white oak always seems to make me a better bow when a chase a heart wood ring.any of you guys ever try this with white oak.

Not yet but I’ve always wondered how it would work. I do get excellent results with tempering and trapping though. IMHO it’s an under rated / under utilized bow wood.

Baba here is a story.My son and i cut a white oak down from his property so i could make some bows from it.Seasoned it for a year ,made staves, and starting making bows.I tempered and trapped but not enough,backs of the bows cracked on me after a lot of shooting.I quit using that wood for a long time,then i read somewere that chasing a heartwood ring on white oak makes a very good bow.Figured i would give it a shot. Worked out really well for me.Made three that way. Selfbows.52 to 58 inches long 45 lbs.25 inch draw pyramid bows.Stained walnut look pretty good ,and shoot really good,and no cracks on the backs anymore.From now on that is the way i will make white oak bows.Robert

No, never have done that with white oak. Always leave a sapwood back. Jawge

George the outer growth ring seemed to have been really thin on this tree.Do not know why,and the heartwood was a chestnut color.No doubt in my mind that you could have made a successful bow out of it, and many others out there, it is just what i did, and it worked for me.I am hunter that makes bows,you guys are real bowyers that may or may not hunt.Big difference.I recognized this tree as white oak from the leaves, and i do not know if there are hybrid oaks or not .Maybe some one can answer that question.Just another experience i have gone through making bows.thanks

No more replys. Not many must of tried this, or do not care to.

Never have. I know that White Oak is some big time tough stuff.

Bassman, that's fine if it works for you. I am a hunter who makes bows too. Yes, that first whitewood ring is pretty thin. But I never had a problem with that ring especially if I left it around 2 in wide. Jawge

ok george ,we will leave it at that,good shootin, and good hunting.

fdp,it grows here in western,penna all over the place. White tail love those acorns.Last hunting season on my sons land i killed a 23 inch spread 12 pt buck that scored 158 coming in to eat those acorns.Biggest i have ever killed.Getting back white oak as a bow wood.Yes,as george has said i have also made some successful bows with this wood by just stripping the bark off of the back even from saplings. I have 3 hanging on the wall right now,40 to 45 pounders.The tree that i mentioned above did not act the same so i improvised and modified and got some really good bows from it.Now whether or not you chase a ring with this stuff is your personal preferance, but it can make one heck of bow when do it.In my opinion.thanks.

Baba try it some time. I think you will like it,after all we do chase rings to the heart wood on osage and black locust and some other woods.It just takes more time to do it, and white oak has some fair size heartwood rings,with a little care it is not that hard to do.IMHO i think it makes a better bow when done properly.thank guys.

When I was living in Southern Ohio I used to hunt the White Oak stands as well Bassman.

Used to put my son in a groundblind we had on a ridge. looking down a good stand. I knew he would see enough deer and other critters there to keep him occupied. :) There are some in Texas. Over around where I grew up. But here on the edg of Balcones Escarpment, not so many.

Even so you have some bow woods down there that we would like to have up here,i suppose.

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