"A Lurker" wrote in message
news
p.tvp2p8vng2v3ry@turtle2...
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:01:05 -0400, Barry N. Turner
wrote:
Not sure what this wood is.......but am almost certain it is NOT Box
Elder.
It looks more like Osage Orange to me.
My osage orange has more deeply fissured bark than the one pictured.
It's probably orange, too.
http://www.woodturner.org/photopost/...sage_group.jpg
Bark looks pretty good.
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...rame/acne2.htm
Wood description seems pretty close.
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets...acernegeng.pdf
Though the entire genus is pretty similar, really.
Locust is ring-porous with good rays, and this doesn't seem to be. Bark
doesn't look as close, either. Big plates in locust.
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...frame/rops.htm
Does it smell like smashed ladybugs when you cut it?
As referenced, it's a weed species with little to recommend it besides rapid
growth, which makes it pretty weak as a tree. Absent damage or the beetle
to infect it and trap the fungus that makes things red, best to say of it is
that it does have traditional maple figures like curl, burl and quilting
occasionally. Went through my "waiting" turnings, almost sure I had some
still, but no joy. I have had some neat burl and some reasonable curl.