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How much can elm take?

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KShip85:
I've really got my heart set on making a heavy weight warbow.  No yew to be found near by right now so I have spotted what I believe to be a rock elm tree that had the top taken out by a tornado or straight line wind but left the bottom in tact and still rooted.  My question is what is the top weight anyone has gotten out of elm?  I've seen some nice elm bows on here between 80 and 100 lbs but would like to see if I could get something higher, say 140 or higher.  I've got a hackberry war bow I just finished pulling a little over 100 lbs at 32 inches, but want something more.  Any help would be great, and pictures of elm bows on the high end of the scale would be awesome as well, thanks for the help!

Kip

radius:
what's your purpose in building such a strong bow?  I've got an 80# yew which would take down a bear or moose...and no french knights on the horizon...

i get it:  you WANT to build one...but why?

KShip85:
I don't really have too great of a reason other than I'd like to see if I could make one that weight.  Also, I just like the looks of them and would enjoy having something close to an authentic medieval war bow and war arrow set.  I've seen a lot of nice things on here and it seems that at least a good portion of people believe that authentic bows should be in this higher weight category, I think some people even recommending that 180# is closer to actual weight for the period.  I know yew is the standard for such a bow, and that there are those who will say if its not yew it can't be an authentic war bow, but its also my understanding that when yew was scarce elm might have been used in its place.  I will admit that not the least reason for me wanting to do this is simply the fact I'd like to see if I could build up to drawing that weight or higher.  I figure its cheaper and a better learning opportunity for me to try and build one myself rather than buying one from someone.

Kip

adb:
Did you see the two elm warbows that Marc posted?

alanesq:

--- Quote from: radius on February 13, 2010, 08:25:52 am ---what's your purpose in building such a strong bow?  I've got an 80# yew which would take down a bear or moose...and no french knights on the horizon...

--- End quote ---
I would guess it is because this is a warbow discussion part of the forum so he is talking about making a warbow ?

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KShip85: I think you will need to find some really good quality wood to make a bow of that draw weight
I have tried many times with ash and once with witch elm but always it fails on the belly with chrysals
I understand with the right wood and skill a heavy bow can be made but its not easy

Ash (and I believe elm as well) work very well on the back of the bow though so what I have done is remove the belly and replace it with some lemonwood - this made a 140lb bow no problem at all :-)

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