hardwood ?

[soundman]

I am in the process of building my firdt board bow out of red oak. My question is for future bows will any hardwoods work for a bow?

[Pat B]

Most any wood will make a bow but you must consider the compression and tension properties of the wood to come up with an appropriate bow design.
Oak, hickory, maple, ash, elm, hop hornbeam, persimmon and many others can all be used to build bows.

[George Tsoukalas]

You may want to stay away f rom poplar. I like Pat's list. Jawge

[soundman]

thanks guys