Chinese Elm

Re: Chinese Elm

John Veerkamp

>Chinese Elm/Siberian Elm turns much like other elms. Be careful of end grain tearout. use sharp tools. It does spalt readily with nice blue greys and black streaks. It will move a lot when it drys. even wood that appears to be dry when turned.

Go for it,

John

Re: I turned some Chinese Elm last month.

Al Crandall

>I turned two bowls which were 18" diameter x almost 5" tall. They were finished to less than 5/16" thick while still green, and a week later they were an inch out of round. Turned nicely with little tendancy for tear out, but seemed to knock the edge from the gouge rather quickly. It looked a little like oak when finished. I'd turn it again in a heartbeat. I took one core from the center of the first piece as it was being used to demo the tool at our club meeting. The other piece had two cores taken from the center. It cored very easily, with huge shavings pouring from the slot.

Re: Chinese Elm

Peter Teubel

>It scorches nicely...

Quite nicely!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Dennis,

Like all the others have said, Chinese Elm turns quite nicely. There is a nice contrast between the heartwood and sap wood. Since this is a softer wood, watch for tear out while turning. Keeping your tools sharp really helps out. In addition, shear scraping and the use of sanding sealer while wet sanding helps to fill in the open grain.

The bowls were turned to final form using a 3/8" Glaser bowl gouge. After that, I wet sanded with a mix of 50% mineral spirits/50% varnish. I started at 180 and moved all the way up to 1200 grit. Finish is Woodcraft's Urethane Oil.

These bowls were one of my best sellers during last year's Holiday Craft Show.

See ya around,

Dominic