Anyone back their bows with Elm?

[Aussie Yeoman]

I know this used to be done before Elm was found to be a decent bow wood in its own right last century. In fact even Horace Ford wrote of backing with Elm in 1859.

But does anyone do it now? I'd be keen to hear what you would and would not put it on, and how thick, and any other little idiosyncrasies of this timber. I understand it's pretty good in tension;though  not quite as good as Hickory.

Reason I ask is I've just today processed a couple of edge ringed Elm boards into 17 lams that potentially have up to maybe 24 backings among them. And I'm really sick of processing bamboo.

Cheers,

Dave

[PatM]

 I do but only use outer growth ring backings. I wouldn't turn  a log into lumber. I make them a bit under 1/4 inch in thickness and use them on any type of belly wood.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Why not make flat or 1/4 sawn lumber Pat? By outer ring backs, are basically taking a top split off a stave like bamboo would look? You need to post more pictures than the two you always use!

[Aussie Yeoman]

Thanks Pat. Does that go even for those heavy woods over 1.0 SG?

[Marc St Louis]

I have but I have also had spectacular failures with Elm backings.  I personally wouldn't use it on dense tropical wood species

[bowandarrow473]

Elm should work well as a backing as it is very tension strong but I would take Marc's word for it as he is highly experienced in this craft.

[PatM]

Why not make flat or 1/4 sawn lumber Pat? By outer ring backs, are basically taking a top split off a stave like bamboo would look? You need to post more pictures than the two you always use!

Because I don't cut gigantic trees and own a big enough saw? Yes, just the top off a stave essentially. I'd post a pic but it might be one of the two you've seen so I'll refrain.

[GB]

My only experience with it was an elm backed ERC board bow and it's still holding up fine.  I made the elm 1/8" thick and it was very straight grained rift sawn.  One of the Bowyer's Bibles talked about elm being a good choice on less dense woods.  I respect Marc's advice and experience; he make the kind of bows that I wish I could make.  I"ll probably be short drawing my elm/ERC bow for a while now.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Why not make flat or 1/4 sawn lumber Pat? By outer ring backs, are basically taking a top split off a stave like bamboo would look? You need to post more pictures than the two you always use!

Because I don't cut gigantic trees and own a big enough saw? Yes, just the top off a stave essentially. I'd post a pic but it might be one of the two you've seen so I'll refrain.

So sawn lumber from bigger trees would work? Im not being a smart azz, I don't use it that way and have no idea. The pic part, yah I was poking. I would like to see more all the same. Especially the crown as backing, that has to look slick.

[PatM]

Why not make flat or 1/4 sawn lumber Pat? By outer ring backs, are basically taking a top split off a stave like bamboo would look? You need to post more pictures than the two you always use!

Because I don't cut gigantic trees and own a big enough saw? Yes, just the top off a stave essentially. I'd post a pic but it might be one of the two you've seen so I'll refrain.

So sawn lumber from bigger trees would work? Im not being a smart azz, I don't use it that way and have no idea. The pic part, yah I was poking. I would like to see more all the same. Especially the crown as backing, that has to look slick.

 I don't actually  think sawn Elm would be the greatest choice given its propensity to having such tangled grain. By a larger tree I just mean the tendency for clean grain to run through more depth of the tree. Even a stove pipe straight and clean smaller tree usually reveals many knots that would be exposed in a sawn lumber scenario.
 This bulletwood bow on the right which is currently being re-worked has an outer ring Elm baclking. I know I've posted it before.

[Aussie Yeoman]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Marc, can you elaborate on the whole spectacular fail thing? Under what conditions?

Pat those recurves look really nice. Have you written up a thing about them anywhere in particular? I'm intrigued by the glued-on recurve thing.

[PatM]

The topic is discussed in  number of threads. Not much too it really. Cut a v, fit an extra recurved piece in  and glue it. Wrap or run a backing  over the joint and an underlay as well if you want to hide it.
 Some don't even wrap it.
   A great method for extending a perfect short stave or adding recurves to non recurvable wood.

[Aussie Yeoman]

Aaaaaaah. It's a Siyah, not just overlaid.

Very good then!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Very cool.

[Marc St Louis]

Here is the story about the spectacular failure. 

About 6 years ago I had a piece of Sugar Maple left over after cutting some backing strips so I decided to back it with a strip of Elm.  The Elm backing was quarter sawn and the bow was an ALB about 69" long with a flat belly.  I had the bow tillered out to 29" pulling about 55#.  I was in the house, in the kitchen in fact, and was doing a timed photo of a full draw when there was a mighty crack, a boom more like, and pieces of the bow went flying all over the place.  There was a bowl of Apples nearby and one of them got skewered by one of the pieces.  The wife was not happy, after she recovered from the shock that is.  Granted it was the middle of Winter and it was quite dry but I have shied away from Elm since then.