Hackberry and the elm I have obtained locally both move a lot during the
drying process. Both woods spalt readily in this arrea, and become much
more attractive in doing so. While I wouldn't particularly suggest
spalted wood for a salad bowl, you might set a few pieces aside. I
don't have aspen or russian olive available, but i've seen some nice
things turned from russian olive on the net.

Jim


william kossack wrote:
I was looking for generalities. My current batch of free wood is some
siberian elm and some
hackberry. I also have some aspen and russian olive in small diameters.

This saturday I'm going searching for more local free wood.

Its all a process of learning while dealing with several family members
that are
expecting salad bowl sets for christmas. Arggggg

Arch wrote:

Hi William, My thoughts while reading your thread:

1. Is warp just an incipient crack?
2. Are shakes, warps, cracks, splits, and
splinterings basically different or are they stops along a
timber's natural drying cycle that we consider to have
gone wrong? Mother nature may not think it went wrong.
3. You can't generalize about wood any more than about people.
Too much diversity, even in the same log or even in its
parts. Where
grown, time of year harvested, how sawn, where being
dried are just a few of the variables that plague us..
4. Actually, it's the diversity that we prize.
5, Obviously there is no best way to dry wood or we would all
be using it. The unique solutions that you mention are
just as likely to
work as many others.

You asked for any thoughts. You didn't stipulate that they had to be
politically or botanically correct... or dish washer safe! Arch

Fortiter,