Elm Flat bow Project?

[hockeyref]

Just took down part of a large elm tree this evening and saved a fairly straight 8 foot piece about 8" in diameter with the intent to split into staves and try my hand at making a bow.... Have had the urge for a while, but the opportunity presented itself when a storm partially broke a limb that was 15" in diameter and maybe 30' long. THere are a few other limbs of the same size that we are going to take off in the future and may be taking the whole tree down at some point. Trunk is maybe 3' in diameter.... Who knows, I may end up with a bunch of self bows out of the deal...

Any suggestions or things to watch out for? Pretty much gonna try to follow Trad Bowyers Bible vol 1... Gonna split it tomorrow evening and remove the bark and inner bark. I would have preferred to do it tonight, but didn't have time.

I figuring ~68"-70", maybe 2" wide limbs, 55#@32".......We'll see, the worst I can do is add it to the rest of the firewood!

[dorris]

good luck make sure to show some pictures .

[NorthShoreLB]

32" draw ??             :scared:you might wanna rethink that one, make sure you'll get plenty staves, it becomes addicting  

Elm is one of the best bowwoods you can get, just  don't rush into it, make sure it's dry, than start an other thread,..... you'll get plenty advice here.

[Bowsey Wails]

Have fun with it Steve. Glue up some pond twigs while you're at it!

Tim

[hockeyref]

North shore....
Yep... 32"! That's why I'm thinking 68"-70" - maybe longer.... I'm one of those Sasquatch armed suckers.... 6'4", 270# with nearly a 7 foot wingspan tip to tip. You know - wide x huge.... i giggle a little every time I thing of someone myself sneaking around in the woods.

I currently "Short draw" full length shafts 'til the broad head touches my knuckle - at least until I get around to learning how to make footed shafts!

As for plenty of staves, like I said I have an 8" diameter log now so I figure to have at least 4 staves to play with... Father in law got happy with the chain saw and cut up a log 15" in diameter before I could stop him. We have more "pruning" in mind if not dropping the entire tree. I figure to have between 10 and 20 staves split and seasoning before the end of August if all works out.