Hi Bob

I had to look twice, but I'm quite certain that you have Mullberry
there, both the bark and the wood grain/color are typical Mulberry, as
someone was calling it Osage orange, he was close, but no sigar ;-))
I have turned a lot of Mulberry I also have pictures in my Photo
albums, pic' of Osage is in the next one, have a look

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum30.html

There's also a Boxelder log picture in there, shows the wood color
some.
Anyway, Mulberry has been one of the nicest native woods I've turned,
but it does like to split more than most woods, and you really have to
make sure the wood dries very slowly, especially the first couple of
weeks, rough turn or finish turn it thin and then place in a brown
paper bag, set in your basement or other cooler place without draft,
thats what has worked best for me.
The wood is quite yellow when newly turned, but in a year or two it
will be a much nicer dark honey yellow, most mulberry wood tents to
have a shimmer in it when finished well.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


On Jul 18, 12:31 pm, rjdankert wrote:
Hello, My first post here. I have been reading here for awhile. Also
other sites and the library. Bouoght my first lathe this winter
(mini). I have turned a few things - tool handles etc. but no bowls.
I have some logs (9-11 in. dia 16-20 in. long) and I' like to try
some bowls. I live in SW Michigan. The logs came from a tree that a
friend had cut down this spring. The person that cut the tree said it
was a box elder. A few days ago I took the bark off of one piece then
split it with a wedge down the middle. I then took one of the halves
and cut two sides off with the bandsaw. The result is he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10171074@N02/

1.) Is this wood box elder? I did a fair amount for research on the
web. My understanding is that the heartwood should be a cream color.
The heartwood on this piece is a golden color and there are no red
streeks. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the tree's leaves.

2.) If not box elder what else might it be and what might it be used
for?

3.) The piece that I cut will be cut for two bowl blanks that I am
going to try to turn in the next few days. At this point I don't know
what I'm going to do with the rest. What is the best way to keep
these if I decide I might want to make something from this wood? I
don't know what or when.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

Bob