Is it OK to use red oak to make lams? My new project is to built a glass lam bow as cheap as possible and with mostly locally available materials.

Sure............red oak lams will make a good shooting glass bow. The limb design is more important than the lam material used. I have used: Red oak, Hickory, Sassafrass, Poplar, Cedar, Hackberry, Locus, Elm and my favorite Cypress, along with a number of others, all with good results.

Build your bow and post your opinions along with lots of pictures.

James

They make lams from foam. Pretty sure anything but balsa wood is ok .... And maybe even balsa wood too.

QuoteOriginally posted by LittleBen:
Pretty sure anything but balsa wood is ok .... And maybe even balsa wood too. [/QB]

balsa=big mistake!!lol

"As cheap as possible" may create a cheap bow... Look at the local hardware store and see how much extra some maple or walnut would run you, they are know bow making wood and you will notice you don't see may oak glass combo bows.

Cheap bow layout
Back- black glass 14$
4 lams of hard maple
Belly - black glass 14$
Riser maple I beam style
Riser and lams cut from 1x6 60" rough cut hard maple15$ or less
Pint of smooth on 20$
63$ plus whatever you need for a form and tools that's assuming you get it on the first try.

Good luck, get er done we wanna see pics too!
Cory