Oak risers?

[McDave]

Just curious.  I've seen many bows over my life, and owned more than a few, but never run across one with an oak riser.  Limbs, of course, have to work, and if you tell me oak wouldn't make good limbs, I’d have to believe you, since I don't know any better.  But all a riser has to to is to be sturdy and not break.  Oak is known to be sturdy, and is relatively dense and heavy, all pluses in my book, although I realize some people prefer more lightweight woods.  People like their risers to be beautiful, but I’ve seen many beautiful things made out of oak.  Plus, it's one of the most readily available hardwoods there are.  So why not?

[Yellow Dog]

Never seen an Oak riser but this is a Tall Tines I had with a Cocobolo riser and Oak burl limbs.

[McDave]

Add one more to the list of beautiful things I’ve seen made out of oak!

[BAK]

Very good point.   

[NY Yankee]

No reason why Red or White oaks can't be used for risers or limbs, limbs being glass laminated etc. You probably need straight grain lumber for strength and straight grain hardwood ist usually very visually appealing, which is why I assume it's not used. Now if a bowyer would use laminated stock with different color stain, that would be an interesting piece. Personally, I'd like to see more oak, maple, cherry and walnut  used in bows, but everyone seems to want exotic hardwoods.

[M60gunner]

My issue with Oak is how porous it is. When I attended Woodworking classes at the college one of the instructors had a 2x4 piece of Oak that you could see light from one end to the other. Now this piece was 6ft long. So I thinks the oak would need to be “stabilized” first. Then like Walnut laminated with either a Phenolic or other hard wood like Maple.
 I have seen risers made entirely of Black Walnut and both broke after awhile. One theory is the wood becomes brittle. Of course any of the woods mentioned could be used in a laminated riser.

[woodchucker]

Well, I'm a Maple guy!!! Who couldn't love a wood that gives you pancake syrup!!??

[wood carver 2]

I have used white oak in a few risers and I have seen a lot of red and white oak board bows. I don’t use it much because I’m just tired of oak being used pretty much everywhere. As a woodworker, I'm asked to make things for people and when I ask what wood they want it made from, the answer is almost always oak.
I usually come back with “ there are 50,000 known types of wood and everyone wants oak!”
Having said that, if I come across a nice piece, I’ll set it aside for something special like a riser.
Dave.

[M60gunner]

Wood carver 2, my exact sentiments. Seems like all the furniture you see is Oak. I didn’t use it because it was always a pain to fill the grain for a baby butt smooth finish. I prefer Cherry.

[wood carver 2]

If I’m using oak, I prefer white oak. The pores in it are closed and I think it looks better than red. I’m starting to get a bit jaded for black walnut as well. I used to make pedestals and plaques for a taxidermist and the only wood names he knows are oak and walnut. 😢
Dave.

[smag]

Cravotta Brothers made plenty White Oak risers. They were lammed up. Problem is same with any opened grained wood like white oak: when it gets aged it gets very dry and is ceptable to running a grain. This problem is not present in the maple they most often used. I have a white oak 64" Cravotta 40@28 and it is one of my very favorite glass bows. Not super fast but a very sweet deer killing tool.

Smag~

[MikeNova]

I had a jerry hill longbow w a oak riser. Super nice bow but it was to heavy for me.