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

"rjdankert" wrote in message
ups.com...


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.


Looks like the bark and wood of the local _Acer negundo_, or box elder to
me. The red seems to be more a result of circulation problems in the tree
caused by damage or twisting grain that anything else. At least that's
where it's found normally around here. Yours looks straight as a string and
vigorous. Better climate or better sunlight down there, I guess.

Great stuff to learn on, as it cuts like butter when wet, and behaves well
after drying. Finishes like glass.

My best advice is to rough it into bowls as soon as possible if you want to
preserve the pale color. Put them in the basement after roughing at or
above 70% RH and let them cure. You'll want to give them about 3/4 of an
inch wall thickness for 12" bowls, and don't make the sides too steep nor
the bottoms too broad. You'll lose about a half inch in diameter across the
grain, which will allow you to turn the black mildew, if you have any, off
the endgrain. You'll be able to turn stable wood after September and have
them ready before Christmas, easily. If you have a compressor, blow the
excess unbound water out of the wood (inside out) after roughing to help it
through the mildew-growing moisture range. I've had good success with the
technique on soft maple, where black mildew can really ruin your day. Tip
is from a Packer Backer, but it seems to work anyway....

My first reaction is that the wood looks like locust wood - both the
internal color and the way the aged cut ends look.

Anyone else thinking that?

Locust trees have small serrated opposing leaves.

Some of the locusts have thorns.

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



I'm thinking you have an all American chunk of slippery elm. Take a cut.
If it stinks like a horses behind, that's what it is.

Ignore the smell ... the wood has tightly interlocked grain that looks
REALLY great when you turn shallow curves into it (think platter with
shallow sides rather than popcorn bowl). The grain will remind you of
the pattern of feathers on a partridge breast.

I've used oil with polyurethane over it to good effect.

Bill


--
I'm not not at the above address.
http://nmwoodworks.com


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Tested on: 7/18/2007 10:30:02 PM
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http://www.avast.com

Not sure what this wood is.......but am almost certain it is NOT Box Elder.
It looks more like Osage Orange to me.


"rjdankert" wrote in message
ups.com...
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

Definitely not box elder. I'd say yellowwood or osage orange.

Woody

"rjdankert" wrote in message
ups.com...
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

I am not sure what kind of wood you have but that is not Box Elder.
Ted

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.

Jerry

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

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


What you have is not box elder. I know this not by looking at the
picture, but because you say your friend cut it down. If it was box
elder, it would have fell down itself.

"A Lurker" wrote in message
newsp.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.

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

wrote in message
ps.com...
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 ;-))

That would be a good fit. Mulberry bark looks about right, explains the
coarse grain suggested in the picture which is atypical of Boxelder or other
Acer sp.. Domestic plantings rather than forest ... why not?

I'm with Barry, it is definitely not box elder. Box elder has no
distinction between heartwood and sapwood. If it is Osage the wood would be
very heavy. Could be mulberry if its not that heavy. Here is a link to
some articles I wrote on box elder, Osage and locust.
http://www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com/page44.html Hope this helps.
Tony Manella
nod"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com

"rjdankert" wrote in message
ups.com...
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