Eastern red cedar for ELB

[ejwitman]

Y'all,

Just got back from the British Isles and had the pleasure to talk with a Scotish bow builder.  I am from South Carolina and do not have Yew.  It seems that the best compression woods I have naturally are Eastern Red Cedar and Sasifrass .  My question is do you treat these wood like hickory, e.g. cut in summer, remove bark, rough out, put on cull, and dry for a couple of weeks?

[Pat B]

ERC will make a very good ELB. Marc St Louis made a war bow out of ERC that was over 100#. I also saw one a guy did that is only sapwood ERC that is a very impressive 45# bow. One problem with ERC is the number of knots or limbs. Try to find the clearest wood you can. The bark on ERC is quite thin but it should come right off like with other woods if cut during the growing season. A combo of sapwood and heartwood makes a beautiful bow and the properties of each is appropriate for the stresses put on them when used in combination.