Sawing catalpa

[Briankinley2004]

Anyone have any experience sawing catalpa trees? One of my employees said he has some large ones about 20" diameter he is going to cut cause the worms don't come anymore. Don't reckon I have ever heard of or seen a catalpa board. My biggest concern is if they were a fence row at one time cause they used to be used for posts a lot

[low_48]

Cuts like butter, extremely light weight. Unless it's full of fence steel wires and staples. Get a metal detector or cut off the bottom 5' if they were in a fence line.

[Briankinley2004]

What's wood look like. Plain or some character?

[Darrel]

Made firewood out of some once. As I recall, it was very much like cottonwood, maybe not quite as heavy.

[Brad_bb]

I would take Catalpa anytime I could get it.  I've only sawed 2 logs and it was for someone else.  Very lightweight wood.  Has a metallic sheen.  Very interesting grain pattern figure.  I flat sawed it and got a mix of patterns, both interesting.  Not sure if I'd flat saw again or quarter saw.  He was making a table or two out of it.  I do have some scraps left over that I kept for possible small projects.  If you can get Catalpa, it's cool looking stuff, even when it looks nasty/defective on the outside.

[Don P]

That is my memory, ring porous, nice looking. I believe it is rot resistant as well.

[Briankinley2004]

I miss fishing with catalpa worms. He is telling me once they grow the beans the worms go away. I haven't seen any trees with worms in years around here

[Ron Wenrich]

I saw it used as paneling in a guys house.  Worked out great.  If I recall, ring porous and was more yellow in color. 

[Cedarman]

It has a very interesting aroma. 

[ozarkgem]

not sure about the rot resistant. I have one on the log pile and its hollow. I am hoping to make a few boards from it.

[WDH]

Very beautiful wood.

[paul case]

I sawed one that was 16'x36'' at the butt. The guy wanted all 4x4 so thats what we made. Neat looking wood. My guess is it would finish well. I guess it is rot resistant? That is what the guy that brought it had been told and all those 4x4's were gona be legs for a deck.

That log was the funniest get here story I ever heard. it had blown over and the cut all the bush off to a log and it was still up off the ground so they backed a trailer under it and cut it off into the trailer. They pulled that trailer to my mill with a little John Deere tractor, from Commerce,OK! Thats over 14 miles! To make matters worse they got lost, even though the driver had been here before. He was over 4 hours getting a log here and getting back home.

Yard tree that had no hardware that I hit anyway.
I would saw your catalpa.
PC

[WV Sawmiller]

It has a very interesting aroma. 

Cedar,

  Let's be blunt about this - it stinks.

   Oh yeah - the worms are good fish bait but stain your hands badly with their spittle. Dad was a cook in the Army and said best way to remove the stain was to make a big batch of biscuit dough. ???

[Cedarman]

WV, I don't find skunk aroma that unpleasant.  I heard it was a genetic thing.

[LeeB]

WV, I don't find skunk aroma that unpleasant.  I heard it was a genetic thing.

Are you part skunk?  :D  :D  :D

[Don P]

I remember thinking it smelled like wet stale coffee grounds... but then I don't find light skunk unpleasant  :D

We removed the ailanthus from one jobsite, brought the sawlogs home and milled them up for the homeowner. Stickered it in the shed with fans and abandoned that area for a month till the air cleared, what a stink.

[Sixacresand]

Seems like my Dad and many others went to a lot of trouble with catalpa trees to get a couple weeks of worms for fish bait.  We hung pie pans, anything shiny in the trees to shew birds from getting the worms.  Some old folks would guard their worms with pellet guns, 410, BB guns or firecrackers, which was their sport or recreation.  Then the time came to climb the trees and pick the worms to sell them. I grew up thinking this was normal. 

[fishfighter]

Seems like my Dad and many others went to a lot of trouble with catalpa trees to get a couple weeks of worms for fish bait.  We hung pie pans, anything shiny in the trees to shew birds from getting the worms.  Some old folks would guard their worms with pellet guns, 410, BB guns or firecrackers, which was their sport or recreation.  Then the time came to climb the trees and pick the worms to sell them. I grew up thinking this was normal.

In my neck of the woods, it is normal. :D That and fig trees. :D

[Sawmill Man]

 Yep that was pretty common here too.

[Kbeitz]

I don't think that I have ever see a catalpa tree but we do
have good tree fishing worms.



 

[thecfarm]

I have always called them bean trees. Seem like around July 4th they blossom around here. Maybe Catalpa speciosa in this area? Never seen one up close.

[tule peak timber]

I milled one catalpa log (urban timber) a while back, and wish I could find more. I built several tables and desks with this beautiful wood. Rob

 

[LeeB]

Nice. It looks a lot like mulberry.

[WV Sawmiller]

Kbeitz,

   That's a nasty looking worm! What is it? I'd expect an old B grade movie with it as the star monster.

cfarm,

   I think they were also called Indian tobacco trees.

DonP,

   How did the alianthius wood work out? I have a couple that broke off at the corner of my yard (Could have something to do with me girdling them a couple years ago after one fell on my CL fence) and I keep threatening to buck them up and saw them. Is it worth the effort? I wonder if the smell would annoy the chipmunks or the garter snakes residing in my very open wood shed?

Tule Peak,

   That's an awful pretty slab.

[terrifictimbersllc]

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