Arizona oak for bow wood?

[dane lund]

Hi guys,
On a recent trip to Sunrise, I found a whole lot of oak trees that seemed perfect for bow building.
Don't know what kind of oak, but wondered if it would be worth trying a bow out of it?

[DarkSoul]

Most oaks are excellent bow woods.

[E. Jensen]

In all likelihood, the rings are going to be very close, which is bad for oak.  Its up to you if its still worth it.  I'm personally gonna try and hunt some New Mexico lucust

[burchett.donald]

 Jensen,
             Why is thin ringed oak bad? My last White Oak bow had rings of 1/64"... Let me now what you have experienced...
                                                                                                                          Don

[E. Jensen]

Because oak is ring porous and forms large vessels during early growth.  Since growing conditions are poorer in AZ than in other regions, it is more likely to form a thinner ring, of which a much higher proportion will be vessels.  This results in lower density and lower strength. 

I'm not saying that you can't build a decent bow out of it, or that it will necessarily have thin rings only that it is likely.  All things being equal, it probably will not be as good as oaks growing in more productive regions. 

Only thing you can do is give it a shot.  Not a whole lot of other choices in this state, not only selection, but legality.  I believe you cannot cut oaks on public land under and circumstances.  Of course, I could be wrong. 

[dane lund]

That's what I'm up against right now. As far as I can tell, you can only cut dead and down wood on state land.

[E. Jensen]

I have no idea about state land, only federal.

[JoJoDapyro]

In Utah there are 2 areas you can legally cut green juniper on BLM land. Both are winter range for wildlife so they are closed in the winter months.

[DarkSoul]

Because oak is ring porous and forms large vessels during early growth.  Since growing conditions are poorer in AZ than in other regions, it is more likely to form a thinner ring, of which a much higher proportion will be vessels. 

That's not true. You are confusing earlywood/latewood ratio with ring thickness. They are two independent matters. Ring porous woods, such as oak, are stronger with a low percentage of earlywood (the big vessels). But a thin ring does not necessarily cause a lot of earlywood and less latewood. This depends on various growing conditions. Thin ringed ring porous wood can still have a very good earlywood/latewood ratio, and as such it can still be very strong.

[E. Jensen]

I don't agree, but that's fine.  I admit I don't know everything.

[okie64]

Post some pics of the trees and we can probably tellyou what kind of oaks they are. Most will agree white oaks are better than red oaks but either will do. Ring thickness is not as important as earlywood/latewood ratio, more latewood equals denser wood.

[Woody Knot]

Just thought Id add something here that I've experienced seasoning white oak over here in the UK.
 Found a couple lovely straight 6 inch dia trees with little or no branch growth.
cut them, split them and all looked as perfect as can be.. I also debarked them,they were then put away in a cool dry airy Barn (asbestos roof) along with some similarly treated Elm.
Just recently pulled them out, the Elm is still straight. but the Oak has taken a little reflex at ends which is fine  but also some ends have twisted resulting in of course more work!
 So next time with oak Ill tie them to something straight or shaped, and solid and maybe rough them a little closer to finished.
 ..hope that saves you a little grief later.
Garry

[Springbuck]

  Some white oaks, which is what we have in Utah as Gambels, Bonneville, and scrub oak, look and act almost as if they were diffuse porous woods.  My experience making a few, it seems like rings don't much matter if the wood is hard and sound.

  The bigger problem is drying them without big belly checks in our dry climate.  Also, fungus seems to love oak, so harvest, peel, split, and dry carefully.