On the Beach Again - With Box Elder

I had grabbed four chunks of box elder from the cut up trunk of a decent sized tree that were dumped at the beach last spring. I wasn't able to slab them at the time, but I didn't want to leave them there to go to waste, so I took them home and put them in a covered area beside my house over the summer and fall. Today I loaded them back up in the van, along with 5 billets of catalpa that have been drying for 3 or 4 years, and headed down to the beach to 'take care of them'. Inspired by Pete who cut up a bigger chunk of box elder with me last spring and extracted every last toothpick out of it, I thought I would just cut this box elder up for pen blanks and bowl blanks rather than slabs.

I also have not dealt with my damaged chains from the metal-in-the-log catastrophe of a few weeks ago. I simply took the spare bucking chain I have and threw it on my 36" bar.

So away I went to the beach this morning, coffee in hand. It was brisk, a bit of wind but not too bad - just enough to make my eyes tear up now and again. The coffee got cold long before I was finished it! At least it wasn't raining. Too hard.

First photo is near the end of it, I am almost done really just one small piece left over to cut up still, along with a couple pieces on the ground that were to be left behind.



Lotsa noodles, and the red colour from the box elder was pretty intense in some places.



I wound up with about 20 chunks in the back of the van. In the back of the picture / front of the van there is some more, as well as the cleaned up billets of catalpa.



Ok here is the back of the picture / front of the van again, this time with the sad little flash on the phone's camera. The catalpa is somewhat more visible.



All in all it was an OK day. My back really tightened up by the end of it, and my 2100 seemed especially gutless for some reason. Plus it kept stalling out on me whenever it was idling. Last time happened I had to put a new piston in it. I sure hope it doesn't need another one! Anyways I am glad to get this box elder cut into more manageable sized pieces, and to get the catalpa billets cleaned up and squared up. The catalpa is ready for the kiln, the box elder I will clean up some more on my bandsaw, then seal the ends and probably let it sit for a year or so.

I always look forward to your adventurous post's, you seem to have a really unique system giong on there. What will the end product be with the billets and blocks you milled? Bowls?

cityslicker said:

I always look forward to your adventurous post's, you seem to have a really unique system giong on there. What will the end product be with the billets and blocks you milled? Bowls?

Click to expand...

Thanks cityslicker, I know the photos on this one were lacking in wood####, I will try to do better next time! I forgot and didn't take any until the end this time.

There is maybe a couple bowl blanks in there with the larger chunks. My buddy who I sometimes slab with is a wonderful turner, but his wife doesn't like box elder, she thinks it's too garish. To each his/her own!

This wood contained a lot of soft sections, cracks and other defects. So I am thinking of cutting most of it into pen blanks. Normally when I cut slabs I let them air dry for two years, then I put them in a dehumidification kiln. I am wondering what others who cut pen blanks do - cut them when the wood is wet, or wait until it is dry?

Dan

I normally cut pen blanks once the wood is dry/seasoned. The blanks remain dimensionally stable. I also cut them 1" square, or 3/4" square if they have nice figure or burl and I dont want to waste, even 1/2' square is good for slim line blanks. Most are left at 6" long.

I have cut some into pen blanks while still wet. They can bow/twist while drying, so on those blanks I usually cut 1" square. And usually about 1/4th of them may have issues while drying. Which can sometimes be corrected with another trim when dry if they are worth re-trimming. The largest pile I've cut in 2 days was around 500-600 good blanks wet. And out of that maybe 40 were unusable. Had good luck with that run of boxelder/cherry/walnut/elm! To dry them I stand them up tightly in a box (all 6" long) and wax/paint the ends, wait till dry, then flip and repeat. Once waxed they are stacked like janga blocks.......3 pen blanks, then rotate 3 pen blanks, then rotate......leaving even airspace around each blank. Works nice when all are same size. at the top of the 1.5' stack I add a 5 or 10 pound weight.

Should speed up production.....too awhile to get a good system down. Should save you some headache!

I would have to run outside and take a picture later if I didnt explain it well enough, just let me know. I boxed most of the blanks, I still have one stack up without the weight on it.

Cheers!
Jim

Good to see you at it again Dan.

I'm down on the south coast again for a few days. No milling as my hand still needs to be rested but we are going out tree collecting today. will post some pics later today.

Always love your posts, Dan. The milling you do is very interesting and the scenery is simply awesone...clear days, cloudy days...it's gorgeous.

I missed uut on a 36" diameter box elder about 15 years ago. Its one of the trees Ive been looking to mill but I have never had the chance. It can be a bit garish but the bowl guys say it always sells well.

Well I tired of cutting it into pen blanks fairly quickly. After cutting up a few pieces I decided to give the rest away to my woodworking buddies. (Of course, I would only do so since I already have several good slabs of box elder already dried and securely tucked away in my storage area!)

There was a bit of a storm here yesterday combined with a 'king' tide, where the sun and moon's gravitational effects on the tides are aligned. Anyways, the local beaches got messed up and a couple seawalls around town were broached. I went past the area where I cut, luckily it is a tiny bit elevated compared to the rest of the beach so it was unaffected. Immediately to the west of where I cut there is some debris. (The row of posts in the pic are for volleyball nets in the summer)

I've learned that "storm=wood to mill". Should be interesting to see what shows up in the old wood pile over the next few weeks as things get cleaned up.