Don't use elm for a core wood!
Some of you may remember me posting pics of my first hornbow attempt. I used elm for the core , purpleheart grip. The horn delaminated on on e limb when I first tried to bend it - so ~I fixed that problem and carried on. I had got the bow bending well on the teplics and was ready to try and string it. I adjusted my teplics so as to get a little more bend in the sals, tied the bow on and was just exercing it and heard a crack....I intially thought it was the horn delaminating again but on examination could not see the problem. So I carried on exercising it and a white area started to appear on the sinew, I realised that it must be getting heavily stressed here so decided to remove the sinew. When I got to the core it had cracked clean in two. Conclusion - don't use elm :?
I will carry on my search for maple....
I have a core glued up at the moment - it is a 3 piece core using cherry for the limbs and lemonwood for the grip. I choose cherry as Adam mentions making sucessful bows from it in his book. However he mentions in is only suitable for a light weight bow (50lbs). I am aiming for a 70 - 80 lbs bow and do not want to have the same thing happen again.
Any advice is most welcome on the cherry issue. Thanks
I will carry on my search for maple....
I have a core glued up at the moment - it is a 3 piece core using cherry for the limbs and lemonwood for the grip. I choose cherry as Adam mentions making sucessful bows from it in his book. However he mentions in is only suitable for a light weight bow (50lbs). I am aiming for a 70 - 80 lbs bow and do not want to have the same thing happen again.
Any advice is most welcome on the cherry issue. Thanks
I agree that elm is not suitable for limbs. However, I note that the word 'elm' seems to be vaguely translated into some languages, so that it covers some woods that are suitable.
Personally, I would not consider cherry suitable, either. It's a very hard wood very good for siyahs. But I look forward to your conclusions. It seems that all these woods, even if they come from the same species, have varying properties based on geography and growing conditions.
Personally, I would not consider cherry suitable, either. It's a very hard wood very good for siyahs. But I look forward to your conclusions. It seems that all these woods, even if they come from the same species, have varying properties based on geography and growing conditions.
The elm I used was wych elm (Ulmus glabra). Prunus avium is the species of cherry that I have used and it doesn't seem very hard at all...
From my high school latin, your 'cherry' might be 'bird cherry', which is quite a different type. (i.e. a small yellow plum.)
I have used prunus avium sapwood two times, although with modern glue for the horn. It worked perfectly for around 60#.
Daniel
Daniel
Mike, can you tell if the wood came from a young or an old tree? Nothing to suggest that elm would still be the way to go, but usually the older elm gets, like lots of other woods do, the more brittle it becomes.
It's good to hear of confirmed sucess with cherry!
The elm came from a youngish tree - it was around 3 1/2 inches diameter.
When I started tillering it I was waiting for something to go wrong...but i've learnt a lot in the process. I have faith in the horn / wood joint now. I feel confident making matching grooves as I cut up the remaining sections of limb and the grooves mated perfectly all the way along.
The elm came from a youngish tree - it was around 3 1/2 inches diameter.
When I started tillering it I was waiting for something to go wrong...but i've learnt a lot in the process. I have faith in the horn / wood joint now. I feel confident making matching grooves as I cut up the remaining sections of limb and the grooves mated perfectly all the way along.