I think the walnut feels a little smoother than elm but the darker woods also show any imperfections in the glass more. If you know you are going to get clear glass with no streaks walnut if you think that you might get streaky glass elm won't show it as bad. I know, no help at all good luck
My choice of the two would have to be the walnut. Only because I think it will have more figure and color, but I am no wood expert either. Are these the only choices you have? Do you like figure and color, or straight and plain grain? Take care......Tom
I like walnut over elm, but did you consider yew. Yew is one of my favorite limb woods. Smooth shooting and looks nice. My 10 year old boy has a Falcon with walnut limbs. I have a longbow with elm. Both are sweet shooters. Comes down to which you like the looks of more.
Good luck. Listen to Chad he knows what's he talking about. Well at least when it comes to bows, don't take his advice on choice of hats
It is my understanding that yew was their choice in building most of the longbows. My Crusader t/d has yew cores with a double taper of grey actionwood between them. It then has black glass on the back and cocobola on the belly. This is a great combination that pulls very smooth and shoots hard. Take care...............Tom
All my Crusaders have actionwood cores and yew lams. My latest Crusader also has curly birdseye maple veneers. Kinda like that yew. The sweetest shooting non-Crusader longbows I have are bamboo core/canarywood lams and bamboo core/yew lams. All I can say about these is awesome!!!!!!!!!!
My Crusader has a cocoblol riser with yew limbs, I believe actionwood core, and a birdeye bocote lam. Draws very nice and is beautiful. I'm just looking for something a little different for a Hunter II.
I like the look of the walnut, my question is more about performance.
In a recurve I think the walnut is just a tad smoother and I have read it is just a little faster. On purely a performance standpoint I don't think it makes enough difference to base your decision on it. Out of all the hunter II's I have had the 58" with yew limbs was by far the best performer but the yew is an option and does cost more. I have had hunter II's with elm, walnut,yew,and locust limbs and I would rate them yew 1st walnut 2nd locust and elm were more or less the same. And yes I was on a chek mate buying spree last summer good luck I am sure Chad will chime in
Thoughts on limb material
from Chad and wanted some opinions on limb material.
good luck
