Red oak will make a war bow at a reasonable mass weight. The tiller needs to be a full arc of the circle and the belly flatter than you might get away with yew. A few years back I made 7 bows between 270# and 300# out of red oak. They were used on a giant wheel like a crossbows, they were designed to draw 24" and they set it up to draw 30" so they took a lot of set but red oak is a decent bow wood.
That just sounds like all kinds of fun. I bet you set some world records with those bows. Sounds like a ("exploitative") to tiller,
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check this out
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/26702#.Ur2s2PRDvL8
I've had similar results to this guys bow using other woods close to red oak in compression, like a couple pieces of crappy yellow heart (I know yellow heart can be good, but I had some crappier pieces which would chrysal a lot). I think the key is that:
- The bow is long, distributing stress more evenly than the typical red oak flat bow
- The bow was glued up in reflex with a resilient backing
I think the backing, when using a resilient backing that is good at recovering and holding reflex, is used in a longbow design, when glued into reflex, the belly wood will appear to be under less stress or appear to take compression better. But I don't know if it appears that way only, or actually is less stressed? For example, I had a trilam bow that had 2" reflex or so. It might of been maple backing, PH core, and hickory belly, or it might of had a bamboo backing, can't remember for sure. But something was wrong with the bow, and I delaminated the it. When I did so, the belly promptly took a bunch of set, where the entire bow had held reflex beforehand! The backing and core didn't wanna delaminate from each other, and so they both held the glued in reflex still. This is just one example, but I have had this experience a bunch of times. I have a boo/something/jatoba bow still (or a piece of it anyway) that held 2 or 3 inches reflex, where the belly had chrysaled to no return. Same thing with a couple trilams with boo backing and yellow heart bellys too. My whole point is not just about perry reflex hiding or compensating, at least in the unbraced appearance (set/reflex) for the compressed belly cells, but also the fact that a backing, or maybe even the back of a selfbow, can have a big effect on whether a bow takes set or not. Makes you think, when you consider how yew is known for it's sapwood, and osage and locust are known for removing it, etc.
