sweet gum questions

[Benjamin Dahl]

sweetgum1.jpgsweetgum2.jpg
Hello all, I have not had much time to get in the shop or post on the forum of late however I still browse the forum when I can.
I had a sweetgum tree fall into my neighbor's yard and cut it up today. the heartwood has nice color and figure but it does not extend very far out of the center of the log. I have attached some pictures that show a bit of what I cut up.
One question I have is how would some of you turn this keep as much of the heartwood as possible?
Thanks,
Ben

[Steve Vaughan]

Nice haul there! I think whatever you decide to turn you're gonna keep mostly heartwood. I can see a number of beautiful platters from the widest pieces, some shallow bowls on the piece outside of the platter, i.e., if you split some of those larger pieces again. You've got some regular bowls there that look like will yield mostly heartwood, and even some small hollow forms if you enjoy those. And don't forget, regardless of what you do, you'll likely create some nice contrast between heartwood and sapwood. That's a valuable resource there. You've got lots of good stuff there!

[Benjamin Dahl]

Thanks Steve. I like the platter idea.
I have a really big chunk that I am a little weary to cut. My chain saw has a 20" bar and the chunk is bigger than that.

[Ted Calver]

I like keeping some sapwood for contrast.
Here's a set I cored from sweetgum recently just to illustrate one way to turn it.

bowls 023 (Large).jpgbowls 024 (Large).jpg

[Jim Burr]

Mention to your neighbor that you feel bad about his tree...grab what you can...make banana bread...drop some off in thanks and turn a bowl for the guy/gal. Great haul!!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great haul. That is some nice looking wood. I am like Ted and I really like the sap wood in my turnings for contrast.

[Benjamin Dahl]

thanks Ted, that is a good idea.
Jim, it was a tree from my property. In Georgia I had no legal obligation to clear it but the woodworker in me gave a moral reason to cut it up.

[Steve Vaughan]

Benjamin, take your chainsaw and cut part way down one side, and then go from the other direction part way, back and forth, you'll handle nearly 40" with the 20". Look forward to see what you come up with!

[Benjamin Dahl]

Steve, Thanks for the advice.

[Thomas Canfield]

You did not give a size or how big you can swing on your lathe. My experience with sweet gum has been that you need to cut a large pith slab, at least 15% of diameter. You can always cut a thicker slab and then remove the pith for end grain material or smaller bowls, plates, etc depending on the size of the slab. I would encourage you to also turn some natural edge. For large diameters, I have split the section in thirds or quarters and then cut off a trianglular pith section for turning natural edge oval platters/bowls depending on the size. The oval work well when width about1/2 or 2/3 of length. Have fun. Be prepared to also twice turn with a good deal of movement and time between turnings

[robert baccus]

Pretty gum heart--I'm turning some at the moment. SG heart is a product of age, not size and that's a nice one. The heart and sap are almost two different woods--the heart is somewhat stable but the sap will move like crazy. The heart was big item in the 50's and 60's being logged in the Mississippi delta and sold in Europe as satine walnut. Bueatiful wood.