Ozbow

Two and a half weeks ago. I cut an 8 foot elm stave from a tree at home. Roughly 8" in diameter and I split it then and put it in a hay shed. I looked at it last night. It has some small cracks appearing in the heartwood so I may be too late but just wondered if I should coat it with something at this point. I've read diametrically opposed views what to do with staves like this. I didn't remove the bark. I also thought it would have ben a bit cooler towards the end of March but instead it has mostly been around 30 and low humidity.

Simon

Hey Simon, I dont know whether it is Elm or the heat but it is a good idea to seal the whole stave. It might be better to remove the bark and rough it down to near bow size
1- to see whether the stave is cracked through
2- speeds up the drying process
3- reduces the likely hood of splitting due to uneven shrinkage.
then seal the whole bow with PVA, shellac, old laquer
Some woods you can get away with being lazy but in your climate I would always seal. My climate is often 100% humidity so I can be my lazy self
I have seen some of Graemek's staves wrapped in cling film.
Steve

Thanks Steve

That sounds the way to go given our climate and I expect, having observed Elm branches that have fallen crack fairly readily, that it is a nature of the wood. I'm kicking myself now that I didn't do these things after i cut and split the stave. Yeah, laziness on my part at the time and I've been making bows, trying to get in some practice re the ABA Nationals, put together some new arrows, feed hungry sheep since then. The primary mistake was not to wait until after Easter when the climate is a bit more sympathetic and when I'd have more time to devote to the staves.

The sapwood looks OK so here's hoping. Thanks again.

Simon

im guessing you using gloden elm?? if so the hart wood isnt that big anyway so its not a problem just reduce it to a stave (strip the bark) and re seal the ends with the bark gone the moisture should be able to escape safely with out cracking the timber (thats my experiance anyway)

Thanks Dave

To be honest I don't know about the species of elm but there is a historic book about the immediate district and the elms get a mention as early as 1840. Certainly the two big ones on our place look to be grand old men of 100 plus years. There have been a number of saplings that have arisen from these and it was from one of those I took the stave from. There is more heartwood than I would have expected but I take your point re sapwood and the need to remove the bark.

Cheers

Simon

elm is a very old bow wood, its been around longer than yew and many old bows from europe where made of elm

Simon, a word of warning about elm, if you don't get that bark off asap the only way you will end up getting it off is with an electric plane. With all the traditional white woods like elm and ash its the sap wood thats best for bow making.

and thats why golden elm rocks, cause its mostly sapwood baby. i made the mistake of leaving the bark on........im putting it off as long as i can the plainer or draw knife is gonna get a work out that day.

Dave