Replies

1. 
   nvwoody | Oct 19, 2004 05:19am | #1

   yep its good for figure but I belive it has poor bending qualitys. Tough too dry be carefull with it or you'll end up with check city.

2. 
   bobhallsr | Oct 19, 2004 06:46am | #2

   I don't think that gum (sweet gum, liquidamber styraciflua) will have use in boat building because it has very little rot resistance.  It has intertwined fibers and is highly restant to splitting for fire wood.  It tends to warp during drying so it needs to be stickered under pressure.  Jon Arno pointed out that red gum is the heart wood of sweet gum.  While I have seen red gum used for stair treads, I have never seen a gum log that was big enough to have sawable heart wood.  The sap wood is white and very bland.  I've never seen much in the way of grain pattern in the sap wood. My reference books say that the heart wood is very attractive.

   BJ

   Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
1. 
   wop | Oct 20, 2004 12:11am | #4

         You're right about splitting it for firewood. My dad tried this years ago, I remember as a kid sitting watching him pound wedges into the first block of a tree he cut down to split it. After about a half an hour he had all of his wedges (three) stuck in and impossible to get out. In the end he had to burn them out.

       Needless to say he used the rest of the logs to border a flower bed. They rotted in just a few years.

                                         Philip                                     

3. 
   301 | Oct 19, 2004 07:41am | #3

   It never seems to quit moving.  No matter how dry it will continue to move around for years to come.  I made a little piece of furniture out of some that was colored red, a lot like cherry.  It has a pretty streaked apperance and has developed a nice patina.  But it still continues to shrink and move around on me.  I am told they used to use it primarily to make wire-bound boxes, like produce comes in.  Some tell me they used to make duck decoys out of it.  Also used for broom and tool handles.  Sometimes you will see it used as molding in an old house.  It can be turned on a lathe pretty well!