elm sapling bow, stave was about 5″ in diameter. It was harvested in late spring, so the back shows after debarking the early grain / fibres as a wonderful landscape like a field with a lot of humps and dumps. Yes, I know the early wood is not the best as back, but i could not resist leaving it on. The piece had many little branches, which I also left on and cut off at about 1/4″. The area just above the handle shows the relic of a dead branch (hollow stump) of about 3/4″ in diameter and ca. 2″ depth! The belly is flat and at some sections grooved, it shows a nice combination of the heartwood and besides the sapwood.
The stave has a propeller twist and a problematic side profile. The lower limb runs on the outside (back) of the grip, the upper limb to the inside (belly), because of the stump. The result is an unusual braced side profile, like a negative tiller. The arc of the lower limb is higher than the upper limb. Crazy!
No leather handle, no overlays – just a stick and a string + whisky.
string alignment is corrected with dry heat
The back is stained to show the nice surface.
70 ntn, max. width is 2,25″
very light heattreatment
the bow came out with 74# @ 28, shoots very nice and fast. (I haven’t believed a flatbow so long is so fast).
The hollow stump is filled with a whisky reservoir (in case of snakebites and so on … )
