Red Elm

[KentuckyTJ]

Red Elm makes for great limbs. Go for it!

 

[cyred4d]

I agree that red elm makes a great limb.

[free2bow]

Is red elm any more or less resistant to twisting than actionbo or bamboo?

[bobman]

I have a red elm longhunter by Dan quillian and have shot it a lot its about 70 lbs at my draw and no problems with a lot of use. Its my go to bow.

[T Lail]

Red elm made one of the smoothest and fastest longbows that I ever shot.......great wood....

[Lee Robinson .]

The natural core materials in my bows at this time are either red elm, bamboo, or a combination. Another very good and tough limb natural material is maple.

I personally like red elm more than bamboo itself. It is very light weight like bamboo, but in my opinion it is a tougher material than bamboo is.

I may be adding maple in my line in the future, but if I do I would only use it on the belly side for extra compression strength.

I sometimes wonder what is the ultimate bow...

1. Bamboo on back with elm on the belly (which I personally believe is superior to an all bamboo bow),

2. Red elm all the way through, OR

3. red elm on the back and maple on the belly.

Regardless...one thing you will notice is I put red elm in all three of my "best" choices.

[Ric Anderson]

I've always found Red Elm to be a great limbwood. I agree with Macatawa, in that it is somewhat porous, so when gluing it up I always heat the lam with a hair dryer, spread on the glue with my putty knife and then heat the glue slightly, again using the hair dryer.  You can watch bubbles form as the glue penetrates the pores and forces out the air.  Then a quick pass with the knife takes care of the bubbles.  I was taught many years ago that edge grain on the belly and flat grain on the back was the best combination....still generally follow that although can't prove that it's necessary. :-)

[LongStick64]

Thanks everyone, y'all about sealed the deal with me on Red Elm.

[1Longbow]

Had a Shrew with Red Elm limbs,really nice bow ,both to look at and shoot.--1Longbow

[LimbLover]

My Bama Royal has Red Elm cores. The bowyer said that he found Elm to be every bit as smooth as the bamboo I requested. He looked forward to using it a lot in the future.

I don't regret my decision as I do have another bow with bamboo. I find the elm to be just as smooth.

[Lee Robinson .]

I haven't actually weighed the mass weight of two identically sized laminations, but John at Old Master's Crafters told me that red elm actually weighs less than bamboo. If that is true, and given it high strength...it is no wonder that it is a winner. I tried to do some research on the specific gravity of bamboo and found variable reports...ranging from 0.300-0.400 all the way up to even over 0.600 and more (1.0 would be equal to water). Red elm is around 0.470 0.530. Regardless, it is a light weight wood with good strength.

[Sixby]

Like Ric said, red elm is very porus. It also has an interlocking grain which makes it very toughj
It is a most excellent choice as limb wood. Maple , hickor, red elm actionboo all are good limb choices. Howeveer for recurves I choose zebra as best, red elm second, maple tossup. I especially like zebra because it is tough , fairly light and the look is awsome. I like it much better than elm for the look under glass. However that is a personal taste and that can vary. Too me red elm is pretty plain looking unless it is cathedral cut with lots of contrast in the woo. Then it looks great but thst cut seems to be really hard to get. Performance wise I would personally grade red elm and zebra equals. However price wise zebra gets in lots of trouble. It is extremely expensive. about 4 too 5 times as much. God bless you all, Steve

[AdamH]

Is there any difference between Red Elm & American Elm ?? Thank You, Adam

[GREASEMAN]

I've owned about 20 custom Bows and at least 75% were Red Elm.This wood is a looker and a performer!!

[Ric Anderson]

There are 6 species of elm in the eastern US.   American (Ulmus americana), slippery (U.rubra), rock (U. thomasii),  winged (U. alata), cedar (U. crassifolia) and September(U.serotina).   Slippery, cedar and September are all known as red elm.  The others, including American, are not usually called red elm.  American elm is sometimes referred to as white elm, water elm and gray elm.

[AdamH]

Thank You, Ric ...

[bamboo]

here's some kennym edge grain elm
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[KYArcher]

I like the Red Elm! It make a purty bow limb    KY  

[YORNOC]

I love red elm. Like tiger stripes. Heres a Blacktail, but I have had it on Appalations, Silvertips, Robertsons,etc.  Awesome wood.

[Crooked Stic]

It is tuff flat grain looks good-takes stain well-lite weight Yeah i like it a lot.