Difference between Elm and Wych Elm?

[jon r]

Is there any difference? and are they any good for bow making?

 

[Tadpole]

Is there any difference? and are they any good for bow making?

They are very closely related, the wych elm tends to spreads itself by seeds, so there is a greater diversity in its genes, and Elm tends to spread by suckers from the main tree. Elms are all closely related to each other, so any illness that affects one, effects them all.

 

[bent-stick]

Elm is a premium bow wood. Dave Budd made a very nice elm bow last weekend...

(he's the one on the far right. the rest of the bows are ash)

 

[xylaria]

Elms can look a little like hazels in their size and leaves. The difference that says it an Elm is the leaves are asymmetrical at the bottom and softer and hairier than a hazel. The wych elm has the hairiest twigs out the pair of them and most likely to produce fruit. It is also the most likely to reach a mature size. The tip of the leaf on wych elm has more of point than the other elms. The wych elm when mature has long lower branches which droop down where as the english elm forms its very distinctive handle shape.

 

[jon r]

Thanks!

So elm and wych elm are good for making bows?

 

[bent-stick]

If it has the lacy interlocking grain of elm it should be great. I'm not sure which of the 300 species and cultivars I've got. I'll ask my forrester mate.

There was a firm in wales turning out red elm bows but they stopped production and I can't find them any more.