Hi guys, im new to this site and new to building my own bows from boards but am loving it like nothing else. So far I have built two bows from red oak boards, the first one broke (bad tillering) and the second one is still shooting but with a lot of handshock. Now I will venture off into hickory and was wondering what should my grain look like, I have seen lots of build alongs that showed the end of boards and am a little confused. I get the impression that its a personel preferrence (flat grain growth rings or vertical grain growth rings), can yall give some help in my selection of boards. Pics would be nice. Thanks alot.

Hoyt dorado, browning nomad stalker, ben pearson colt, and last but not least a Wing oh and one red oak board bow!

If you havent already looked, try Sam Harpers Site Poor Folk bows, he has an excellent tutorial using red oak in a down to earth vernacular.

Lots of the guys here that build board bows from red oak, will tell you quarter sawn with no grain run outs or offs.

I have done a couple that have vertical grain on the back of the bow for strength in tension and then horizontal grain on the belly (plain sawn) which would be good in compression. Glued using TBIII.

Good Luck and Keep reading (Bowyer Bibles are a good resource)

Mike

You need straight grained with no more than 2 run outs or run ups per limb. I look at the edge grain. There's no need to look at the end grain. More on my site.  Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/