Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Muskyman on May 02, 2023, 12:16:45 pm
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Have a 8-10 inch diameter elm I can harvest. Do you treat it like Osage and draw knife the bark and sapwood off, or does it come off like hickory does? Leave the bark on and let it dry? I think it’s a slippery elm.
Also how would you rate it as bow wood? As good as hickory, better?
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It will peel off this time of the year, leaving a perfect back. Winged elm is great wood but I don't care for American elm. I have never tried slippery elm.
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Not sure where you live. I'm in central Michigan and the bark wont slip off yet. Another 2-3 weeks and it will easily slip off. I have no problem with any of the elms, it's decent bow wood. Make it 1.75-2" wide and plenty long and you will like it. Tempering it is essential, like all white woods.
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Our local red elm in VA peels off pretty well in May, and makes a great bow. Splitting it is a major bitch, though. You might need a chainsaw to help get through the interlocking grain.
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Really hard to split. Chain saw is the ticket. Not real easy to work with, but my favorite white wood for bow making. Takes heat well, and can make a fine bow.
American elm is the only elm I have had access to, but never any complaints about it. In my area it can succumb to disease often.
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You can also use a circular saw to put a kerf down its length. The split will follow it. That being said, I use saplings for nearly all my whitewood bows. I don't split them, just make a bow.
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PD I’m in southeastern Ohio. This tree is flowering right now. I’m probably going to give it a few more weeks before I cut it. Also have a few shagbark hickory trees out back I looked at last fall. Probably wait a while and get all of them about the same time. Not in a rush.
As far as the splitting goes, You are all right. I’m aware it’s a pain. Got some in the last of my firewood pile and I left it there for that very reason. I split my wood with a maul to help stay in shape and elm will either kept you in shape or kill you. Got to be the stringiest toughest stuff out there.
I’m guessing you have to let it dry for a year or so like other wood?
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At least a year if left a full stave. Or, rough a bow out and stash it somewhere dry and controlled. You could get after it in a few months.
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Chinese Elm is one of my favorite woods, about 5 years ago the city removed 20 of them, pipe straight with no twist or knots for about 8 ft. They were all about 24" in diameter. They piled them up for me but I was not able to get the portable saw mill out fast enough to process them and they were all hauled off. I was sick.
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Ouch, that really stinks Badger. I’d be heartbroken if that happened to me.. It’s tough enough to find decent bow wood without having it snatched away from you. I’m constantly looking for it now days. I’m slowly starting to get a little stockpile built up. I’ve yet to find any that I’d call great but I might stumble across some yet..
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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?
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I’m guessing dry it for a year or so?
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?
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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
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some woods dry well with back and ends sealed but with split faces left unsealed
dunno about elm
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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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I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?
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I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?
2x2 or whatever thickness and width will accommodate your design. the scale will help here as you can basically see how fast its drying and when it stops loosing moisture even if it isnt completely dry enough to reduce to floor tiller dimensions.
you will need it pretty dry to start tillering
you can get it dryer faster by thinning the limbs sooner, but you will have thinner sections dryer than thicker sections. the thicker handle will check if not as dry as the limbs if you rush the later stages of drying
the basic idea is to move it to increasingly drier locations such that it continues to dry, but not so fast such that it checks or warps too much
warpage and the huge backset mentioned earlier come from uneven drying. the outer rings on the back are wetter wood than the heartwood, so they can loose loose moisture faster and shrink more. by keeping the back sealed that excess moisture in the outer rings has to migrate thru to the sides and belly side
clamping straight seems to help with the warpage sometimes, but if there are shrinkage stresses caused by drying too fast, cell damage can still occur at a microscopic level
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I’ve got a moisture meter but no scale..
so take it down to like 2x2 +- and then let it dry? Or would I be better served to reduce to floor tiller and clamp it to a form?
This is what I do mike. Depending on how dry it is I may take greener wood hovering around 10% mc to just pre floor tiller shape then clamp out any wiggles and twist on a form and let sit in the sun for a few hot days. I’ve done this with success on wood cut under a month. It’s not ideal but can be done. I’ll keep checking it and monitor its mc. Once below 8-9% I’ll heat treat. Be aware that surface readings can fool you. For greener wood I would keep some mass and clamp and set aside to dry more and come back to it later.