Red Boxelder

[TexasTimbers]

Does Red Boxelder tend to be real rottish on the stump? I have found a virtual Red Boxelder village, and I know turners like them, but many of them are punky in the hearts, many trees are dead, but there are also a bunch that seem healthy. There are hundreds of them there, now that I have a trained eye for them i discovered this yesterday just before nightfall.
But i am worried that they are being attacked by something.

[Burlkraft]

Kev,
Ya gotta get 'em while they are young. Most of the "nice" ones that are big are rotten through and through.
I found one deer huntin' this year that had burls all over it, but they were only 6" thick and soft like cardboard.
I saw several that tipped over and every piece that was touchin' the ground had taken root and set saplings up...
The farmers hate them....I can cut all I want, but they rot fast even sealed...ya gotta turn them right away..

[TexasTimbers]

Okay that was the information I was looking for. I guess my plan is then that I should not go cutting too many of them unless I can find a good demand for them, which I simplky don't have time to do. I wish they would keep. I could put my logger on them.

[TexasTimbers]

If they don't have a good shelf life, what happens to 'em once they ARE turned. Do they fade like most other beautiful woods?

I was cutting more Walnut today, and I had to cut some more elders out of the way. There are some big sawlog sized box elders that are not rotten. I was told that box elder won't make good lumber. I can't see why not if you use it inside and keep it dry. 
I guess I am excited to discover I am sitting on all this striking red wood that is everywhere, and alot of the big ones, someover two feet in diameter. Here is a 14" er that just makes me salivate to thnk of the possibilites. But I guess it must have some kind of negative characteritsic because i have read mixed reviews about it in the archives. I never did see where anyone ever knew for certain that rthe red would definately fade away if kept out of the sun.



Of coiurse those pesky walnuts kept getting in my path and I had to get them out of the way. 



Anyway, I hope someone has had some positive experiences with this stuff I would hate to see it relegated to the burn pile if it has a use other than pedaling a piece here and there to tuners.

[Furby]

Just went downstairs and checked.
I have a couple of box elder cants that have spalt and red in them.
They have been in my basement for two years now.
Don't really get much daylight down there and the red is still there.

Sure wouldn't mind getting my hands on a couple cookies from a log like in your pic Kevjay.

[Burlkraft]

I have sawed some thin lumber and I have several turnings. It holds up okay after you finish it and keep it out of the sun. It is light and gets very dry, but it's usable.....when it's green. I tried turning some that was dry and it was a waste of time. I have made some small wall shelves out of it, for curio type stuff. The red does fade but not completely. The one you have the picture of is a beeeuty kev, I just wouldn't saw up a thousand blanks and seal them and then burn them a year later like I did. I been lookin for a log like the one you took the pic of. Maybe it's the exposure to fertilizer here that makes them grow so wierd. They get tall before they get big and then fall over. Mostly they just grow in fence lines here and benifit from corn fertilizer run off. I have never seen one here that is as big and straight and solid as the one you have...you lucky dog....

[SwampDonkey]

Kev, if you could go up a little further on that but log to get out of the furls (stability problems possibly) and cut a nice counter top, finish it like glass, and make a coffee table.... I would think that would sell fast if you had a place to display and sell them, like a farmer's market or wood craft show. 

There was one in grandfather's yard getting huge and he thought it would be rotten or the wind might break a huge limb. He cut it down and it was red heart inside and sound as a nut. Grandmother was disappointed it had to be cut. I think she planted it, she planted most of the yard trees.

[metalspinner]

I agree that it's the sun that fades the red.  A UV blocker in the finish may help keep it red a little longer but it will eventually lose the brightness of color.

Thanks for the tip, Burlcraft, of not letting it dry out before turning.

For a tree considered a weed,  I have a hard time coming across it here, too.

[oldsaw]

In Minnesota they consider them "weeds".  Yes, they rot by the time they reach any size, and branches like to fall off.  Every once in a while you see one with a lot of red, but we only burned them.  Dad milled the ash, oak, and basswood he could, but the elm and the boxelder burned.

Mark

[Sawmill_Bill]

That is an awesome box elder!

You have to cut some (2" thick) cookies off of the end of that log.  They would be worth a pretty penny.  I would love to have a chance at one.

[Ron Wenrich]

I've seen some box elder burls that were stabilized.  That has something to do with resins, but I don't know how its done. 

If you could do that to a piece of that wood, it might help preserve the color and might even eliminate checking.  Anybody with any experience with stabilized woods?

[SwampDonkey]

I'de almost think 1:1 epoxy would do it. But, your going to loose the bright red, it'll turn brown. I've used it on air dried bowls and they never moved.

I'm no expert, so do some research. But, I'll bet it's something similar.

[metalspinner]

That has something to do with resins, but I don't know how its done. 

I've researched it a little, then when I saw the price tag I stopped looking.

They charge by the pound and the wood needs to be dry.  It's done under vacuum pressure if I remember correctly.  The few pieces I've turned that were resin impregnated turned like a piece of acrylic.  They can also add color dyes to the mix to give nice variation throughout the piece.

Here is a piece of buckeye that was impregnated...



The wood looks natural, but feels like plastic and is considerably heavier than in its natural state.

[TexasTimbers]

Several of y'all want "cookies". What do you do with them? They are too thin to put on a lathe aren't they? Make a plate?

One of the members here is interested in a pallet if we can find an affordable shipping option, but cookies sound cheap to ship.

I am not a turner (yet) thus the lack of knowledge.

[Furby]

Stools.
Displays with wood burnings and such.
Thinner ones can be platers.

[wesdor]

That is one fine looking box elder.  At our last wood turning meeting, the demonstration was on air brush methods.  Steve Sinner did the demo and he is a master at it.  He mentioned that he sometimes air brushes the same color of red into a box elder. That way it doesn't fade with the light. 

[Quartlow]

I cut some around afield today, small stuff like 12 to 14 inches. not very much red in it though.

Here i was wondering if it was more prominent at a specific time of the year.

[TexasTimbers]

. . . . . .  not very much red in it though. Here i was wondering if it was more prominent at a specific time of the year.

I have limited experience with it Quart but I cut my first two trees back in the spring and it was as red as the stuff I cut this week. I had gone in for the only two honey locust I have seen on the property as of yet. We could go back into the I.D. archives and find out the exact time because I didn't know what those wierd red trees were, and I posted the question to members. I am gonna venture it was March or April.
The soil where I am getting all these wonderful trees is in a low, moist, sandy loam mixed with blackland with clay a few feet down. A creek runs through the property and the walnuts and bodarks grow primarily along the creek.
The box elders are everywhere though not paying any attention to the creek or populations of other species.
I don't know how much it matters, but other species that are numerous enough to mention are Pecan, Ash, Oaks (Pin, Chestnut, Red, Post, and others I can't identify yet; this is not the same property thaat I was trying to figure out if it was a BJ oak for those who might wonder), a few Catalpa, Walnut, ERC but it is on the high ground of the property only which makes no sense to me, Red Boxelderof course, and a whole bunch of other stuff I just can't identify yet.
I doubt that helps you out any but there ya have it from a novice trying to become a more informed novice. 

[wesdor]

I am no expert in this area, but from what other wood workers tell me, the boxelder turns red due to stress.  One friend even advised me to cut a limb off here and there to stimulate the red. 

So from what I have been told, this is not a "time of year", but rather stress related.  I look forward to hearing what some of the real experts here have to say about it.

[TexasTimbers]

I am no expert in this area, but from what other wood workers tell me, the boxelder turns red due to stress.

Thanks for that insight wesdor. Quartlow, this is a breeze now. All we have to do to ensure redness is, every month as the bills come in, tack them to the trunks of the trees and tell them it is now their responsiblilty to get them paid.