Elder bow / little buildalong

[bowkee]

Way, Nice learning experience, Thanks.

[medicinewheel]

Great job Acker, nice bow!

[acker]

@all: thank you

Elder, is that like an Alder? Thought they were basically weeds, but you showed me something Acker. Nice bow.

No, Elder is Elder .
There are two different sorts of Elder . Black Elder (sambucus nigra) is what you want for bow building, the other one, Red Elder isn´t very good for bows.
But they do look the very same in the winter time, but it is very easy to seperate them from each other.
             ( click on the pictures)

Here are two limbs , red elder and black elder can you see the differents ? No?


Just break a little limb and  have a look inside.
The black Elder has a white medullary canal , the canal from red Elder is, guess what?  red


Thats Elder :




Hope that helps you searching for the right tree.

Here are two other Elder bows I´ve build,
My son´s bow:






One of mine
You alway´s have them big knots






The one on the right is ELder


here on the left




acker

[Del the cat]

Nice work, I'd always assumed that with that big pithy centre and it's fast growing habit the wood would be soft...I'll have to give it a go.
This is the same Elder that we get in the UK with big bunches of creamy white flowers which turn into big bunches of black berries right? (You can make Elderflower wine...mmmm tasty)
Del
BTW. I appreciate how much work goes into taking all the photos and doing the build along....thanks for taking the trouble, great pics.

[acker]

@Del the cat: Thank you, yes thats the black elder. Wine , jam, juice  and bows we can make out of it -> cool tree

Gruß acker

[Lombard]

Wei ghets es ihnen, Acker? Vielen Dank! Mach's Gut.

[parspektiv]

Great bow! I have had my eyes on a stovepipe straight elder tree for a while now... mayby it´s time to cut it down and make a bow out of it. How good is it in compression, possible to make a round belly and sinew back it?

[OldBow]

Any chance of a full draw picture?

[acker]

@Lombard : Danke , soweit gut.
@parspektiv: Elder is good under compression you can even back it with bamboo , no problem at all.
Here is one I made last Autumn backed with hickory:


(Hickory , ash , elder)

@Oldbow: I`ll try to....
Gruß acker

[parspektiv]

Thank´s acker! But it´s hard to see in the pictures, do you keep the belly flat, or is it round?

[Orkraider]

Wow, what an awesome build along. There's something magical about seeing something go from a tree to a bow.

Very very impressive.

[acker]

Thank´s acker! But it´s hard to see in the pictures, do you keep the belly flat, or is it round?

It was supposed to be round but there were some failere in the belly wood so my only choice was to make a flat belly.

[Jude]

That's a nice looking bow, and the tiller looks great.  I had read someplace that Elder wasn't good for bows, but there was no distinction made between red and black.  Do they both make white flowers followed by bunches of red-purple fruit, or is that only Black Elder.

[acker]

@Jude: Both of them has white flowers.
The red Elder has red fruits and black elder has black fruits.

Gruß acker

[Keenan]

Excellent bow and great buildalong. the hemp fiber demo was especially neat and very nice looking. Congratulations