American Elm v. Slippery Elm.

[peacefullymadewarbows]

Hey all. I searched this in this search bar with no results so I apologize if it's kicking a dead horse. But I've been wanting to make some elm warbows since it was one of the meane woods used by the english. I had done some research into U.S. elm species since I do not have access to the proper wych elm. From my reading it seemed that at least based on SG that slippery elm would be a good analog to wych elm. I had harvested some staves of what I believed to be slippery elm but the one I had tried performed far below expectations even with a cooking on the belly. On second look the tree may have been an American elm. I have heard that American elm performs poorly in comparison. Is this true? If so what are the ways I can visually distinguish american elm vs a slippery elm? Thirdly, could I be wrong that slippery elm is a good analog to wych elm and that in fact wych is generally superior in quality to U.S. elm species?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[PatM]

Doubtful. American Elm is excellent wood  and it has the benefit of being very variable in wood quality.  And that generally means it ranges from  outstanding to unbelievably outstanding.  It is very, very good bow wood and extremely versatile.

 Slippery Elm seems to be easily distinguished by features in the field and the  large reddish heartwood.  American Elm doesn't tend to form much heartwood and it's more brownish.

[IrishJay]

Slippery elm is red elm correct?

[PatM]

Yes.

[bassman]

The most highly accomplished bowyers on this site always seem to give Elm 2 thumbs up for a bow wood. I have built 3 bows in the last 4 months with it. Two green on a form,and one seasoned for a couple of months. Small trees that I split in half with a chain  saw. Left the bark on the back ,and painted the ends. Cut at around 60 degrees ,and stored at about the same temperature. No warp, but a lot of black punky knots which I drilled out, and plugged with quality crazy glue ,and Elm saw dust. One 50 incher that I built is my personal best for over all performance of the short bows that I have built. All made from A. Elm. If it is good enough for the best bowyers on this site, it is good enough for me. To answer the question though I have never tried Red Elm.

[Badger]

   Elm is an excellent bow wood but red elm is nothing like most other elms.

[okie64]

Slippery elm will generally have more scaly bark than American elm. Also the leaves on slippery elm will be rough on top and bottom and American elm will have smooth, shiny leaves on the top side.

[Brevi]

Does dutch elm disease kill only the older elms in Ontario or every single tree ? 

Introduced disease did in native Chestnut trees and now ash trees in North America are in trouble ... is that every single tree ash tree or just some ?

[PatM]

Trees in Ontario are  quite variably resistant.  There is a database run by a University that documents surviving large  trees or trees which have grown to a large size  without being affected.

   I would say a lot of trees do end up getting infected but Elm trees are still everywhere here.

[peacefullymadewarbows]

Thanks everyone. Based on y'all's descriptions it could be either species. It had less scaly bark BUT majority heartwood in the cross section of the trunk. I did not have the ability to assess leaves as it was cut in winter. I think one part of my problem I noticed is the most recent 1/2" of wood has extremely thin rings. And overall the wood does not feel very dense. Almost as light in the hand as eastern red cedar. But those aren't empirical measures by any means.

Badger - When you say red elm is nothing like the others is that that it is much better or much worse than its cousins?

Thanks again everyone.