Wych Elm Porn

[SimonUK]

I'm leaving Scotland soon, so I decided to get some more wych elm - it's very difficult to get further south.  So I bought a small log for £20 ($40) which yealded 5 near-perfect staves.  I know it's going to twist as it dries, but hopefully I can get one or two decent bows from this.

By the way, is varnish good enough for sealing the ends?

[Pat B]

I use spray shellac to seal staves. Varnish should work fine. If you aren't sure you got a good seal give it another spray.   Pat

[Yeomanbowman]

Nice harvest Simon,
I've used normal white PVA with good results- cheap, easily-obtainable, quick and easy to see what's been covered . 
Why not wire the staves to some angle-iron or dexion whilst they dry to help keep them straight whilst drying?

[markinengland]

Nice staves.
I wonder how you can tell the diffeence between English Elm and Wych Elm. I have some that seems to split much easier than other Elm I have cut in the past. I wonder if it may be Wych Elm? Any real difference in appearance of tree, leave or log?
Mark in England

[boze]

 Very nice staves Simon!

[SimonUK]

In the absence of something more suitable, I wired them to each other!  Don't worry I'll keep checking them and turn them over now and then.

I asked the man at the sawmill which species it was.  He said he hadn't seen any leaves but guessed it was wych elm purely from knowing where it came from (somewhere called the 'Black Isle' near Inverness).  True, I can't be sure it's wych elm, but it's the predominant species in that area.

The leaves are supposed to be smoother than english elm which are slightly hairy I think.  I've also heard wych elm is straighter grained and this stuff is very straight.  Apart from that I don't know how to tell the difference.

[Rich Saffold]

I think you will get 5 good bows Simon. Elm is easy to heat straighten if it gets a little "funny" on you..Elm in our dry air is as fast as any wood I have tested.

Rich

[chaetaux]

Dont worry ,  this size of steves are safe , besides elm is very plastic in hot air , but I must say young elm tree are better ,have lighter wood. Wych elm is realy great bow wood , only yew in Europe is better.

[Marc St Louis]

A little trick I started using with Elm is I run a saw up the log but leave it whole. The saw cuts speed up drying while leaving it whole avoids the twisting you can get as it dries

[DaveB]

Hi Simon I live near Inverness, which sawmill did you get your log from? Most of the sawmills I have visited are mainly dealing with softwoods or aren't very interested in someone who only wants to buy a small amount of something as specific as bow staves.
Markinengland wych elm has fairly distinctly different leaves to english elm.

[SimonUK]

Hi Dave

I bought it from 'Lothian Trees and Timber' near Edinburgh.  I don't know who they got it from - some forrester in the Black Isle probably.  I find a lot of these sawmills will sell you a small diameter log quite cheaply since they can't turn it into large planks.  They often chop up these for firewood!  Best thing is to phone around til you find someone who has some whole logs in stock and clamber about them looking for a bargain.

I once went to a timber merchant in Huntley which must be near you.  Search google for 'DA Piercy Scottish Hardwood' and you'll find him.  There is also the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers which lists a few around Inverness.

Simon

[huntertrapper]

WHAT IS WYCH ELM Porn?

[Pat B]

HT, An abundance of straight grained white wood shamefully sprawled on the ground.
Simon, you should put black strips over the suggestive parts.     Pat

[kiwijim]

In my limited experience, wych elm has a more-orange brown heartwood, English elm has a more grey-brown heartwood. I have read that wych was rated higher than english elm by medieval bowyers.
Very nice score there!!!

James

[SimonUK]

Yes the heart wood is yellow / orange.