Elm ALB

[shofu]

 I really like the knocks - they go well with the knots. Love hearing where the wood comes from.
Cheers,
George

[NonBacked]

Marc, I have a technical question.

I have a lot of elm, both American and Winged, and I’ve had several failures with cracks across the knots. For the most part, I just remove the bark layers and use the wood surface for the back of the bow. This works fine if the knots are pin knots or rather small (less than 1/8” wide).

From your “Elm ALB” post, I copied the picture of the knots on the back of the upper limb and enlarged the image to about 300X. It looks like you reinforced the areas around the knots with one, maybe two, growth rings. Is that because the knots are so large, or do you typically leave extra wood for knots on elm?

BTW, you did a great job getting that section of the limb to bend with an even arc…I haven’t been that successful.
Thanks, H

[loefflerchuck]

Great looking bow. Nice work on those knots.

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys.

The knots on this bow protruded quite a bit from the back.  I trimmed about half of them out leaving them protruding around 3/16".  This, along with the thick growth rings, was enough protection for the back.  The knots were mostly on the back with only a dark spot on the belly to indicate where they were.

 All knots and wood are different, sometimes they are flush with the back, sometimes you have thin rings, sometimes the rings come up flush to the knot.  If the rings are very thin then leaving leaving extra wood so the limb doesn't bend much is the only way to go.  Essentially experience is the best teacher when it comes to knots and there are quite often no clear cut solution or procedure.

[wizardgoat]

Nice bow Marc. I like what you did with the knots, I may try this on some yew staves I have with similar big branches

[DC]

I'm a little confused. Did you chase a ring and leave the knots proud or did you use the natural back and the knots were naturally proud?

[Marc St Louis]

No chased ring here.  The knots were naturally proud

[DC]

Good proud Canadian knots. Can't get any better than that

[Hans H]

that is another piece from a master, thank you for posting
Hans

[simson]

Always a pleasure looking at the profiles of your bows!
The reflex to the f/d shows the elasticity of that wood.

[silent sniper]

Beautiful bow! Simple and stunningly elegant at the same time. I really like how you shaped the nocks. SS

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys