Sam

That's got to be the finish for the heavy yarns then. There's a handful of finishes out there, and I have had good results with everything except tape which does the same thing as you experienced. Lee had the same problem with 6522 s-glass.

: I received this reply from JR Sweet.
: "I think all of your questions are answered at
: http://johnrsweet.com/Fabric.html
: Both styles have a 497A finish. Any difference in appearance results from the chemical composition of the glass itself.

That's the strange part right there. I and most others use s-glasses almost exlusively out here, with a heavy demand for transparency. Lee found a problem with 6522, a s-glass used alot out here for surfboards with underlying graphics. There's a large market for simliar application ranging from boats to castings where transparency is the key requirement. Something still seems wacky here. Your glass is for transparency apps? What I'm getting at is whether of not there's a problem in the run of the glass or the finish application.

: I'm a little embarassed that I didn't see the sizing information myself
: during the last visit to their site.

Don't worry about that, it's the friggin' aging thing again. Who cares what people think, we know we're studs. Hey, I recall you surfing overheads in your yak, so there.
Remember this: "Youth and experience is no match for age and treachery"

: You are right about the common use of S glass in layered composites. But it
: is not as commonly used in clear coating applications, where this effect
: would be most easily noticed. I have no explanation for why you have not
: seen a similar effect, but the reputation of S glass among the clear
: coating crowd leads me to think that there is nothing wrong, except with
: the appearance. Of course, there are people who think something is wrong
: with my appearance too...

Well, there's a huge line of s-glasses that are designed for clear coat apps. My worry is a production run issue, or a lossening of QA/QC and/or standards, or overseas suppliers. Consequently the supplier then says the usual words to avoid liability. I can see it now, laying down glass on a hull with a old favorite and finding printing all over the surface. Another problem is where does one find a supplier locally if a line goes into the toilet? Ordering from the net is frought with dangers, and I daman well want to see the cloth I'm getting so it doesn't have voids or snags. We'll be making a glass run today for some silica and I chat some more on this with the guys and get some trims to play with. We're about to lay glass on a deck and hull late this weekend coming and there better not be problems.

Tons of tanks on the heads up...more later, gator