Red Oak as a riser wood?

[Interseptor]

Is red oak suitable for building a riser for a t/d recurve?

[Charlie Hinkel]

Disclaimer-this is my opinion and there will be others who disagree with me, however, I am sharing with you my experience.-
It is a suitable wood, however I refuse to use it as there are so many other choices out there which are more "suitable" and better looking than red oak. If you are looking for something somewhat inexpensive, why not try Rock Maple or Cherry?  I also think that Oak is too splintery to use.  Oak makes great furniture, however.

[wood carver 2]

I agree 100%, but if you're lucky, you can occasionally find an exceptional piece that is denser than usual and looks amazing.
I found a piece of red oak once that has incredible grain and looks a lot like walnut. I made a stand that dispenses thread from several spools for my Mom from it. Planing it was an adventure!
Dave.

[Wolftrail]

I agree RO is not the best, I have used white oak with maple its also stronger.  Currently I'm using yew, maple, birch, oak and cherry.  Will add walnut soon but have been reluctant because I work in  a small area with no dust collection and Walnut is a lung irritant.  My lungs are sacked from Smoking. Yep tell me about it I use to run circles around Lions and slap gorillas.

   

[Krasus]

Red oak is ugly. Lol that being said I did find a piece that was very spalted and then I had it vacuum stabilized with a photo reactive resin. Looked sick. All depends on what you do with it.  I personally think though you should go with a different choice though. Maybe a nice piece of ash? Cheap but very pretty.

[Troy D. Breeding]

If you want easy to find wood that is super strong think about Hickory. You can find all color phases.

[MikeWinVA]

The one advantage to Red Oak is availability.  In some areas lumber yards that carry hardwoods are few and far between.  You can do mail/online ordering but that is also a crap shoot.  The best way to judge the wood is to lay hands on it.

You can find loads of Red Oak at both Lowes and Home Depot.  I of have 2 each nearby and the all have in excess of 1500 board feet in stock at each store.  If you get choosey you can find some good boards there.  Look for the densest straight grained boards you can get.  Look at the growth rings, the porous rings are early growth and weak.  Look for a dense board, straight grained, that has real thin early growth rings.  

If you have some hardwood lumber yards or mills in the area you can't beat Hickory.  There is a reason that they make shovel, axe and pick handles from it.  It is probably the toughest domestic hardwood that is easily available.  For strength in Hickory stick with the lighter sap wood, the heartwood is weaker.