Elm Warbow

[Marc St Louis]

This particular bow that I recently made for a young man in AR is made from Elm.  The first few rings under the bark were very thin and I didn't feel comfortable with them for the back.  I chased 5 or 6 rings till I finally got one that I felt comfortable with, it was about 1/8" thick, the change in color from the early wood to the late wood makes chasing a ring on Elm relatively easy.  Besides that the wood was very nice and clean with a slight kink near one end.  The bow is 1 3/8" wide and 69" N to N.  It pulls 80# @ 32" which is what he wanted.  I know that many will disagree with this but in some ways good Elm make a better Warbow than Yew

[Badger]

   Very impressive mark, as usual tiller looks flawless. Steve

[Josh]

nice bow Marc!    -josh

[Cooper]

that is not a nice bow - it is a strongbow - cheers   

[Josh]

strong bow then, Marc!   ^^^^^^^^   -josh

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

Yes I call it a warbow but it really is just a strong bow.  I am working on a 100# bow out of Elm for another guy

[RyanY]

That is awesome. You're so good I just don't get it! Great work.

[adb]

Nice bow, Marc! I have a couple of elm staves seasoning. I haven't yet made a bow from elm, but I know people that have say it's very good, especially for ELB/warbow designs. I look forward to using it.
What type of elm is your bow?

[Kviljo]

What's most impressing with your bows are the amount of reflex you are able to give them. I usually feel like there's something I haven't understood yet when I see your bows

This one is heat treated, right? How much did you put into it? Are you heat treating longbows differently than flatbows?

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks Guys
Couldn't tell you for sure Adam.  It's not White Elm but could be a species of Red

Yes this bow is heat-treated.  I put in about 4" of reflex in the bow.  All my bows are heat-treated the same

[Yeomanbowman]

A fine bow Marc, and short too.  What was the SG of the wood, please?

[Marc St Louis]

A fine bow Marc, and short too.  What was the SG of the wood, please?

Couldn't tell you for sure but the wood is not from one of the dense species.  I would say around .55

[Matthias Wiltschko]

Great looking bow and wonderful drawweight.

Matthias

[markinengland]

Marc,

It must be my eyes but in the top left hand image it looks like the bow is twisted or is just that just the bow is unstrung and with much of the bottom limb out of the picture?

What kind of section do the limbs have?

Why do you feel it is better than yew? What advantages does Elm have over Yew?

Mark in England

[Marc St Louis]

Mark
It is your eyes, or maybe just the camera angle. 

This Elm is relatively low density but fairly elastic.  The width is, as I said, 1 3/8" and the thickness is 7/8".  The limbs are a D section.

Perhaps I should have said that heat-treated Elm is, in some ways, better than Yew.  They take less set and keep any reflex better than Yew even after shooting for awhile.