Elm sapling

[NewBowyer]

A tall thin elm sapling started leaning over so far it was partially blocking my driveway, so I cut it down today, removed the bark, and cut it into 2 sections of 71” & 65”. Are they simply too knotty and crooked to work with, or is there any hope that there could be a bow hidden inside? Maybe even a kids’ bow? The Picture This app says it’s slippery elm, Ulmus rubra. It’s about 2.5” diameter at the thick end tapering to just over 1” at the thin end.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

I dont think crooks are bad for It bit i did Read and found out myself that knots in the bending part are bad

[dylanholderman]

It’s kind of hard to tell (looks like your camera washed it out a bit) but I think you could tease a bow out of those two, leave em long and locate the cleanest side for your back.

[NewBowyer]

Is it better to position the knots In the middle of the back rather than near the edge? There are enough that I’ll have to deal with at least some of them. Those kinks should make for some interesting tillering. Any suggestions on how to best orient those? (I had to use medium resolution because of the file size restriction.)

[George Tsoukalas]

If you cut the crooks off how long would the staves be? What is your draw length? Jawge

[NewBowyer]

53” & 48” if I cut them off at the kinks. My draw is 27.5” so I think I’ll have to deal with those kinks or else make youth bows. Can’t just put them in the firewood pile (even if that might be the wisest choice)!

[George Tsoukalas]

I think you are correct on that. So here is what I do with saplings.

http://traditionalarchery101.com/saplingbow.html

Jawge

[NewBowyer]

Excellent; I’m gonna shoot for one youth bow and one for me; then if I’m batting .500 I’ll be happy.

[George Tsoukalas]

Have fun! You have a great attitude. Jawge

[NewBowyer]

Well we all want that perfect, straight stave or tree but that’s rarely the reality we actually face, especially when I’m just scavenging whatever I can from my own little woods. Hopefully difficulty will build skill. And broaden my vocabulary of curse words.

[Corvus]

Well we all want that perfect, straight stave or tree but that’s rarely the reality we actually face, especially when I’m just scavenging whatever I can from my own little woods. Hopefully difficulty will build skill. And broaden my vocabulary of curse words.

Haha sounds like me and the yew I have been dealing with. Found a good bit, but it is all knotty and basically sapwood not useable so going to back them. I went off looking for yew and have found nothing but lower quality staves. Still it is yew though, so doing what I can with it. Just such a bummer that I won't get that nice color contrast between sapwood and heartwood.

[NonBacked]

 Check-out one of the bowers on our site – “Druid”. He has made some amazing bows out of crooked and knotty limbs.
H

[BAfromPA]

@corvus If you have a bunch of yew sapwood why not use it for backing a better belly wood? Heat treated bamboo or ipe with a yew sapwood backing would be quite the contrast.
@Could you use the crooks as static tips? X2 on druid's work. Also Simson does fantastic work with knotty staves.

[Corvus]

The sapwood is not useable, totally torn up by tons of knots and pins. So all my staves have been turning out as just the heartwood being salvageable, which is why I would back them. The cleanest yew I have found was dead and all the sapwood checked from years of seasoning in the woods. Even the heartwood is pretty knotty, but at least still useable and I will be making some sinew backed bows out of those soon.