Red oak, for beauty is it alright to ring chase?

[Kitsu]

i have stumbled upon a really nice red oak tree (about 6 inches thick and atleast 30 ft tall before canopy ) i got into staves and got about 8 usable longbow staves and about 4 usable normal/half foot shorter than me, and about 8 that can be used as shortbows (was a huge tree and i even harvested the canopy as best i could , 

my question is, is it worth removing the sapwood and ring chase it, or should i just remove bark and clean it up then leave it as is and shape it like that, honestly i love how beautiful the center of this oak is, it isnt like the others, its almost as dark as black cherry, its breathtaking (sorry if u dont appreciate this as much as i do ) as of now i have one in progress whereas the other staves are seasoning, i am rough shaping them so they dry quicker and i can make bows easier

but honestly, should i remove the white sapwood and keep the beautiful red heartwood for the bow, any suggestions?

[Jmilbrandt]

I don't think that you necessarily have to remove the sapwood on red oak you should be able to remove the bark and use that as your back. If the sapwood is to thick to keep the heartwood you may want to thin it or remove it completely. Red Oak will work fine without the sapwood. It would probably make a very attractive bow with a thin layer of sapwood. I don't have much experience with red oak staves though but I'm sure some of these other guys will post some better advice for you.

[George Tsoukalas]

Jmil, gave you good advice. Take off the bark and make the bow. No need to chase rings. Bark should come off easily now and not so easily after it cements itself on. Jawge

[Shooter_G22]

pictures!!

[Hillbilly]

I don't see why it would hurt anything, but oak is a pain to chase a ring on. How thick are the rings?

[Kitsu]

I don't see why it would hurt anything, but oak is a pain to chase a ring on. How thick are the rings?

very very very thin

 >.< i swear to god i really hate my parents, but anyways ill use a scanner later >.> wont be as good as a camera but it will do alright?

[Kitsu]

i mainly wanted to know this because the sapwood seems to be a little ... dull, there is plenty of both (more sapwood) but i would rather leave a little bit of the sapwood but not a 60/40 on sapwood/heartwood ratio >.>

i dont care about shooting wise, more as a decoration wise, if it shoots well that'd be nice, but i honestly dont care, i just want something wall worthy

[nickf]

it's alwas okay to chase rings, but there's some things you should keep in mind:
-some woods can't handle a high crown, so you might not want to go too deep
- on many woods (like oak) the thickest rings are the strongest, so it may be better to choose the thickest before you start to chase

Nick

[Kitsu]

it's alwas okay to chase rings, but there's some things you should keep in mind:
-some woods can't handle a high crown, so you might not want to go too deep
- on many woods (like oak) the thickest rings are the strongest, so it may be better to choose the thickest before you start to chase

Nick

ill keep that in mind, thanks, im glad i read this before i started going at it, i was going to do after school today,  ill just rough out a few bows and leave that one as is and let it season a lil' =3