All things equal and strait grained does anyone have a prefrence for quarter sawn vs. flat sawn for board bows.  I've made one of each now and cant realy tell a difference,  but then im not real experenced at this yet  

I met a guy at the TN classic that milled 1/4 sawn wood just for building bows and said it was stronger. The way he explained it to me sold me on it and if I build any more board bows it will be 1/4 sawn.

I would think that flat sawn boards would be prone to lifting a splinter. Don't really know just my thoughts.

I like quarter sawn as it seems that you have fewer grain runout issues. Others will chime in with their own viewpoint which will be just as valid and maybe even more reasoned out than mine.

1/4 sawn is stronger

Quartersawn, too hard to find flatsawn without runout issues.  If I found one that was perfectly flatsawn, no grain runout, I'd use it.

I wonder about White vs Red Oak - I can get quarter sawn white oak fairly readily from a local shop but I doubt anyone spends the money on quarter sawn red...

I believe that quarter sawn has better resistance qualities(bending and recovery) than flat sawn. I met that guy too, Kris. He supplies Rich most of his bow wood...and will custom cut wood.
 jvermast, white oak is stronge.IMO

White oak is stronger than red, and i think cheaper because red is used for decorative stuff.  I used white oak to back a highly strained red oak bow, worked wonderfully!   :D

Real answer is it depends. The last cut of a flat sawn log is basically identical to the first cut of a quarter sawn log. I agree for the first cut of a flat sawn log you're gonna have grain runoff and you'll need to back it to prevent splintering. The first cut off a quarter sawn log has grain that runs basically straight from back to belly. This is much better for a self bow.
The best would be rift sawn where every board cut has grain like described for first cut of a quarter sawn log. Rift sawn is the least common and most expensive. If you're not millim it yourself just search for a board(flat or quarter) which has rings running perpendicular to back and belly.

QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
I believe that quarter sawn has better resistance qualities(bending and recovery) than flat sawn. I met that guy too, Kris. He supplies Rich most of his bow wood...and will custom cut wood.
 jvermast, white oak is stronge.IMO

Oh, I know that for sure, it's just 3x the price of red per board foot  :(

Grab either one if you can find it. Both cuts make fine bows. 1/4 sawn is stronger per Tim Bakers test in TBB.

The 3 important things in board bows are 1) grain, 2) grain and 3) grain. No knots. None. The straightness of the grain  determines the strength of the bow. All 3 cuts will make a fine bow-1/4, plane and rift. On flat and rift look at the face grain. On 1/4 look at the edge. Made bows from them all in the 50# range and I allow a couple of run outs  per limb. Heavier bows need straighter grain. Info.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
Jawge

Forgot to mention 1/4 sawn will tolerate no run outs. None. Jawge

Just use 1/4 sawn and never look back:)