Using Elm

[Bill_B]

Here are 2 things made from Elm.

[Patty]

Those are beautifful. Is that red elm?

[Bill_B]

Patty, They were made of American Elm and some Red Elm. The color is from the stain. I used a light stain that I mixed myself.

[MULE_MAN]

Looks like you did a real fine job !!!!!

[Buzz-sawyer]

Good job!
Most people i know wont even use red elm for fire wood!!!!
I think it is beatiful..nice lookin furniture.

[MemphisLogger]

Excellent work, Bill.

For other sawyers out there, Elm is in demand for seat blanks. Wide 8 and 10/4 pieces are perfect and traditional for scorped seats because of its interlocked grain which keeps it from checking/splitting.

   

[Kirk_Allen]

I used American Elm on our Backsplash in our kitchen. We left it natural by using Linseed oil and wax.  It looks great.  I will be taking tons of pics when we go back up for our open house.  Got to get the place sold!

I have about 1300 bf of American Elm on hand and its all cut 8/4.  I might have some 10/4 but doubt it sinse I cut it by myself.  If I remember right, 8/4 12" wide boards 11 feet long are VERY heavy ;D

[MemphisLogger]

How wide are the widest 8/4 you have, Kirk?

[SwampDonkey]

American elm has some of the most beautiful grain of any hardwood. I turned a couple of bowls of elm and I love the wood and it is quite stable wood. I even liked the smell of the shavings when turning the bowls.

[Fraxinus]

The gavel used to conduct our town meeting was made from the wood of an elm tree which was planted by Matthew Thornton, signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Hampshire.  My town was named after him although he never lived here.
And, Swamp Donkey, I agree with you.  Elm has beautiful grain and I bet those turned items are pretty.

[SwampDonkey]

American elm with a burl. This tree was 45 inches at 6 feet above the ground. The tree died after a clear cut of the neighbor's woodlot where the tree was growing. It was the tallest and largest tree I seen on the lot. I used to ski some in those woods.



This American elm stands majestic in the stand of mixed woods. It was located along an intermittant stream. One of the largest elm I've seen in the area. Most of our mature elms have died out from disease (dutch elm) since the 1950's, when it was discovered in Woodstock for the first time in New Brunswick.

[Fraxinus]

When I was a kid ('40s and '50s), they really died big time around here.  You still see them around.  Once in a while there is a big beautiful one.  Nearest one I know of around here is in Holderness, NH, near the field house for Plymouth State University.  Visible from I-93.  Town of Newport has a big 'un on south Main Street.
About 20 years ago, the record elm for the state was "discovered" right here in Woodstock.  Before the summer was over, it died and was taken down. :(
I must say I don't care much for the smell of the wood.  Years ago, the oldtimers called it "pith elm".  And I know why ;)

[SwampDonkey]

They used elm here for years in horse stables because it stood up to the treading of the horses.

I've never smelled anything obnoxious with elm. Probably depends on age, health of the tree and location (site) grown. Now white spruce on the other hand is well known as skunk spruce.

[Fraxinus]

My father and grandfather always called it "Cat Spruce".
You're right about elm being used for stable floors.  Another use for it in the old days was for wagon hubs.  There was nothing better, according to Pa.
Hey, Swamp Donkey, on another subject, do you know who Eddie Poirier is?  I saw him years ago in Fredericton at a "Gathering of the Irish".  I suspect he ain't got a drop of Irish blood in him, though :D :D  He is one heck of a musician and a funny guy.  He said "I've got a frog in my t'roat.  I t'ink he wants to sing a duet."  ROFL!!!

[SwampDonkey]

erm.... nope, don't know of him. I think the last name kinda gives it away ha? ;) I'm know at the annual Silvicon conference they have a couple of nuts flitting around during lunch time. :D Btw, me roots are Scottish. ;)

[oldsaw]

DanG, a picture of good lookin' furniture that's too far away to see the wood.  What in the world are you thinking!!!!  We are WOOD guys, the furniture is almost secondary.

Looks good thought...  ;)

[oakiemac]

I have a lot of American Elm on my property. Most of them eventially get the disease and die but there is a few dandys as well. Count me in as one that likes the wood from these trees. When I get some time, I'm going to cut some of the dead ones down and mill up some nice lumber.
I also love the slippery Elm or red elm. There is less  of this around but it can still be found.

[SwampDonkey]

Have an apple from my elm wood bowl





A close-up of the wood grain of American elm. ;D

[Fraxinus]

Yup, that nice zigzaggy grain.  Very pretty.  We had some of it on the wall in one of the classrooms in the Forestry department at UNH when I was there.
Swamp Donkey, Eddie Poirier is probably one of New Brunswick's most famous musicians/performers.  Natalie McMaster is another.  She's a fiddler.  I think he can play just about anything.

[iain]

Elm is proby my fav wood for dramatic colour and grain in the same piece for wood  8)



    iain

[SwampDonkey]

I've heard of MacMaster, but my folks like Ivan Hicks Fiddling the best and then there was Don Messer, who was from Tweedside, New Brunswick but he had his show in PEI, Don Messer's Islanders (50-60's). His show was even more highly rated than the Ed Sullivan show at that time. Don Messer was a fiddler since aged 7. I'm not into fiddling myself, not many of my generation are.

[Bill_B]

Here are some closeups of the grain in the elm.

[iain]

Yipidy yip yip thats Elm, do you get the green, purple and red streaks, like what we get here?



  iain

[Greg]

Excellent work, Bill.

For other sawyers out there, Elm is in demand for seat blanks. Wide 8 and 10/4 pieces are perfect and traditional for scorped seats because of its interlocked grain which keeps it from checking/splitting.
   

Scott,

What width and what grain orientation are desired for elm seat blanks?

Do they use flat sawn slab material, or simply rounds cut off end of the log?

Do you know of specific furniture makers/buyers for elm seat blanks?

What is your commission/finding fee ? ;-)

Thanks,
Greg

[thurlow]

Is that the same stuff people of my Granddad's generation called ellum? :D :D :D