Tree of Heaven ( I think ) and turnings

[William C Rogers]

Our local club challenge was to turn something from firewood. On the pile was some wood that had very little heart wood, but a whole lot of sap wood. I initially thought it might be young walnut. However a club member was fairly certain it was the "Tree of Heaven". I think he is correct, Googling I could find bark pictures and it appears to match. I couldn't find any cross sections. There is very little character to the wood.

Are there any different opinions? The wood turns and sands nicely. Here are some of the pieces I have made. The vase is about 7" tall and 4 1/2" at the widest and has a natural edge opening There is some cracking at the pith that I filled. The largest bowl is 6" diameter and 2 1/2' high. I put sone holes, since the sapwood doesn't have much character.

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This is is a birdhouse made from the same wood. The top is made from box elder ( I think ). Overall hiegth of the birdhouse is 12" and about 8" wide at the top. Too big for a wire type stand so I made one. The base was cut from the same wood so you can see the amount of sap wood.

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This is is a picture of the bark.
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CC are welcome as all this was practicing for when I get that prize piece.

Edits: getting pictures correct, at least better.

[Bob Bouis]

Tree of heaven's leaves are easily confused for walnut, especially in saplings. Never seen the wood so I have no idea.

[Steve Schlumpf]

No idea of the wood - your photo of the bark shows as invalid. I do like your variety of turnings - especially the vase. Nice form on that!

[William C Rogers]

No idea of the wood - your photo of the bark shows as invalid. I do like your variety of turnings - especially the vase. Nice form on that!

Thanks Steve. I got the bark picture to open, but I really don't understand as I have 8 attachments. Not sure which ones to cut, but working so I'll leave it alone.

[Steve Schlumpf]

William - I see the bark photo now and in my expert opinion - it looks like part of a tree!

I think you are getting a little confused as to how to post images into a thread. Check out this older thread and see if it doesn't clear things up for you. If you are still having issues - let me know and we'll figure it out. Posting Photos

[William C Rogers]

William - I see the bark photo now and in my expert opinion - it looks like part of a tree!

I think you are getting a little confused as to how to post images into a thread. Check out this older thread and see if it doesn't clear things up for you. If you are still having issues - let me know and we'll figure it out. Posting Photos

Steve, normally I don't have a problem. I use an iPad and photos were from iPhone emailed to myself. I use an app to resize, but I think I made them too small. I just don't know which ones to delete in manage photos.

[Steve Schlumpf]

William, click on edit post, then click on go advanced. Once there scroll down and click on Manage Attachments. You should be able to identify which photo is which in that window and delete the files you do not want. Hope that helps.

[William C Rogers]

William, click on edit post, then click on go advanced. Once there scroll down and click on Manage Attachments. You should be able to identify which photo is which in that window and delete the files you do not want. Hope that helps.

Figured it out. Pics were only about 15kb that didn't work. Your expertise is intact as that is part of a tree.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Your expertise is intact as that is part of a tree.

Good to know - I'll be able to sleep tonight!

[Reed Gray]

Only turned a couple of pieces from tree of heaven. It had no heart wood (18 inch diameter). It had a bitter smell to it, and holding a bowl up to the light, you could see a bunch of tiny holes/pores in it.

robo hippy

[daryl moses]

Can't help identify the type of wood but all of your turnings look great. Especially like the bird house!!

[Toby Bouder]

Looking at the bark, my first thought was butternut. It doesn't look like tree of heaven to me and I don't think toh has dark heartwood.

[Bob Bouis]

If it was walnut or butternut you'd have a distinctive hollow pith, even on smaller branches.

[John K Jordan]

...a club member was fairly certain it was the "Tree of Heaven". I think he is correct, Googling I could find bark pictures and it appears to match. I couldn't find any cross sections. There is very little character to the wood.
...

The Ailanthus trees I've cut did not have bark that looked like that. However, the part you showed may be atypical with apparent wound growth. You also didn't indicate how big the log in the picture is so that could be an issue. Older and larger trees often have very different bark.

The wood of the many Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) I've cut was white without a darker heart wood. When clearing behind my barn some years ago I cut down and dug up the stumps of an infestation of maybe 20-30 Ailanthus trees, some fairly large in diameter.

The wood, bark, and leaves of the ailanthus have a bad odor. The male trees are worse than the female. Ailanthus is one of the worst of the invasive species. It was imported and planted as an ornamental since people thought it looked "tropical." Please kill all of them!

Check this page for a description and photo of the end grain: http://www.wood-database.com/ailanthus/ Ailanthus is ring porous. Use a razor blade to shave a small section on the endgrain of a small piece and compare the rings and pores.

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

The tree was only about 10-12" at the largest diameter, so I would call it a young tree. Butternut does seem to be a possibility. When I was looking at the possibility of butternut, I came across a hickory section that looked very similar. Could this be some type of hickory? However it does turn and sand easily which is not a hickory characteristic. The wood did not smell and is not porous, so I don't think it is the Tree of Heaven. Here are a couple of more pictures. The piece on the lathe I have turned thin, about 3/32".


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Daryl, thanks for the comments.