masters red oak; and laminated bamboo decking?

[cadet]

Dropped into Masters the other day to see if they'd restocked the 18x42 red oak I've played with while on the steeper end of my learning curve; they'd restocked the rack - but with tas oak instead. Are they phasing it out due to the difficulty/cost of getting it out of North America?

So I went to have a look at their piles of spotted gum decking, and nearby found some 19mm thick laminated bamboo decking; has anyone used that for anything? Is it any good?

[Nezwin]

Dropped into Masters the other day to see if they'd restocked the 18x42 red oak I've played with while on the steeper end of my learning curve; they'd restocked the rack - but with tas oak instead. Are they phasing it out due to the difficulty/cost of getting it out of North America?

So I went to have a look at their piles of spotted gum decking, and nearby found some 19mm thick laminated bamboo decking; has anyone used that for anything? Is it any good?

If they are phasing it out, I'll have to head to my local and stock up. Red Oak has proven to be a reliable & consistent, if not high-performance, timber choice for me.

I've used the laminated bamboo decking for ground lams before. There are keyhole gaps in some places, which have to be avoided and would probably make it a poor choice for a self or bilaminate backed bow.

[Nezwin]

Confirmed today that Masters are discontinuing Red Oak in favour of 'Australian Oak', which is undoubtedly the same general species as 'Mountain Ash' and 'Tasmanian Oak'.

Anybody who thinks they might have a use for a little Red Oak down the line (for perhaps teaching simple bow making or even for building quick, easy & cheap bows) would be advised to head to your local and buy a board or two up. There wasn't a lot of straight-grained pieces left at the Wagga store, so good luck!

[yeoman]

It's the end of a short era.