Standing dead Elm

[PatM]

 I recently found an Elm tree of the most perfect straightness and knot free quality that I have ever seen. The tree did have an ominous curl to the outer twigs  but when I whipped the tree back and forth it seemed flexible and nothing broke off.
 When I cut it down however a large chunk of bark popped off and revealed totally brown discoloration under the bark with that layer almost composted. Despite this the few remaining fibers holding the tree still just bent completely rather than snapping.
 Any chance at all of salvaging the inner portion?
 I know the standard thoughts on white woods but wondered if anyone has tested to see just how things break down.

[JoJoDapyro]

In my area we have quite a bit of Siberian Elm. It is really tough stuff. If it is dead too long it gets punky. Unless split down quite a bit, it doesn't even burn well, only smolders and smokes. I made a hammer handle out of some, and a handle on my rasp as well. Once dry it is super hard to work. Good luck. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[Eric Krewson]

My only experience is with hickory that had been down from a storm for several months and a standing dead osage tree that had stood for years. The hickory was toast, real chalky wood, of course it was a monster that took a lot of work to cut and split only to find out it was no good. The osage looked good but the wood was very brittle and wouldn't make a bow, again, another monster tree that took days to get home and split in 100 degree weather only to find out it was firewood.

[PatM]

I will almost certainly split it up and take a better look and let some dry and do a bend test. It would be nice to have a better idea of how long the breakdown process takes but I have no way of knowing exactly when this tree died.
 At least the colder temps will have suspended any breakdown I would think.
 This is not a large tree so splitting it up is not going to be much of a chore even if it ends up being wasted effort.

[Marc St Louis]

The only way to find out Pat is to make a bow out of it.

[adb]

I tried dead standing ash once. Didn't work out at all.

[blackhawk]

The question is do you want to put forth the effort in a gamble,and OK with losing? Personally I wouldn't,but that's just me. I've come across stuff like that in the woods,and go dang,wish it wasn't and leave it be. There's plenty other live stuff out there with better odds in my locale,so why risk it. I never was a gambling man either. Maybe you are

[PEARL DRUMS]

Maybe it made babies nearby with common characteristics..

[PatM]

I was just hoping for some positive feedback from anyone who might have tried a tree from a similar situation. The wood is definitely stringy and fibrous in its current state but whether it retains that as it  dries is the question.
 This is certainly not a standing and "seasoned" situation.
 There certainly is other stuff out there, in fact there were two other almost as perfect trees within  20 yards of it.
 If the tree was not the best that I've ever seen I wouldn't even consider it.

eta
 Haha Pearlie!, not babies but probably siblings. The other two might even be clones from the root system.

[George Tsoukalas]

One good quality of most bowyers is persistence. Sometimes we have to let it go.
Dead trees are problems.
Jawge

[PatM]

Well the tree is already down so the dice has been rolled already. I can always just pull the plug at any of the next stages.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Ill bet a proper floor tiller will answer the question.

[PatM]

An improper hingey one would probably answer it even faster. lol

[Springbuck]

  Pat, go ahead and try it.  By the time you get it roughed out to drying dimensions, you'll know if it is wotrth taking further.

 I work with a lot of red elm saplings, and it seems to basically attract disease.  They are always leaking brown gunk, and sometimes even smell bad, like a deer's guts, or have weird things under the bark.   The heartwood is softer and more vascular than other species like American elm and ash, and contains a lot of water, even when dead.   In spite of this, the sapwood retains its tensile strength pretty well. 

If it is a red elm specie, take the bark off, take a bow out of the best looking wood, and you should be fine.   If not, you'll know before you get very far, just by the texture and feel of the wood, if it is junk. 

Standing dead white wood is generally junk, but the tree may just be sick, or just doed before winter or whatever.

[Springbuck]

The wood is definitely stringy and fibrous in its current state but whether it retains that as it  dries is the question.
 

It will likely retain the stringiness.  If it is bad, there will be TINY borer-type bugs that eat between layers of sapwood and weaken it.  A couple times I have cut good, but soft, elm and let it sit too long (indoors, protected), roughed it oput and literally had it delaminate at the winter wood when half tillered.  The separated surfaces were covered with tiny squiggles smaller than pencil lead where bugs had eaten it.  So, rough it and dry it and either spray it or heat/steam it right away.

Or, the heartwood will  just be deraded, and not have and compression strength.