I purchased a Red Oak Board and want to attempt to make a bow from it. What is the best deminsions as far as the limb profile for this wood.  What kind of backing is needed if any?

This will be my second bow attempt.

Check out the How-to segment on this sight and follow the...So you want to build a bow forum... It won't steer you wrong.

Good Luck and post pictures of your progress!

Yep, follow this link down the rabbit hole and hang on...

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


-Cheers!

Rabbit hole is right, lol take the blue pill and go back home. It's much easier if you don't know. Ha ha

Thanks

Hey Chris,
Within the last 6 months I started with a red oak board as well and started following along with all these guys on this site. Now my life is ruined. I go to sleep at night thinking of tillering. I wake up thinking about my limb profiles. I can't drive by my city's parks without eyeballing all the trees looking for a possible stave to make. And to top it all off, I still don't have a shootable bow!!!
But good luck brother and post pics of your progress please!

See my comments on the Red Oak on a recent post.  I believe that you will be much happier with a backing.  I have seen too many Red Oak total self bows 'blow up' without backing.

Make sure that your board has a vertical grain throughout.  I have made bows from quarter sawn and plain sawn boards, but if the grain runs out it could well mean big trouble.

Chris,there are many good sites you can check out.Try poor folk bows.

Hello gang. This is my first post. I just registered on tradgang today but have been studying on here for a couple months. I built my first bow...a red oak board bow backed with drywall tape using Sam Harper's build along on poor folk bows. She's shooting pretty good but got 3" set. I look forward to chatting with y'all. From everything I've read on here there are some guys that are not only extremely talented but have some exceptional character... except for that one old coot Roy! Ha. Good luck on the board bow. I look forward to seeing it. Oh..and just kidding about Roy. His generosity is almost heroic.

Welcome Redman, you are right the folks here are a wealth of knowledge. Even if they do tend to get you into trouble! Enjoy the obsession!