I'm in the middle of building an ASL with my friend Colin from Outlaw Bows. The model is called an 'Emu - High Speed'. Emu being a large flightless bird from Australia, and high speed referring to the amount of backset in the limbs.
I have three big elm trees in my yard and one of them suffered badly in a drought a few years ago so I cut out some of the dead branches from the canopy early this year. Some of them were long enough to get some veneers out of for bows, so they will be included in the bow.
I also have a deep appreciation for red ironbark - a kind of hardwood tree here in Australia. It's fantastic for firewood, smoking meat, and other carpentry stuff. Without a doubt, some of the hardest and best firewood on the planet. It has a beautiful colour and I hunt a lot on the property where I cut my firewood so I'm including some ironbark in there for the riser.
The limb cores will be hoop pine.
Here are a couple of pictures of the process so far. I'll glue it up later this week and most likely make a dedicated thread about the whole process and finished product.
Riser block of ironbark.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/VdGkbF.jpg)
Cutting a length of ironbark for veneers.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/eUJF6T.jpg)
Elm for veneers.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/XN2ATZ.jpg)
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/924/LS1ALc.jpg)
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/Ai3M7P.jpg)
Elm and ironbark veneers next to each other.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/924/wxQAWQ.jpg)
Riser block.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/ildNVU.jpg)
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/SgwVVA.jpg)
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/1rzEck.jpg)
Splicing elm and ironbark for veneers with hoop pine in the centre.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/seqaYO.jpg)
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/c1qVk1.jpg)
All pieces ready to go.
![](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/vA0VJu.jpg)