Hi Ted

Did you have a look at the shavings that the chainsaw made cutting
that wood ??, try doing that from rotting wood.
No it wasn't rotten, and yes it did have some soft areas on the
outside end, in my experience the Acer Negundo is never a hard wood to
start with, and when you find the red coloration, there is some bug
infestation, and quite often the wood is starting to rot or some parts
are, also I don't care for the smell, but that hasn't stopped me from
turning it, but I had/have so much wood already that all that wood was
donated to be raffled off for the wood turners club. made for some
nice Christmas presents.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


On Feb 6, 10:48 am, "Ted" wrote:
Have you considered the possibility that the wood has already started
to rot? I have had this happen with both birch and maple. The wood
looked good until I started roughing it out. There was just enough
decay starting that the end grain would never turn clean. If that is
the case then it might not be worth using it for anything but fire
wood.