Sweetgum for Cookies?

[wagonwheeler]

Gum trees are trash trees here and I snipped a couple of 12"-14" x 5' logs today from some trees that a friend pushed off a lot he's gonna build on.

I was thinking they'd be handy for cutting cookies while tinkering w/ saws - swapping carbs - checking muffler mods - etc... Seems better than dealing w/ the sappy southern yellow pine (and the bark) or hacking up oak that'd be better split and stacked.

Any reason not to use gum for such? I suppose it cuts more like oak than anything else around here. These logs are probably 4mos old.

BTW, I picked 'em up w/ my receiver hitch carrier and thought...this is actually not a bad log stand! Sort of a reciever hitch log stand.

I modded my carrier a long time ago to use a 5/8" bolt and captured nut welded to a removable internal sleeve so there is NO wobble whatsoever. (I can still use a 5/8 hitch pin if the wobble doesn't matter). I had also welded chainl links around the perimeter for tiedown locations. So it'll make a pretty handy log stand methinks.

Chaser

 

[scottr]

Cookie

With the interlocking grain it's not going to cut fast like Yellow Poplar .

 

[bvaught]

It wont be as slow as Oak, and believe it or not when dry it makes OK firewood.

 

[wagonwheeler]

With the interlocking grain it's not going to cut fast like Yellow Poplar .

Yep. That was pretty apparent already. And that grain doesn't make really nice chips like nearly anything else. Lots more 'hair' in with the chips.

But since it cuts slow it should widen the scale a little for showing the effect of carb and muffler changes (and chain condition) on performance.

Thanks!

Chaser

 

[wagonwheeler]

It wont be as slow as Oak, and believe it or not when dry it makes OK firewood.

Yeah, I've heard that it burns pretty good - maybe I'll save the cookies for my woodstove - which I'm saving for a new shop...someday.

Precious little merit otherwise.

Gum keeps pretty good company w/ fire ants and kudzu for it's annoyance factor...:angry2:

Chaser

 

[458_lott]

If it is five star gum, the gum balls are a pain in the a$# also. That stuff is really tough to split, but it doesn't burn too badly when you can finally split it.

 

[wagonwheeler]

If it is five star gum, the gum balls are a pain in the a$# also. That stuff is really tough to split, but it doesn't burn too badly when you can finally split it.

Maybe squashing so many gumballs under bare feet as a kid is what made me hate them.:angry2:

Plus the tops die out on 'em, and the leaves are messy, and they spread like wildfire, and you have to poison the stump after cutting or you get ten more of em...

Weeds...

Chaser

 

[Diesel JD]

I just burn it...IME it cuts a little slower than pine but faster than live oak...really about the same as teh softer southern oaks liek laurel and water. It tends to feather when I split it by hand rather than split solidly like oak does. It burns great, it just doesn't have the btus of oak or hickory, and it pops a lot,
J.D.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

I knocked off a couple of my neighbors dead sweet gums, they were about 14" across. In the splitter, you put in a piece, it struggles, and out pops what looks like a bowl of shredded chicken!

I ended up, after a while, sawing the rest along their lengths into 4 quarters. It burns really well, imho.

Dean