might check them out.

I have had Bear paw clear,from KK ended up using on kids bow,was not impressed. Jeff F

I understand this clear glass issue is common among bowyers. Is the market so small the manufacturer can disregard the complaints? It is a no wonder why people look overseas for alternatives, not just for glass.

"Is the market so small the manufacturer can disregard the complaints?"

Unfortunately Tom, it must be.

Plus they're the only big player in town, so that by itself allows them to get away with a lot more when they have a bad run. It's a take it or leave it situation for us. :^(

I don't know if it's fact or fiction, but I've heard that they primarily make bow fiberglass as a favor to the archery industry.

The other products that they manufacture for other industries are actually more profitable for them, so we're probably lucky that they make bow fiberglass at all.

Just think if they stopped producing it, or if they had a fire that put them out of commission like Rutland Plywood did!

We'd be in really bad shape then.

We'd all have to go back to making real bows (the ones without fiberglass). :^)

It is not too hard to produce good glass lams on a comercial scale. For me to make small runs of glass lams is a pains taking task. S;& T if it got real bad and I had to ,I could make a good lamination for sure. Any one famililar with fibre glass/ carbon composites could do it. I only play around on occasions. The chemistry of various resins and methods of curing them possibably needs exploring a lot more. If it was made better it would cost far too much anyway. OSR

i have been to gordons and seen how they make bow glass. no garage material is ever going to compare even slightly to their product. all their tows are pulled under pressure and the clear glass has more threads than you can imagine.visual defects aside, they make the best bow glass available today. and yesterday.

Hi Larry. Got a lot of respect for you but I am fairly well educated in working in composites.It use to be my profession and I do know whats required to produce good glass laminates.I use the same process as gordon but simplified.Drawing rovings through a resin bath over steel form and pressing it is not rocket science.The thickness sanding is probably more critical in my opinion. Do people realise the various chemical make up of resins which can be used in the lay up can alter its chatacteristics enormosly.Quality of glass is important too.Carbons/graphite as people like to call it are different as well. With a bit of experimentation one could thoeretically make better laminates than Gordon does.My home lams worked OK. OSR

Don't take this the wrong way because I'm not trying to be a wise-ass, but the proof is in the pudding.

If someone can make homemade clear glass that's better quality than Gordon's, I'll believe it when I see it. :^)

A lot of things are possible in theory, but that doesn't mean that they'll become a reality.

Theories and words usually don't impress me too much. What gets my attention are results.

My machine shop instructor always used to tell us, "don't tell me how good of a machinist you are... show me". I always thought that was a great philosophy and it's stuck with me ever since.

If anyone can make Grade A fiberglass in their garage, I'll be the first in line to pat them on the back and tell them "great job". That would be quite an accomplishment.

There's short mention of the process in Fred Bear's biography (along with a small picture).

The picture shows what must be a rack of 100 spools (or more) of fiberglass yarn being fed through a long line of different processes.

It mentions that 250,000 parallel strands of filament are drawn though a tank of plastic resins, and then into metal channels, and then oven cured. I assume this is all done under a certain amount of controlled tension, but they made no mention of that.

Just from that small picture and vague description, the process looks to me like something the average person isn't going to be capable of accomplishing in their garage.

Someone please prove me wrong though. I'd love to put my foot in my mouth on this one.

I'll even buy your first batch of clear fiberglass, but only if it's Grade A and better quality than Gordon's. :^)

I have set up and run equiptment using the same process.Its pretty much a standard proceedure these days.The machines I ran were a a bit bigger and more complex than a simple extrusion process .Apart from all the research testing I did using university lab facilities I wouldn't know too much would I?If I saw the so called bad glass I would possibably know why it was faulty.Your free to be skeptical but it is more than possible to do it better.If I find the need to set up and make more I will send you a sample for free. Bow facings home made from Australia. Keep on crafting recurves and I can touch base with you early next year. I will probably be doing a run around january. OSR cheers

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