Pyramid Elm

[charlie636]

I heat-treat right after floor tillering and I get the belly a dark brown.  By the time I have finished tillering the bow there is only a slight discoloration of the wood left.I hope this is the right place to ask a question. I'm in San Diego and I don't know where to look for Elm. Would a Hardwood lumber supplier have it? What is the actual name of this wood?
Thank You

[Marc St Louis]

The genus name for Elm is Ulmus. 

Now I know that there has been a lot of talk about Red Elm here lately but if you do a bit of research you will find that there are a number of species of Elm that have Red as a common name.  Slippery Elm is called Red Elm but so is Cedar Elm and English Elm as well.  Now Slippery Elm is moderately dense wood but Cedar Elm is one of the most dense species of Elm out there and most likely an excellent bow wood.

[BowEd]

Nice bow and job on that bow Marc.Your customer should be happy.Being ambidextrias[not sure of spelling] would be handy hunting or target shooting.

[Bowman]

Real beauty and fantastic tiller. Like it a lot. :-) What is the difference betweeen the type of elm in North america and the wych elm that is commom here in Norway? I have made a lot of fantastic bows with wych elm. My favourite bow wood. :-) Your bow looks a bit like a classic Holmegaard. :-)

[Marc St Louis]

Besides the working properties I couldn't tell you what the difference is between Wych Elm and North American Elm as I've never worked any.  It is similar to White Elm in density but with strength properties closer to Rock Elm so I would imagine that it is a very good bow wood.

[H Rhodes]

The full draw picture is amazing.  That is perfect tiller.  I agree with what has already been said about elm.  We have winged elm down here,  and with a good heat treating, it is amazing bow wood.  Even with my "gorilla tillering, I am always in a hurry to finish" way of doing, I have yet to break an elm bow.  Now if I could just find someone who enjoys splitting the stuff...... 

Awesome work as usual Mr. St Louis.