Author Topic: Tree ID?  (Read 1850 times)

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Offline Stickhead

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Tree ID?
« on: August 16, 2019, 12:40:11 pm »
This tree had to go, clearing for a driveway.  Is it a hornbeam or other good bow wood?
Thanks,
...Tom



Offline dylanholderman

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2019, 12:43:43 pm »
Leaves and bark make me think elm but that’s a lot of heartwood for the elm around me.

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2019, 12:49:56 pm »
Surely an elm, has a red elm look. I don't think any of the elms make a bad bow.
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2019, 12:52:47 pm »
Looks like elm leaves, but I have been out of elm country a long time!  Maybe Gifford will chime in!
Hawkdancer
Life is far too serious to be taken that way!
Jerry

Offline bassman

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2019, 12:57:00 pm »
Elm, that is gold mine for making bows.Good stuff

Offline Stickhead

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2019, 01:23:25 pm »
I considered elm, but I expected lighter-colored wood.

Offline PatM

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2019, 02:38:56 pm »
Red Elm.  A lot of people have a lower opinion of Red Elm as a selfbow wood.  Not sure how much truth there is in that.

Offline dylanholderman

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2019, 02:40:20 pm »
have fun splitting  >:D
a chainsaw or band saw if its small enough to handle will make your life a lot easier.

Offline Mafort

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2019, 02:42:15 pm »
Red elms split well. I’ve split numerous staves with hammer and wedges. It’s the white elm like American elm you gotta watch out for. I’ve got a couple red elm bows. I’ll try and put up some picture of them

Offline Pat B

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2019, 02:47:04 pm »
I've made a few elm bows and was very impressed with it as a bow wood. It reacts to heat and heat treating.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Stickhead

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2019, 02:48:36 pm »
Red El it is, then.  I see sledges and wedges in my future.
Thanks, guys!

Offline gifford

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2019, 06:45:32 pm »
Like others have said, Red Elm, Ulmus Rubra, it's interlocking grain makes it difficult to split. Bring extra wedges and a buddy.

I've made one bow with it, a much smaller diameter, actually a limb from storm cleanup. I used a flat bow design, long, wide and performance was good (to me at least), and long before I learned about heat treating.

Took a bit of set as recall, probably being impatient with drying after splitting.

Offline bassman

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2019, 09:11:05 am »
 Chain saw.

Offline HH~

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Re: Tree ID?
« Reply #13 on: August 19, 2019, 09:22:33 am »
Red Elm

Kerf city right there. Chain Saw, sharp one.

HH~
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Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight onto the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor. RLTW