Do you de-crown Elm?

[PlanB]

I've seen some really nice elm bows here, and I was Just wondering whether people usually de-crown a wavy elm stave, or are they just picking really straight wood from big diameter trees to begin with. Because a lot of them look to me like the back is flat across. Can't always tell for sure in a photo....Just wondering how they get there?

[PatM]

No. They are generally just straight wood. You may see a couple of board elm staves that are truly flat.

[riverrat]

if you had a very small diam. stave. i guess you could .i would if i wanted it flat on the back if it was real rounded. Tony

[Pat B]

I've never decrowned any bow wood and don't see a reason to do so unless I wanted to back it but I don't back tree staves either.

[simson]

I've never decrowned any bow wood and don't see a reason to do so unless I wanted to back it but I don't back tree staves either.

Exact same with me

[George Tsoukalas]

I leave heavily crowned staves 2-3 inches longer.
Years ago I decrowned a BL stave. That was the only one I've ever done.
No elm here in New Hampshire so take my remarks accordingly.
Jawge

[PlanB]

Well that all answers my question for sure! The elm bows in the pictures here that I've seen don't have true flat backs then, just more or less camber, depending on the tree.

Thank you!

[PatM]

I leave heavily crowned staves 2-3 inches longer.
Years ago I decrowned a BL stave. That was the only one I've ever done.
No elm here in New Hampshire so take my remarks accordingly.
Jawge

Why don't you have Elm where you are?

[bowandarrow473]

Elm is awesome in tension, no need to decrown any sapling long enough and wide enough to feasibly make a bow. Elm sapling bows are some of my favorites to make and shoot, they are easy to chop out and look very beautiful to my eye. I'm pretty sure that any tree above about 6in in diameter is going to have a very slight crown that is nearly unnoticeable in pictures. I even have a bendy handle hickory bow im working on that came from a 2in diameter sapling and the crown is almost unnoticeable from more than 5 or six feet away as it came from the flatter side of the sapling.

[George Tsoukalas]

PatM, Dutch elm disease destroyed most of the trees years ago. Don't remember when. Jawge

[PatM]

PatM, Dutch elm disease destroyed most of the trees years ago. Don't remember when. Jawge

That doesn't wipe them out. You're probably surrounded by small Elms and don't even realize it. Dutch Elm disease hit here probably 40 years ago and you can still find Elm everywhere. It only takes out the mature trees and limits the lifespan of most of the trees that bounce back.

[PlanB]

Young elms grow to about 20 feet here frequently before getting hit with the disease. It kills them very quickly, usually within the same summer of getting infected. It is spread by a beetle that has a very limited flight distance. Trees that are isolated can grow to maturity because the beetle doesn't reach them.

The problem is, those trees seed a lot. The seeds are carried away and eventually grow into a line of young trees that lead back to the mature tree. Then when the young tree line gets infected, the disease can travel back to the mature tree, following the path of the seed spread.

I see many young elms here in southern Vermont, often lining roadsides like a hedge, and then they die out. Also along streams, when the seeds are carried down and sprout along or near the banks. I know of some beautiful mature trees, as tall as 60 or more feet. I saw one quite old one isolated in the middle of town, watched t for years, until this summer I saw one limb die, and I knew it had been infected. By fall, many of the limbs had died, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come back next spring.

To find elms in the northeast, good places to look are hedgerows along stone walls, near streams, and along roads.

[PatM]

Elm grows up here in clusters as well that will generally die pretty much all at once. I believe Elm tends to pop up from spreading roots as much as it does from seed.
It does also grow uniformly scattered through places that you may not think to look with a lot of space between trees. Cedar swamps in particular harbour a lot of Elm which is generally very straight and clean.

[bowandarrow473]

I've only seen two elms with a diameter of 12 inches or more, one at my hunting grounds in SC with a diameter of roughly 18in and another behind my house in northwest Florida with a diameter of roughly 12in, the one behind my house is quite possibly infected with something as the branches are dying. The rest of the elms I have seen have been 5inches or less with very few reaching into the 6 in category. All in all though, I see more elm than I do hickory.

[PatM]

Interesting observations of the blight in various places. Large trees are not  uncommon here and we have a database that lists known trees of a certain large diameter that are monitored for resistance.