I met Springbuck, he lives less than an hour from my house. He said he had an elm stave. I stopped by and he gave me enough wood for at least 7 bows. Elm, mulberry, osage and plum. He has a side job of cutting trees and claimed if I didn't take the wood it may be wasted if the bugs get to it. Great guy!
This is Siberian elm. It is considered a trash tree here. Invasive, grows all over down in Salt Lake City and much of the west. I've had plenty of chances to get plenty of this wood but have passed. Someone asked me for a Holmegaard replica and I needed some elm for the project. The stave I got was a sapling with knots but split totally straight. The 7000 year old bow also had lumps along the back from knots. Google Holmegaard bow to see photos of the 7000 year old bow. One limb took no set and retained all the setback the limb began with. The other had more knots and i left all of them with more wood for a long lasting bow. That gives it less bending length but it still has barely any set in that limb and still a slight setback. Elm is now one of my favorite woods. It gives off a wonderful smell when working with it. I recognised the smell from the two HHB bows I had made that is related to elm. The color is beautiful too. The wood is as fast as any I have worked with. Maybe I just got a great piece of wood. I'll see after making a couple more elm bows.
The bow is 64" long. No nocks, just a taper to the tip. I added a sinew wrap so I could use a 10 strand fast flight endless loop string. Draws 53# @ 27". Finished with a few coats of tung oil. I did have a chance to test the bow with a 468 grain target arrow. I'm in the second driest state in the US and When I tested it the weather had been dry for a extended time(fire season). I usually keep all my bows is a room with RH at least 30%, but had this bow in my hot shop where the humidity dropped well below that. The bow was drawing 51 to 52# at 26" and felt very strained. It felt as if it would blow if i took it to 27". I tested it at 26" draw. Average arrow speed 189 fps. 5 of the shots were between 191 and 193. I think the bow was at the optimum moisture level for the 26" draw as far as performance goes. As far as a long lasting safe bow too dry. I put it in a room with 60% rh for 2 days and drew it 27" again without fear. The draw weight was only a bound or two over the 26" dry bow draw and the speed no faster. Still a great shooting bow.
