Types of oak for bows

[Clacker]

I live in an area that is mostly oak trees, pin oak, white oak, and live oak, with some pecan and pine scattered around. Are any of those decent materials to make a self bow from? I've made an arrow already, and working on a few more, it feels odd shooting a handmade arrow from a modern recurve, and I'd like to try my hand at making my own bow. Thanks in advance!

[toomanyknots]

Pecan is hickory and IMO the best out of all you listed, premium bow wood for sure. I would cut as much as you can. White oak is ok I read, I haven't worked more oak other than red oak though. In the bowyers bible in the big mojam test, pecan (hickory) beat everything else and then some.

[Clacker]

I did not know that pecan was hickory. Now those trees in my back yard are starting to look a little different > And what exactly does mojam stand for?

[bubby]

white oak is great bow wood, it will bend more than hickory before it fails

[George Tsoukalas]

Pecan and white oak will do well though I've never used pecan. Jawge

[Wiley]

I know white oak is bow wood, and although I haven't worked with pecan yet, it should be as good a bow wood as hickory if you can find a good stave.

Live oak has one of the highest specific gravities of any wood in north America at around 1.0, don't often see bows made from it but the numbers on it beg for it to be made into bows.

Start with white oak, but if you have access to live oak cut and split some to season for the future as like most of us you will probably find this to be an addiction, if you make one you'll almost certainly make more.

[Clacker]

We have a 24 acre ranch, so I have access to plenty . Only problem will be trying to find a stave straight enough, live oak is usually really twisted. About how long does the wood have to season out before you can start working on it? I know usually about a year, but I'm not sure if it can be worked green with any reliability. I'm mildly impatient so I'd like to start soon

[Wiley]

If green work the stave down to near bow dimensions and clamp it down to prevent it from twisting while drying and leave it somewhere dry. ideally you just let it sit like this until it has stopped losing weight for a week or two. Process can be sped up with a hot box heated with incandescent light bulbs.

My first bow was a board bow, which has the benefit of not having to wait for it to dry. probably enough to get you into it. Work a number of staves down to bow blanks while your waiting for them to dry and in a few months you will have enough ready to occupy your time.

[Clacker]

Exactly how dry does the area need to be? I live on the coast, so 90%+ humidity is an every day thing. I've thought of board bows, but never see any decent grain on the 1x2's when I make a trip to the hardware store, may make a trip today and check again.

[Wiley]

Also be sure to seal the ends well as soon as possible after cutting and seal the back after removing the bark. Both will prevent drying cracks.

As far as live oak, I would look for good sized limbs to prune with the least twisted bark I could find. the way they grow most of the good pieces will have reflex/deflex in them, not ideal for a novice bowyer but probably great by the time they season.

You will get less drying twist while seasoning staves by leaving logs halfed rather than quartered for a while.

As for how dry the storage area is, that will determine what the equilibrium moisture is for the wood is and how quickly it will dry. Your house probably is much less than 90%, but get a humidity gauge for wherever you store the wood. Around here a bit north of central Georgia where its fairly humid  white oak will get to around 12-14% moisture outside and around 8% in the house which is dry enough to begin tillering, heat treating will drop it another couple %.

[zenart]

I did not know that pecan was hickory. Now those trees in my back yard are starting to look a little different >

Pecan is part of the Hickory family, this is from the Bow Wood List put together by Tim Baker, Steve Gardner (and maybe others, not sure): 

"PECANS: nutmeg .60; water .62; bitternut, pecan .66. All in the hickory family. Pecan and hickory are often sold under the same label in yards."

But the 18" dia. Pecan tree we have split looks nothing like any Hickory I've seen. Hickory is usually an overall gray-tan-brown color with typically unmistakable stronger dark grain pattern that runs true.  This Pecan is very clean and clear without any darker grain. The sap and heart are difficult to distinguish from one another making ring chasing a challenge (expect plenty of cussing along the way). And it's tougher than nails (which makes me wonder about the .60-.66 sg listed). Anyway, I suspect we have the Bitternut Pecan but no leaf material to verify. We worked a stave down to mild floor tiller and now letting it dry. It's really pretty wood, has a light cream color when wet and as it dries its changing to a kind of orangish-peach. Can't wait to see how it plays out in tension/compression. We're also making backing strips for Pecan/Ipe longbow, that should be interesting.    .Ron

[swamp monkey]

White oak and red oak lumber will make a bow if you choose a stave that is perfectly decrowned or quarter sawn.  I haven't made one from either wood that started as a stave but lumber bows work!