Question about red oak board capabilities?

[Kevinnator11]

So first of all hello.  I'm new to this forum and have been lurking for a couple of days. See a lot of familiar names.

I've been working on a red oak board bow.  #4 for me and so far it is 68" NTN and it's pulling around 70lbs at my 29" draw.  Stiff handled and I tillered it without backing which was my first time.  I heat treated the belly and tried to get some reflex using dry heat on a form but that didn't work out very well.  It seems that I need to put some oil or something on it next time.

The tiller looks fairly good and I've added silk to the back as a precaution and I've noticed I still need a little scraping on the lower limb.  

Can red oak handle the high draw weight?  BTW I believe my scale is off a bit so it's probably more low 60's.  Very low set, probably around 1".    

Also, thanks to Sam from Poor Folks for the addiction.  The old lady is not so appreciative.

[J. Holden]

Hello Kevin and welcome.  I'm no expert but have read quite a few posts that say red oak is not the bow wood of choice for high poundage.  I made my first one 50# and it took about 2" of set.  Some say set is not a bad thing but I personaly don't like it.  For red oak I'd say you should lower the poundage.  I'm sure others will chime in.  Good luck!

-Jeremy

[LittleBen]

Welcome Kevin! Red oak has a great reputation and z bad reputation at the same time. I personally like red oak very much. Many factors involved in limit of draw weight. Limb width, tillering profile(to some degree), acceptable set, length, draw length, heat treating etc. my experience is that red oak is only moderately improved by heat treating. It will tend to chrysal on the belly before failing under tension assuming thd tiller is very good. For a red oak bow 72" long 1.5in wide for 2/3 of the limb then tapering to nocks and stiff handle, 60lbs at 28" isn't unreasonable. Especially with a little heat treating .... Wouldn't put in a ton if reflex though. Good luck.

[John Scifres]

Sounds pretty aggressive but let us know how it goes.  Post some pics if you can.

[blue_beast_66]

I'd say if you have that much weight at that draw without exploding your tiller must be pretty spot on. But I would lower the weight for sure.

[George Tsoukalas]

Well, the question is --can the stave you chose handle that poundage? You see the straighter the grain the more the poundage that can be obtained. Straight grained red oak is capable of well over 70#. Check Tim Baker's chapter in TBB2. My site may help you also. Any size knot is fatal.  Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html