Good Fortune Continues

[Clint Baxter]

I just got my new DVR set up yesterday and am looking forward to turning some bowls on it.

Lo and behold, I had a friend remark about the wood he had given to him and was sitting in the back of his truck. He said it came from a cherry tree and that I could have what I wanted from it.

Made it out there today, hoping that the wood was not already severely checking. When i got there, i found no evidence of checking on any of the logs thanks to our weather, (misting, raining and cold all day yesterday with snowing and high winds today.) Some of the logs have some ring shakes but there is plenty to check out the new lathe with.

Have never seen green cherry before but doubted that we have much if any in our area. After some closer examination, i'm convinced the wood is american elm. I've heard some of you talk about turning elm and would like to hear your opinions on it.

Clint

[Roger Chandler]

Fantastic Clint! Cherry will crack on you, so get it sealed in a hurry!

[Clint Baxter]

I'm pretty sure the wood is Elm instead of the cherry originally reported to me. I'd like to seal it right away, but have yet to receive the anchor seal I have on order. As I said, the weather is helping me out so far and I'll try wrapping it in plastic while I hope for a speedy delivery of my anchor seal.

Unfortunately, no place around here carries any type of green wood sealers.

Clint

[David E Keller]

Congrats on the wood. I can't tell you whether it's elm or not, but I'll tell what little I know about elm. It's not the greatest smelling wet wood to turn(think cat urine). When it's dry, I've found it fairly hard but not unworkable. The smell is better when it's dry as well. Like most woods, some pieces are prettier than others. There's a significant difference between early wood and late wood densities(like ash), so it can be a little bit difficult to sand. I'd definitely give it a spin.

[Clint Baxter]

Have already roughed out one bowl from it. It turned well, (haven't done too many green turnings.) Will do some more here as time permits.

Clint

[Sid Matheny]

Great haul! If you don't have anything to seal it with get some Paraffin wax and melt it and brush it on. That is what I use all the time.

Sid

[Jim Burr]

Cheap latex paint...spares at Walmart or Home Depot that no one picked up...always work great in a pinch. Have lots of olive done that way.

[Jeff Nicol]

Clint, I do believe it is elm, but the darkness of the heartwood looks more like siberian elm. American elm will be lighter in color most times and pretty consistent in color throughout. No matter free wood is good any time you get it!

Have fun,

Jeff

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Like Jeff is saying, yes that is Siberian Elm.

The wood is quite nice, the only thing with fresh green Siberian Elm, is that the cambium layer between the bark and the sapwood is real stringy and you will have a hard time cutting it with your turning tools.

If you loosen the bark and remove it, then scrape the cambium layer off, you are all set, the good thing is that this wood does look good and is easy to dry without splitting, just seal it or if you don't have anchor seal, wrap a plastic bag around it for now, just don't let it sit for weeks like that but get it turned.

Here are a few pieces I made from Siberian Elm
Siberian Elm bowl.jpg Siberian Elm N.E. with bark.jpg Siberian shallow bowl.jpg Siberian Elm natural edge.jpg

[Fred Perreault]

Leo, that is really nice looking wood, with distinctive grain on some nice forms.

[Clint Baxter]

Thanks to all. Will wrap it some plastic for the time being. Will even leave the snow on it as well

With our current weather I have at least a few days in which I shouldn't have to worry much about it. No sun, wet snow over everything, but do have wind to concern myself about.

May do the paraffin paint if the anchor seal takes too long to show up and the weather starts to improve.

Clint

[Tom Godley]

Leo: The grain on that last one is cool!