Well, yet another bust going through ALL of the red oak at Lowes and Home Depot.  Over the past YEAR, I have found one suitable board.      

What am I doing wrong?  I visit multiple stores in different towns, and yet I can't find anything.

You AZ folks, where do you get your wood for board bows?  I am trying to start out simple.

Thanks everybody!

I say switch woods. I did the same with red oak, 3x then switched to hickory which worked out great, and on to trying others. Do yourself a favor and at least try and find some hickory for your next attempt. Good luck.

Try to find a lumberyard that sells lumber to local cabinet shops and you will have much better luck finding straight-grained stuff. If you have trouble finding out where those are call around to some cabinet shops and they can tell you or some of them might even let you look through their piles.

Have you tried looking through the maple?

Cut down a       tree for staves.

Red oak is not that great....... white oak is way better, hickory is better yet for a first build. They do carry maple at HD.

You can re-cut wider boards following the grain. Some waste of material and money but you do what you have to do. Look for shorter stock that can be spliced. Use wider stock for matched billets.