I've never had any success with Red Oak as a bow. All of them I broke. I do have a hickory bow that I lightly tempered the belly with. At first it worked pretty well. I felt it gaining a few more pounds. The string follow reduced. Over time however, all that work went to nothing because hickory have the tendency to absorb a lot of moisture. The bow "became soggy" in a sense that it lost some of its poundage and gained the string follow again. I do notice it that it performs better in the winter because of the dryer climate though. Haven't tried tempering since then.