Beautiful junk wood

[Erik B]

I split some box elder this morning and noticed how beautiful the red color in it is. When I cut it I noticed a lot of bright red chips flying out of the saw. I gave a few pieces of that tree to a friend of mine who is getting into wood turning.

 

[Oldman47]

Your friend should appreciate it. A few biscuits cut from those logs would make beautiful bowls after he turns them. A foot long slab might be even better for producing interesting grain patterns.

 

[Dogsout]

I have a hard time using beautiful and box elder in the same sentence.

 

[zogger]

It is pretty wood. The tulip poplar here is also pretty. and the mulberry..and cherry and..dang it, wood is just pretty!

 

[haveawoody]

That one sure is red, ditto for the bowl turning idea.
As firewood it makes better bowls LOL

 

[Erik B]

That one sure is red, ditto for the bowl turning idea.
As firewood it makes better bowls LOL

I burn wood like that only because I have it on my land and this one was a blow down. It is only good for shoulder season wood.

 

[Farmertim]

Nothing wrong with Manitoba maple! It always gets a bad wrap - it seasons quickly and burns great. Obviously it wont last as long as hard maple etc., but it is a long way ahead of many woods. If some needs to be cut and cleaned up, the btu's are worth my time. Think of all those guys up north burning spruce!

 

[sawjunky23]

Nothing wrong with Manitoba maple! It always gets a bad wrap - it seasons quickly and burns great. Obviously it wont last as long as hard maple etc., but it is a long way ahead of many woods. If some needs to be cut and cleaned up, the btu's are worth my time. Think of all those guys up north burning spruce!

I burn a lot of box elder. My FIL is a farmer and his line fences are full of it, when they hit the combine he has me cut them down. Or they fall over on their own. It's not oak, but it's better than some. I just don't run into enough Oak and Hard Maple to be fussy.

 

[blades]

I don't know how you can preserve the red, but it will fade out as it dries.

 

[haveawoody]

Box elder as firewood goes isn't that bad.
Similar to silver maple for BTU.

It's just stinky wood cutting, splitting, as it dries and then when you burn it.
If the people next door are painful then Box elder is ideal to burn LOL

 

[Erik B]

Box elder as firewood goes isn't that bad.
Similar to silver maple for BTU.

It's just stinky wood cutting, splitting, as it dries and then when you burn it.
If the people next door are painful then Box elder is ideal to burn LOL

You are right about it being stinky wood when green. It does dry fast and loses its stink quickly. It wasn't a large tree so burning it up shouldn't take too many days.

 

[lindnova]

Some are stinky, some aren't. It is okay, but burns fast.

The biggest problem I have had with it was stacking rounds on the ground and then the next fall there is mold under the bark. That mold is messy and stinks when burnt. Keep it dry off the ground and all is well.

 

[sawjunky23]

I think Cottonwood is far worse as far as "stink" goes than Boxelder. I filled the rack in the garage with some standing dead Cottonwood that I cut last winter, it almost made me sick to my stomach when I was working out there.

 

[haveawoody]

lindnova,

We must be just very lucky here in Ontario to have Box elder that smells in every part of the process LOL

 

[GrizzlyAdams86]

This past winter a local with a OWB didn't get his load of logs until late March and we went out cutting a number of times and he burned whatever we would cut, including a lot of box elder. Another local uses box elder and other "junk" wood to heat his hot water for the summer. (has 4 kids) Works good for bonfire wood too.

 

[sb47]

The red will turn brown after it sits in the sun a few days.
It burns like gun powder.

 

[Erik B]

I have burned it before mostly during shoulder season. If left to lay outside for long, it will go punky rather quickly.