red oak board bow questions?

[jturkey]

started work on a red oak board bow it is 56.5 inches tip to tip. i have new respect for red oak to say the least. will heat treating the belly help this wood out at all? i think i read a few heat treating red oak but not sure if it was a board that might have been kiln dried or just staves. i have used swamp oak which is a white wood and was alot easier to work with  but it did not get any heat treating. kind of wonderign because i do not want to tiller it all the way if i am going to have to retiller if i heat treat it would rather heat treat then finish the tillerign process. any and all advise will be taken into effect oh and the width is 1.5 inchs at the fade looking for a 25 inch draw not real worried about weight because it will probally never be shot after i give it away as a decoration but i do not want any set in the final bow no set as of now and would like to keep it that way have only drawn it to about 4 in on the long stick and almost ready to be put on the long short brace string about 2 inches brace want to know before i go any further.

[George Tsoukalas]

I don't know about the heat treating of a board. Sorry. But do be careful. The stave appears short at abut 55 in ntn. Are you letting the handle bend or did you do a glued on handle? Jawge

[johnston]

jturkey do not, repeat, do not heat treat the red oak board bow. I cooked one to death and while waiting for it to rehydrate I contacted Marc St Louis. He said he had no luck heating red oak.

Mine blew like a bomb, would show pic's but want you to be able to sleep tonight. The infinitesimal good you might do to your bow ain't worth it.

Lane

[bubby]

jturkey, I hav'nt had any luck heat treating red oak either, Bub

[jturkey]

george the handle will be bending a little but not too much as i said 24-25ins is fine this bow might not ever be shot after i deliever it because it is to be a true wall hanger but i can't stand to make a non functional anything.also sending 3 arrows to go along with it. but i have decided not to heat treat it due to it being a board and already kiln dried as far as i know. got it on the short brace string abotu 2 in now and seems to be bending pretty evenly i'll try to post some pictures soon.
oh and it is backed with some thin linen cloth i got from the fabric store using tbIII due to a run off in the limb i thought would be ok but decided to back it to be safer. just need it to cool off a little bit to finish up the work on it.