American Elm

Re: American Elm

Ron Borowicz

I am in Wisconsin and have turned quite a bit of American Elm. Very tight grained, pretty wood. Turns well and finishes well. My experience has been about 50-50. After rough turning and letting it dry for about a year I had zero cracking but it did warp. Once "finished" turned, 50% of the bowls still moved on me (just slightly) after putting a finish on them and 50% of the bowls remained quite stable. I enjoy turning it. It can have an off smell when green turning.

Re: American Elm

John Veerkamp

It often has great spalting. Nice to turn, but can smell like dog urine when wet.

I've turned quite a bit and almost always distorts some after final turning even when very dry.

Re: American Elm

robo hippy

I have only had a couple of pieces of it here on the west coast. Since we get a lot of rain, it had 1/2 inch growth rings. A bit soft and light weight. I would expect that back there it would be more dense. From watching Roy Underhill, he said the Windsor chair makers loved it for solid one piece seats for the chairs because it has an interlocking grain and resisted cracking. The pee smell goes away as it dries.

robo hippy

Re: American Elm

Don Tewell

Pioneers used elm for the hubs on wagon wheels because of the interlocking grain. Almost impossible to split.

Re: American Elm

George Balock

Thanks for the information. It has been a pleasure to turn green. Thank goodness I didn't notice the pee smell. Could be this log didn't have it or my nose isn't working that well.

Re: American Elm

Lyle Jamieson

I think to answer your question, most American hardwoods range in the 8 to 12 percent shrink rate range. And Elm is near the mid-range of that. I have used elm a lot for my figurative sculptures. It is rare to find American elm any more because of the Dutch Elm Disease. I have been using Siberian or Chinese elm that is not affected by DED. The nice thing about elm is that is has a strong grain interlocking rays that is very forgiving in the drying process. I turn it green to a finish wall but it can be double turned with more success than some other varieties.

Re: American Elm

Don Stephan

From Bruce Hoadley's Understanding Wood page 117 approximate shrinkage as a percentage of green dimension, from green to oven-dry moisture content

Wood Tangential Radial T/R

Ash, white 7.8 4.9 1.6

Beech, American 11.9 5.5 2.2

Elm, American 9.5 4.2 2.3

Holly, American 9.9 4.8 2.1

Madrone, Pacific 12.4 5.6 2.2

Maple, sugar 9.9 4.8 2.1

Oak, red 8.6 4.0 2.2

Walnut, black 7.8 5.5 1.4

American Elm can be split, tangential to the growth rings, if the slab isn't too thick, otherwise the ends of the slab run into the interlocked grain. Think I read in one of Hoadley's books that elm alternates spiraling clockwise and counterclockwise every few years, making the grain interlocked. Fascinating tree, wavy bands of latewood pores, lacy ray fleck like black cherry and maple.

Re: American Elm

Brad Vietje

Hard stuff to split!

Many years ago, my dad had a very large Am. Elm taken down in our back yard -- about 30" x 36" at the base. There were a few cross-cuts about 20" high hanging around. My older sister -- 16 or 17 at the time -- had a very muscular boyfriend who had huge arms; state champion wrestler, and all that. I was a fairly rugged lad of ~15 at the time.

My dad challenged us to split those rounds so they could be used for firewood. This fella takes a huge swing and THUD -- nuthin' doin. Took us quite a few minutes just to get the maul out of the log. We whacked away at that log for a good half an hour before giving up, drenched in a sweat, and jumped in the pond, instead. The rest of that trunk was sawn up and stickered, and a few years later became the most beautifully figured kitchen cabinets. I think those wet rounds went into a bonfire the following winter, having never been split.

I have split the stuff with wedges and a 14# sledge hammer, but it hardly seems worth the effort.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Newbury, VT

Re: American Elm

Lyle Jamieson

Yes, I rip cut it with a chain saw, never try to split it.

Re: American Elm

Robert Lalonde

Sounds interesting. Does anyone know if we can get it out West. I'm in North California.