Chinese Elm

[JO_EZ]

My parents have a large Chinese Elm that they are cutting down. It has plenty of straight, limbless trunk sections and I am having Dad set a bunch aside for me.

I am planning on treating it like most other white woods (plenty wide and plenty long).

Are the Elm bows mentioned here made of American Elm? Is there a big difference between the two species?

This will be my first forray out of the board bow wrelm, so, there will be plenty of new territory ahead.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Elm is elm in my book. Same as hickory. Elm is tough stuff. Dont be scared to trim the width and length down slightly less than say Ash or Maple.

[JO_EZ]

Thanks, Pearl.

I have a couple of Maple bows out there earning their keep, so that gives me a good frame of reference.

I think I will end up with quite a pile of it. So, there will be plenty of room to experiment.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I am chipping away on a 58" elm static recurve now. Its got a 50/50 chance of shooting arrows due to several issues the stave had. Im trying every card in my hand to make a bow out of it.

[KellyG]

keeps us informed if it works or not.

[red hill]

I've never heard of Chinese elm. Is it an ornamental tree, or maybe an imported tree?

[Sal]

Chinese elm is ornamental and imported, its a common street tree in southern California.  

The wood is very strong, probably tougher than hickory, its an excellent bow wood.  It doesn't need to be overbuilt, it will hold its own with most designs.

[JO_EZ]

That is interesting, how it compares to hickory. I thought it would fall somewhere between Maple and Poplar.

The Chinese variety was imported because it is resistant to Dutch Elm Disease.

I don't know if I have seen more than one or two Elm trees that were not Chinese.

I have an acre or so of sandy, poor soil that I want to get some trees growing on. I was thinking of either planting some Chinese Elm or Red Pine. The deer would like the pines better, but the Elm makes a better bow.

[KellyG]

Why not do both, and heck through in an Osage or two.