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salvaging a favorite tree

Hello folks

I am writing with some questions on salvaging some wood from a portion of an old box elder in my parents backyard. This tree was one that I used to climb all the time. It also held the family tire swing. It is now slowly dying and today it dropped a rather large limb on the neighbors fence. I'll have to get the limb off the fence and clean up the mess this weekend. If possible I would like to salvage as much as I can to use in some small projects. The limb is not very large, the diameter in the largest areas is probably 9 or 10 inches, and it is rather gnarly lacking long sections of straight wood.

I realize a lot of the answers to the following questions could be best answered if I mentioned some specific intent regarding the use of this wood. Some possibilities I am contemplating include turned bowls, and small (unturned) boxes with hinged lids. However, at this time I am not sure what I would like to make from it, and would like to keep as many options available as possible.

That said, please answer the following questions as best you can. I will be very grateful to anyone willing to spare some time to help me successfully use this wood.

  1. What diameter limb would be reasonable to expect to use, and what diameter limb should I simply discard?

  1. What size lengths do you think I should cut?

  2. What would be the proper way to cure and store this wood? Indoors? Outdoors? In a shed? I am in the NE US.

Any other information you think might be useful to me will be seriously appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

J.H.

Reply to
Joseph Handy
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Hi Joseph

If you are not going to use it all right away, than leaving the wood the bigger the better.

Seal the ends with wood sealer (anchor seal) and store away from sun and wind, and off of the ground.

As for thickness to keep, that's up to you, depending what you want to make out of it, but less than 4" might not be very useful for a lot of projects, as you would not want the pith in your turnings usually, but thin stuff can be used and is also very good practicing wood, like spindle turning.

Then as you use the wood, first cut any splitting off and then the length you need, and then seal the wood again.

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Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Joseph Handy wrote:

Reply to
l.vanderloo

If there is red staining in the limb, small turnings are great! If not, it is 'mostly' good for practice, as just noted. Box Elder is not a 'wonderful' wood...except when you get that red pattern on older, dying trees. Keep an eye out for that as the rest of the tree ages.

Reply to
Bill Day

Some of my prettiest bowls are from BE. Not only does it have that red streak, but it can be just as curly as a good piece of maple. If the limbs have the red, keep 'em out to about the 1" dia mark for use as pens (turned off-center to reveal as much of the red as possible and also to reveal any curl hiding near the bark). That the wood is 'all gnarly' is a big hint that the grain is going to be 'all gnarly', too. While that is bad news for a flat-lander, it's music in the ears of a wood-turner.

If the red is present, I cut log sections at an angle, dry them, sand and finish them for use as bases for pen funnels. Gorgeous.

Bill

Reply to
Bill

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