Red oak bow stave newbie question

[Stick Bender]

Hi guys new here , have a couple of questions for you I have made 3 board bows 2 good ,one failure
But new to stave bows ,I have a Red Oak stave & under the bark it has about 3/4 of a inch of sap wood
Having never worked with Red Oak I was wondering if I use the sap wood as is,since it wood be most of the back & belly or trim down I have no idea & havent found much info ?  Appriciate any help.

[wizardgoat]

Yes use what's under the bark for your back.
where do you live? There's probably better options than red oak

[Stick Bender]

I live in Illinois , Thanks for the help  wasn't sure about that thick sap wood on red oak , I mostly have acsesse to lumber yard boards of any kind but wanted to try a couple of white wood staves tell I build a osage hunting bow happened to have the red oak on hand.

[paulsemp]

Illinois, lots of Osage here

[Stick Bender]

Wish I could find a good Illnois osage supplier,every thing I find on the net seems to thinned ringed for a first time osage bow.

[Pat B]

Once you get to know a few folks here on PA and they get to know you, you will be able to find better bow wood. Until then, work with what you have and listen to the recommendations given here.

[paulsemp]

Thin works real well. Tell people what area you live in and may have people close by. A few minutes with someone and you'd have a ring chased

[Tracker0721]

No help on the red oak but I watched that video from clay Hayes on making a bow and the duller draw knife for chasing a ring is awesome. It just peels the layers apart and makes chasing tight rings a breeze.

[Stick Bender]

I appreciate all the great help I'm getting 'you guys are great,I thought about what every body said & decided to shelve the red oak & ordered a Osage stave from a honest source it's strait & 69 in. Long by 21/2 in wide & thick it has 2 very small pin nots  but the back other than that is very clean ,I'm going to finish a maple bow I'm working on first ,then practice chasing a ring on another not so nice osage stave I have & at the end of hunting season start on the osage bow ,but kind of stuck on design between the TBB osage build or Dean Torges hunting  bow  my draw is 29 in.maybe I should start a different thread for that ?

[Pat B]

I've just started rereading Dean Torges' "Hunting The Osage Bow" . Lots of good info there.