American Elm Staves

[Tim B]

I just cut  a 6' and a 7' long American elm branch from a huge tree and was wondering if I should take the bark off now or after it seasons. They have great looking growth rings and are @ 12" in diameter. They are split in half to help the drying process and should make at least 4 good bows if I am lucky. Also do they need anything sprayed on them to treat for insects?

[El Destructo]

Peel it now...to make sure that no Borers set in ....and also if you take off the Bark now....it will come off really easy now

[Tim B]

Cool, thanks for the information. Has anyone made a bow with a length of 60"-64" with this wood successfully? I was thinking of a pyramid style @ 2" at the fades narrowing down to 3/8" at the nocks with a bit of recurved tips. Most of the bows I have heard of being made with this type of wood were longer and more narrow.

[DanaM]

Should be no problem elm is tough stuff

[Tim B]

Thanks Dana, most of the bows I have made have been from Osage or Ipe other than one hickory which came in under weight because of the grain lifting on the belly while inducing recurve in the limb tips and I had to scrape the belly down through 2 full rings to get the separation out. I guess steam would have been better than dry heat so I'll steam this one instead and see how it comes out.

[DanaM]

Seal the wood with shellac before steaming, it will cut down on the moisture the wood picks up

[Tim B]

Thanks for the tip, I never thought of sealing the wood with anything before applying heat, just used lard and a heat gun to get the results with Osage and it seemed to work fine but the white wood didn't like it a whole lot.