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Elm harvesting

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Muskyman:
Harvested part of my elm tree today. Decided not to cut the tree down and just took one limb off it. Ended up with two staves that are pretty good sized. Might saw one of them into later on my bandsaw. Both staves are 77 inches in length..
I’m guessing dry it for a year or so?

willie:

--- Quote ---I’m guessing dry it for a year or so?
--- End quote ---

with care and monitoring, you can dry it in a month

start roughing out the bow, but leave the bow the thickness of the handle for now and the width you need full length  1-1/4 thick by 2-1/2 or whatever

seal the ends and up the sides for a few inches from the ends

it will loose a lot of water the first few days, then loose weight slower.  monitor daily for small checks forming and place in a cooler and or less dry place if checks start forming. (checks indicate the surface drying faster than the core) you can be more aggressive drying when more moisture has left

do you have a scale you can check the mass of the bow with and monitor the water loss?

Muskyman:
No scale but I have it on my list of things to buy. Probably let them sit for a while then maybe saw them into more manageable sizes. I put a couple good coats of polyurethane on them. Stashed them in my shed for now. Going to harvest some hickory out back and have some Osage that’s should be ready in September/October. Also have a few bows in the works, so not in a rush. I would like to speed them up some when I get more time to spend on them.
Thanks Willie

willie:
some woods dry well with back and ends sealed but with split faces left unsealed
dunno about elm

Aksel:
What willie said about elm is good advice. In my experience elm doesn´t check much at the ends so I never seal ends. I typically split into staves and reduce thickness. Small diameter elm has an amazing tendency to take a huge back set (and warp), same thing if you reduce green stave to bow dimensions and then dry, so best tip is to leave the stave in uniform dimensions.

A scale and a digital moisture meter is cheap and worth its weight in gold. You just weigh the stave every day or so until no further weight loss. Elm looses moisture quickly and you can easily go from dripping green to finished bow in 30 days. With a scale and moisture meter.

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