Many bow makers use glass laminates,
to cover the limbs of their bows. Glass laminate on the wood core laminate of the limbs acts as a power support and stabilizer, making the bow unbreakable, maintaining its stability and contributing to maintain the power of the bow constant and the pull weight stable.
Another major benefit of using glass laminate is the relatively simple method of production, regardless of the type of bow. In addition, there is a great variation-friendliness due to the different bow wood and limb laminates.
Since the 1950s, glass laminate has been used in bow making. Fred Bear was the first bow maker to cover his bows with glass. A good decision, as proved at the World Championship in Copenhagen in 1950: the archer Jean Lombardo shot with a laminate bow with its lemonwood wood core covered with glass. She broke all records with this powerful bow and became world champion. In 1957, the World Championship took place in Prague, where the Americans won all the disciplines with their glass laminate bows.
In bow construction, unidirectional glass laminates are used which, by gluing with the core laminates of wood, give an extremely rigid composite material, a so-called composite. The glass laminates used here were originally waste products from the skiing industry.
In contrast to bow construction today, however, the requirements of the ski manufacturers on the optics of the glass laminates are less high, as the design of the skis is accomplished by foils on the glass.
This loss of quality in the appearance of the available glass laminates also presented problems for our bow construction in the past. Strips, cracks and blowholes in the surface of the glasses resulted in a relatively high reject rate and, thus, ultimately to undesirable cost increases. A problem that was not compatible with our quality standards.
Therefore, we were looking for a new solution and invested in the development of an innovative glass laminate which is completely free from interfering structures on the surface and, thus, almost free of rejects and can be used in bow construction.
Our new black glass laminate which we have used to cover the first bows in our bow construction, completely fulfills our quality requirements. We use the latest process-safe and stable production methods which ensure a consistently high quality. We will soon offer the black glass laminate to the bow makers and dealers among our customers, too, while we continue to work on the development of a clear glass laminate in the same quality.