For my first laminated bow I'm going to use all red oak.  I have been gathering quite a bit the last couple of weeks and making my own parallels with a band saw.  I'm going to use the hybrid longbow plans from Bingham's and would like some input on what should be the thickness of the parallels for the back and belly. The thicknesses that I have been making are .020-.030, .050-.060, and .100 they are all strait grain.

In your post above you say an "all wood bow" .

Are you going to back and belly it with fiberglass?

The thin laminations are normally used in conjunction with fiberglass as a back and belly.

An all wood bow is normally one large piece of wood for the belly and then another thin piece is attached to the back  (belly wood is a wood good in compression and a backing is wood good in tension)

I hope this helps and maybe some of the other more experienced guys will chime in here and help

At any rate good luck and enjoy the ride

Mike

I wasn't going to use glass for my first try just 4 to 5 wood laminations or what ever it takes to get my stack to .374-.389 per Bingham's chart.

I guess I should ask if this would produce a workable bow or will it just snap with no glass.

trying to shoot for 45-50# @ 28 inches

I will add that those numbers from Binghams chart .389 is inclusive  of .100 of fiberglass laminations (.050 each) which provide most of the working strength in that type of bow.

I have not tried to do a stack without fiberglass myself, but I am thinking it would not hold up at that thickness.

I am working on a 50-55 lb bow, which the laminations measured glass .053
           taper lam butt .110 rate .002 per "
                core lam  .063
                core lam  .063
              prl lam     .063
                   glass  .053
                   total  .405
It should be close to 55# according to Binghams chart.

Regards

Mike

btrout, its my guess that although you can glue up a red oak laminate bow it will not hold together.  you'll need to make it long, at 70" or wide at least 2".  Red oak makes a nice self bow, never would consider it in a laminate bow.  I would suggest ash or maple for the back laminate.

For the work you'll go through, I would not use red oak to make a laminate bow.  Laminate bows are designed to allow the bowyer to use materials on the back and belly (and sometimes core) that have excellent working properties for that part of the bow.  The back needs to have high tensile strength (hickory, bamboo, fiberglass, etc.), the core should be light (if there is one in the stack), and the belly should have a high resistance to compression (ipe, osage, fiberglass, etc.)  Red oak is mediocre in all categories.  Plus, Bingham's "recipes"are heavily dependent upon the glass laminations.  Without them the recipe will inevitably fail in structural integrity, draw weight, and/or performance.

However, red oak can make a very servicable self bow or one with a glued on riser.  Consider these buildalongs if you haven't already:

  http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/boardbowbuildalong.html  

  http://www.oocities.com/salampsio/oak.htm  

  http://sticknstring.webs.com/ferretsboardbow.htm  

  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002064;p=1  

A hickory backed osage or ipe bow is very simply to construct, is easily tillered, and is cheap to construct.  If you're looking at building a laminate, that would be my recommendation.  You could even purchase a kit from one of the reputable TradGang sponsors so that you know the dimensions and lumber are both satisfactory.  Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the input everyone

I think I might try one of the bows that 4est trekker suggested for a working bow

I might even experiment on the laminated oak in my spare time just to see what happens