In praise of white oak...

[Wooden Spring]

OK, this is kindof a follow up to my earlier questions on faceted tillering. The faceted tillering method worked, but as I shaved down the belly of the bow, it was floor tillered when the bow was 5/8" thick consistent thickness, so I've decided to just rough cut my bows at that thickness, then the tillering process can be handeled quickly with a random orbital sander and 60 grit paper...  MUCH easier that way... 

Anyway, the resultant bow was hickory backed white oak. The white oak was beautiful quarter sawn, but my hickory was a P.O.S.
I was experimenting with a few things though, so in the end I figured it didn't really matter.

1-1/2" wide from fades to mid-limb, then tapered to 1/2" nocks. Purpleheart tip overlays. It was about 5/8" thick at the fades, tapering to around 3/8" at the nocks, and pulled an easy 35# at 28". It was a really fast shooter too! (Sorry no pics or video there, I didn't want to get too attached to it since I was going to be destruction testing it)

Since I haven't used white oak before, I decided to do a break-test. As you can see from the "Not Split" to the "Split" pictures, it took a LOT of bend before the crappy hickory gave up. The white oak, although it took a lot of set, it only showed minor compression fractures.

Well, chalk this one up to one of the "GREAT" woods to use...   

Cheers!

[adams89]

  wow! no backing?

[Wooden Spring]

It was backed with a 1/8" strip of hickory, but there was grain issues with it, which is why I chose to use that particular piece for destruction testing.

[Wooden Spring]

I'm sure I missed my calling - I should have went to work for Underwriter's Laboratories. I learn more from destruction testing that I ever get out of wood tables or math formulas. I guess that's my inner architect trying to resurface...

It's been said that the best way to determine if a wood will make a good bow is simply to make a bow out of it. That's sure right!

"If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin'!"

[Aaron H]

Crazy! 

[George Tsoukalas]

Agreed. White oak is a very good bow wood. Jawge

[Pat B]

...and in my experience a hickory backing doesn't have to be perfect. I have made quite a few bows with hickory backings with grain runoffs and all sorts of grain violations and configurations and never had a hickory backing fail.
  It is too bad you don't enjoy the tillering process enough to take your time without using power tools. Tillering slow and steady and watching the bow beginning to bend and learn how to bend and recover is the part of the process I love the most about building wood bows.

[PatM]

I don't think you can praise a wood that's backed with another.

[Aaron H]

It is too bad you don't enjoy the tillering process enough to take your time without using power tools. Tillering slow and steady and watching the bow beginning to bend and learn how to bend and recover is the part of the process I love the most about building wood bows.

100% agree

[Wooden Spring]

...and in my experience a hickory backing doesn't have to be perfect. I have made quite a few bows with hickory backings with grain runoffs and all sorts of grain violations and configurations and never had a hickory backing fail.
  It is too bad you don't enjoy the tillering process enough to take your time without using power tools. Tillering slow and steady and watching the bow beginning to bend and learn how to bend and recover is the part of the process I love the most about building wood bows.

Oh, I do enjoy the process, but I've worked with power tools in the woodshop ever since I was a boy in my dad's workshop. I just don't really know the BEST way to use hand tools...  I'm getting to know them a little bit though. For instance, my nocks are all done with hand tools. The problem is that since I was trained on power tools, it's all I really know, when I pick up a hand tool I really have to think about how to use it properly. 

[Wooden Spring]

I don't think you can praise a wood that's backed with another.

Sure you can!
Families come together from all walks of life and from different backgrounds, bringing their own distinct personalities together to make one beautiful cohesive mix. Why can't bows?

[adams89]

very impressive thank you for testing!

[arachnid]

WOW!!!
I knew white oak is good.... but not THAT good....
Will a white oak board make a good unbacked bow if the grain is iffy? I heard hickory can withstand a serious grain run off..., is white oak the same?

[Wooden Spring]

WOW!!!
I knew white oak is good.... but not THAT good....
Will a white oak board make a good unbacked bow if the grain is iffy? I heard hickory can withstand a serious grain run off..., is white oak the same?

I guess like anything, it depends on what "iffy" means. I always get quarter sawn stuff because it's really easy to get the growth rings to run end to end. With something like that, it'll make an unbacked bow no problem. I used a hickory back in this particular bow ONLY because I wanted to glue in some reflex. The wood didn't actually need it.

Have you got any pictures?

[adb]

I don't think you can praise a wood that's backed with another.

Agreed. We just went thru this whole debate with ERC. Alone, it's a risk. Backed, it's transformed.

White oak is good bow wood, but backed with hickory changes it. I also think white oak is a much better tension strong backing wood than belly wood.