How much Dutch Elm disease is too much Dutch Elm Disease?

[NicAzana]

When we moved into our new house in april I cut down an elm on our land for some staves. The tree was suffering from Dutch Elm disease (which killed all the large Elms here in Denmark like 20 years ago), with the heartwood quite degraded already. Made some staves and roughed out one for a nice pyramid bow tonight. The stave is quite nice, with some natural setback and some beginner friendly character at the tips. However it does have a few blemishes where the disease penetrates into the sapwood. They are quite narrow, laterally speaking, but there's a few of them. Theres also one spot where a beetlegrub dug through, but I'm thinking thin superglue will fix that(?). Also there's a large rotten knot in one of the fades near the handle that will have to be dealt with..

My question is if anyone tried making a bow from such elm, and whether I can expect any success if I try it?

Pics:

[Marc St Louis]

I don't know if that dark coloration in the wood is from Dutch Elm disease.  I've seen such marking in many Elm trees that were healthy and yes they made good bows

[NicAzana]

Thats really good news! I’ll go ahead and finish drying this, and we’ll see then. Thank you Marc!

[Pat B]

How does Dutch Elm Disease affect the tree? If it goes into the wood then it would be a problem but if it just affects the bark and/or cambium you should be able to still use the wood as long as fungi hasn't already infected the wood.

[NicAzana]

According to the wiki page, the disease is a fungal infection, carried by a bark beetle (so the infection comes through the bark). The tree reacts by plugging infected sapwood with gum and “bladder-like extentions of the cell wall” (the discolourations in the wood?), which has the side effect of stopping the flow of water and nutrients to the tree, killing it in the long run. The symptoms are dieback of branches.