just bought the wood for my first bow...

[bicyclemonkey]

Does this red oak 1x2 look ok?  I tried to find the board with the most dense late growth rings.  Also, I'm wanting this bow to be like 20-30 lbs.  Will I still need to put a backing on it if it's that light weight?

 

2" side
 

2" side
 

1" side
 

1" side
 

[Pat B]

Can you chase that top ring the full length of the stave? If so, you shouldn't need to back it. If not, I would use a simple backing of brown grocery bag paper and Tite-Bond glue.

[bicyclemonkey]

This is going to be my first bow EVER lol!  I don't know if I'm skilled enough to chase rings yet.  Does the wood look OK otherwise?  Looking at the pic of the end of the board (1st pic), should the top be the back and the bottom be the belly or reverse?

[Pat B]

Looking at the top pic the back is up and the belly is down. How long is your stave and how long will the draw be at 30#?

[bicyclemonkey]

Originally posted by Pat B:
Looking at the top pic the back is up and the belly is down. How long is your stave and how long will the draw be at 30#?

That was what I thought.  It's a 72" board and the draw length will be 28"

[Apex Predator]

Looks like flat grain to me down the back, with quite a bit of run-off.  I would definitely back it.  Jawge can tell you for sure.

[George Tsoukalas]

Good call, Apex and Pat. I'd take it back, bicyclemonkey. Sorry. There's just too many run ups or run outs. If you kept it 72 in. and backed it with silk, linen or burlap, I'd feel better about it. More on boards here. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net

[bicyclemonkey]

That's what I was afraid of, especially after reading the Sam Harper article.  I saw the nice dense late growth and got excited  

[razorback]

Bicyclemonkey, I did the exact same thing with my first board, end grain looked exactly like that and I thought real good down the side. Well it blew up when I went to put the short tiller string on it and it was backed with paper. Take it back or use it for something else and get a better board. Verticle grain with no runouts is better than flat grain with runouts, imho. get another one and have some fun and shoot for 45# as it will probably end up at 25-30# anyway, LOL.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Better looking then my red oak board was, so a 50-55# weight with air backing is do able. So that weight no backing, IMOA.

[bicyclemonkey]

OK, I returned the questionable wood to Home Depot and exchanged it for another.  I think this one looks much better.  Is this one a keeper?

     

2" side
   

2" side
   

1" side
   

1" side
   

[rainman]

Yep, that is a nice board.

[bicyclemonkey]

Is it going to matter which side is the back and which is the belly?

[Pat B]

Make the best side the back. It is taking the tension stresses.  The outside of the tree is the side where the end rings bow upward.