iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Newbie Question On Sweet Gum

Started by TennesseeWoodsman, January 31, 2009, 05:56:16 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

TennesseeWoodsman

After having some logs milled by a an Amish custom sawyer I am absolutely hooked and can't wait to get my own mill. Kudo's to the forum here. What an friendly group and incredible wealth of experience and knowledge on the subject. I'm reading and learning as much as I can before buying mill.

I live in middle Tennessee and my property has a fair amount of hardwoods on it. There are a LOT of sweet gum trees on the property and was wondering about the usefulness and potential uses of it. Does the twisted grain cause problems in milling? Is it suitable for barn siding? It certainly has an interesting grain pattern.

Thanks very much, TW

 

Tom

Wecome to the Forestry Forum. 
You're right in the middle of some of the prettiest hardwoods in the country.  What an opportunity to be there and have a sawmill.  We have some woodworkers on here that are going to be quite envious of your natural inventory.

Yes Sweet gum is a bit difficult to dry, but it is worth it.  If you  have shopped the stores for cabinet or furniture wood and seen a high-dollar wood labeled as Red Gum,  you were looking at the heartwood of Sweet gum.   A lot of woodworkers don't know that and will tell you the failings of sweet gum while they carefully manicure a Red Gum board for a heirloom project.



ARKANSAWYER


  Does not make good barn siding.  Does not make good timbers or post.  I over saw and dry then resaw and split it.  Stickers about every 12 inches and put on bottom of pile.  I have found that if you let the logs lay for about 3 months they saw and dry better.  It will spalt.
ARKANSAWYER

Banjo picker

They saw very well.  The wood of choise to saw RR ties out of IMO.  They won't all have as much color as Tom's piece of furniture, but when you find one that does, they are hard to beat in my book. 

By the way welcome to the forum.  If you are in mid Tenn. we are nearly neighbors.  I live in Iuka Ms.  Tim
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

TennesseeWoodsman

Thanks all, that's good info especially on the drying. I'll definitely try some of it for small furniture projects. I grew up in FL and have lived in TN for a couple of years. We really love it here, great place to live.



pineywoods

Tennessee I have found that sweetgum that has been quartersawn doesn't warp or twist any worse than most other woods. Now where there are knots, yes, it WILL warp. It dries well but slowly, works well and takes a stain quite well. I've made some small furniture pieces from it that easily pass for mahogany.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

arkansas

Quote from: ARKANSAWYER on January 31, 2009, 07:30:18 PM

  Does not make good barn siding.  Does not make good timbers or post.  I over saw and dry then resaw and split it.  Stickers about every 12 inches and put on bottom of pile.  I have found that if you let the logs lay for about 3 months they saw and dry better.  It will spalt.

listen to Arkansawyer, this stuff is well known to crawl around durning drying.  But as others have said, it is very pretty stuff.
Working on a hot LT40HD for now

Handy Andy

  Years ago a cabinet shop near hear brought a bunch of tupelo gum in and used it to make trim.  It was beautiful stuff, I used it to trim out a house.  They used birch doors and it matched pretty well.  They quit it after a short while, and went to using poplar.  Poplar stayed straight better.  But the gum was a lot prettier. 
My name's Jim, I like wood.

dad2nine

I let you know soon as I figure out what's wrong with my WM - I got a bunch of big butt sweet gum logs it to QS. I've only cut one sweet gum log before and it was quite some time ago, a guy wanted it cut into 7/8 thick for drawer sides. He complained because it had dark streaks in it, he should have brought me a white log then  ::)

Any advise on quartering sweet gum? same MO as anything else, buck em short so they don't bow much when you saw em through the pith?

Thanks

Tom

It might have some tension in it, but the movement generally takes place as it dries.

I try to cut cabinet and furniture wood 8-12 feet long only because it fits in a Pickup.  End splits and stain in the end can be bad.  If you cut it too short, you end up with more ends and that makes more degrade.   You can saw it 4/4 in widths up to about 8 inches. I'd saw it a little fatter for wider stuff, like 12".

If you saw wider than twelve, consider 5/4 or 6/4.

Sticker it carefully. Dry it under roof. 

Beware of wood borers, like powder post beetles.  The wood is sweet and they like it.

zopi

Snd if you cuth them out of your back yard, they are alot less annoying as boards than as trees...

State Weed of Virginia.

I'm from Mcminnville originally...hopeully get back there in a few years.
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

ellmoe

   If I want 3/4" finished sweetgum, I saw the boards 5/4. It will still get some boards to twisted to use.

Mark
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

fishpharmer

Welcome Tennessee from another newbie.  The cumulative wealth of knowledge here is unbelievable.  And watch out for the banjopicker fella, you will have a good friend before you know it. ;D 
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

TennesseeWoodsman

Thanks fishpharmer. No doubt, there's nothing about wood, milling and equip that you can't get answered here .... and a really nice group of folks to boot.

Ya, that Tim looks to be a serious picker, have you visited him and his mill?

How's it going with your new mill?

dad2nine

I just cut up about 1000 here's a few pics of a book match set - it's perhaps some of the nicest looking lumber I've sawn yet. I just hope it don't dry into a pile of snakes  ::)

Note from admin!! Images MUST be in your forestry forum gallery. No off site images!
https://forestryforum.com/disclaimer.htm

Thanks

Banjo picker

That is really nice. Hope it does well for you.  What do you have in mind for it? Tim
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

Gecko

I was given a couple of boards awhile back and just used some for box lids. I love the look of that wood and was actually trying to see if and where I could get some more this evening. One thing I noticed was the wood seemed to dry badly around the knots.
As Always,
   Gecko

Meadows Miller

Gday

and Welcome to the Forum Tennessewoodsman  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) I didnt know you called it Red Gum overthere   :P ;) :D Thats a dang nice table you got there Tom  ;) ;D
Ive cut thousands and thousands of (Eucy)Red gum  12"x 6"x10' std rail sleepers/ties over the year the red gumm we have here is also verry reactive wood rite through the process even when you ripp a short peice when making furniture you baisicly have to saw over on every cut to allow for movment then shave it down to the finnish size  ;) But its a dang nice wood when its finnished  ;) ;D ;D 8) It saws like a hot knife through butter when green but pulls allover the joint most of the time  ;) :D ;) and when its standing dead it cuts a little harder but wont pull as much  ;)

Just disarvo i remilled about 500 bft of 40 yr old recycled sleepers into 10x5/4 boards for a mate and have another 500 to go in the morning on the 44"table top mill but i had the 36"saw that i just use for the sleepers in it the boards came out budafull my mates going to get a furniture maker to build some stuff  with it  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)

Fish and Twm Your Rite  ;) Tim's a Top Bloke  ;) ;D Im still comeing over to give that Cooks of yours a Good Workout Mate  ;) :D ;D ;D 8) 8) it just takes me a little longer to get there ;) :D :D :D I wish it was as easy as just jumping in the ute  ;) :D :D ;)

Reguards Chris



4TH Generation Timbergetter

dad2nine

ok here's the pics again - I didn't QS them just plain sawed







Thanks

TinMan

TennesseeWoodsman

I sawed some sweet gum a few years back with my logosol mill. Cut nice and the heartwood was real pretty. It was for a friend and he did the drying, never heard how it came out. Good luck on a mill, you will find plenty of help here. ;D ;D

Tracy

Thank You Sponsors!