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Elm

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BowEd:
I've been hollerin and looking for this hard elm for quite some time.
I'll let it dry quite a while.At least a year I'd say.It should dry faster than osage not being quite as dense.
Leaving them in a pie shape as they dry.Straight as a gun barrel type logs before scoring it to split.Hopefully that'll deter any warping.The last winged elm behaved great while drying.Leaving them outside in the tractor shed on a rack.
It's cool weather here as of lately.That's a good thing.Let it dry slowly in the beginning.It does'nt seem to be all that overly wet wood/full of sap and running out right now.
I've got some other dried staves to work with till then of course.
I make many different types bows but always seem to drift back into making self bows.

Dances with squirrels:
Those are some fine looking logs  :OK

BowEd:
Thanks...It'll be fun to work with damn near perfect wood for a change.

superdav95:
Hey Ed.  I just harvested some elm myself actually.  Couple nice straight logs.  I split the large one in half and scored all of them about an inch.  I debarked mine cause during the splitting on the one log the bark practically fell off anyway.  Seemed very wet under the bark.  More then usual.  I guess depending on the time of year it’s harvested has something to do with that.  I sealed up the ends and exterior of the logs and halves.  Do you debark your elm logs and or staves most of the time or does it depend time of year???  Do you always score your logs as well.  I’ve heard varying viewpoints on this but my opinion is that I’d like to see what I’m dealing with too.  It’s hard to know what you got sometimes with bark on especially with elm and hickory.  Many times I’ve been disappointed to find worm/.beetle damage under the bark of a nice straight stave.  Do you score yours and leave the bark on and seal the ends?   I’d be curious to hear and willing to learn. 

BowEd:
Cool...Glad you found some elm.Was there any heartwood in it?Did the twigs have any appendges on them?

Normally I split wood into staves.Starting at one end and following the line it makes with wedges.Especially with characterish type logs.

I traveled about 600 miles for these elm staves so I wanted to get as many as possible.This elm was so straight I was'nt afraid to score it.Made sure scoring went through any knots that were there to eliminate them from the bow.

Did the same thing you did.Split it in half and got 3 staves from each half.Scoring every one.Snappnig a string line on the bark and scoring.The longitudal grain underneath was nice and straight too after debarking,and I always debark immediately fresh cut wood.I make the time to do it and always curious to know what's underneath that bark.

Splitting these normally I probably would of only gotten 2 staves per half.So I got 4 extra staves from scoring.

I rarely leave and don't leave the bark on any staves no matter what time of year I cut it.

The wood was a little wet underneath after bark removal this time.I wiped it dry/let it set a few hours in warm weather.Then shellacked it twice.
I use shellack from a quart can and apply liberally with a brush.

I use a 6' metal ruler and trace out a near perfectly straight stave.I've trimmed them up a bit with a resaw blade on my bandsaw.2.25" wide or so and 1.75 inches deep into a kind of piece of pie shape.
Previous elm staves behaved nicely so I hope these will too.

One log did have some weird superficial bug damage no deeper than 1 ring,but that's ok.No burrowing or tunnels.Just an imprint of some kind of worm.
Look forward to them getting dry.

Long ago with no supply of staves I did a quicky dry of an osage stave once.Rough cutting and filing to floor tiller shape.Taking inside house to less humidity.Weighing every other day etc.Still took me close to 6 weeks before I got a bow.

I believe lesser dense wood you could cut the time a bit shorter.I was intrigued by seeing a video about quick drying and tempering a hickory stave/bow over coals clamped to a form though.I'm wondering if that could be done with elm?

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