Hickory Or Elm For Recurve

[DavidWood]

I have a hickory stave and an elm stave. Both of them are 60" long. I wanted to make a static recurve bow with one of them. My question is are these staves too short for a stiff handle recurve bow? What about a bending handle recurve bow? Any thoughts? I'm trying to get 45# @ 28"

[Pat B]

David, like I said on PA I built a few elm 60" static recurve selfbows(55#@26"). I hadn't used elm before these few bows and was very impressed with elm as a selfbow wood. Hickory is one of my favorite bow woods but with it's susceptibility to moisture and our humid summers I don't use hickory much anymore for selfbows but elm handles humidity better.
 My elm statics did bend in the handle slightly, but I could only feel that bend when I hit full draw. Elm bends easy with dry heat but I've decided to use steam for any others I build. Elm does react well to belly tempering, especially with shorter, highly stresses selfbows.

[LittleBen]

IMO bow design, in terms of limb profile, is more important than wood species in getting a particular draw length from a certain length stave.

A deflex/reflex recurve can make 28" draw with a stiff handle no problem ... a straight limb or reflex recurve would be more of a challenge and also probably more prone to stacking.

Let the species of wood and desired draw weight define the width of limb you use for the bow.

Oh and to your question? I've never used elm ... until recently I never lived in an area that had many elm. Hickory or elm is fine provided you have the width for your desired weight.

Good luck.

[PEARL DRUMS]

IMO 58" ntn is way too short for stiff grip 28" draw bow from either wood. Regardless of design. I would either make them semi-rigid or make a bulbous grip with the limbs working right into the grip. In either case my limbs would be no less than 1.75" wide off the fades.