Delayed/internal fracture of bows not visible from outside?

Edited: September 5, 2018, 11:20 AM · Not a bow maker, so I can only speculate. If a fracture is not visible, until it breaks, how would you know? Short of Xraying your bow, and even then, your guess is as good as anyone else's. Theoretically it is possible I suppose that micro fractures would weaken an area, which under tension can break eventually. Even if it does, what would you do other than wait that it breaks to fix it? Some say that the "bad" habit of pointing parts on the partition with the bow can eventually lead to a splitting of the tip because of such invisible micro fractures.

Did you drop your bow?

September 5, 2018, 12:03 PM · If it is not a new bow it might have been damaged before and expertly repaired. (It was not dropped.)

My F.N. Voirin violin bow broke while being played by a violist about 20 years ago. After that happened it was obvious that it had been broken in the same place at some time before, but the previous repair was so hard to detect that even after being in my family since 1930, the break had never been noticed before.

September 5, 2018, 8:30 PM · I am personally skeptical of the possibility of internal fractures in a bow. The stress of the expansion inside would certainly just crack it good all the way through. Pernambuco isn't known for its stretchiness.
Besides. If you can't see it, it isn't there!