dead elm suitable?

Sure, I turn elm. Nice thing about it is the interlocked grain that makes it almost unsplitable. You can get away with endgrain and the heart with minimal or no filling. It is not a pleasant wood to turn indoors when green, though you'll appreciate how much easier it cuts green than dry, virtually bulletproof in drying, so save your magic elixirs for other purposes; finishes well, as long as you're willing to accept that it is an open-grained wood. Shimmers as the angle of the light hitting the interlocked fibers changes. If you're a wet sand and stuff the pores with slurry type, you won't see as much of what you could.

Only drawback, other than the rather strong outhouse odor is the heartwood/sapwood ratio. Unless you've a big chunk, you'll have to decide how much of each to include, and sometimes you choose wrong.

It spalts, but that makes it ugly, not beautiful, like spalted boxelder.

Caleb, There is no danger in spreading the disease this way. Dutch Elm Disease is spread two ways: by the beetles that carry it and by root-to-root contact with neighboring elms less than 50 feet away from the infected tree. If you find elm, strip the bark off because that's where the beetles live to survive the winter freeze. Just under the bark, in fact, but not in the wood itself. Without the bark insulation they will die over the winter. I looked up Dutch Elm Disease on a search engine and found an extensive article on the subject, which is where I got this information. There is no way you can spread the disease by sending a bowl somewhere. I would just be careful where you dispose of the shavings. If you keep them away from other elms you'll be fine. You can also burn them if that's what you normally do with them. Airborne spores are not how it spreads.

-Jim Gott- San Jose, CA

One more question - can a person cut a burl off a living tree without killing it? Thanks, Caleb

Kills what's upward from the burl, so, for instance removing a branch with a burl is no problem. Removing a burl from the trunk, even if you don't girdle the tree, is likely to leave a large enough wound to invite bugs and fungi to kill what's left. I wouldn't.

Caleb, the dead elm is fine to use. Don't worry about spreading Dutch Elm Disease; you won't. If the trees are dead and some of the small branches have dropped off, you may still find some good usable wood. Avoid any trees that have most of the large branches already off; they will probably be too "punky". I found some that you could grab endgrain between your thumb and forefinger and easily pull out a clump of it.

Where in SK are you? I'm in Saskatoon.

Strip the bark off the elm and you'll have no worries about DED. Elm is smelly (I don't find it as offensive as some do) but it's beautiful.

djb

Town of Carnduff, SE corner, 20 min from Manitoba, 20 min from North Dakota.

Does the smell 'cure'? ie. go away after the piece is turned?

A bit too far for me to offer to come down and help you cut wood. Drat.

;-)

I've only turned a few pieces of elm but my experience is that the smell goes away pretty quickly. I've got a small bowl sitting next to me right now, finished with tung oil and paste wax. No smell at all.

djb

Hello Caleb and Dave,

I live in Carrot River Sask in the northeast part of the province. I too have been wondering about the use of elm and have enjoyed your comments. As a matter of fact there is a fellow whom just cut down a fairly large elm on his property to move in a RTM home. I called him and might be lucky enough to get it off him. I have turned some elm back in the early 90's but have shied away because I didn't know if it was safe or not, being cautious.

Are there any other Saskatchewanites' whom subscribe to this news group?

Happy turning.

Bernie.