I have a chance to get a large dogwood tree that is being cut down. It is about 50 years old and way too close to a house, with the result that it has a fairly long and reasonably straight trunk. It is a good 10 -12 inches in diameter and the main trunk is at least 10 feet long. What can it be used for? Any advise on how to handle the drying out? Cut into boards first or leave as a log etc.
Dan Carroll
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DanCC I've worked with a log I got from a fellow Knothead. It is hard, hard wood! I would cut now to board size for drying. It is the hardest wood I've tried to deal with - had to split with wedges to get to manageable size. I understand that it is often used for golf club heads and tool handles because it is tough and polishes well, like persimmon. Don't know about long term but I made a picture frame out of it that seems stable.
Edited 4/4/2008 1:57 pm ET by stantheman
Assuming that this is the native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), the wood is very hard, nearly white, and essentially devoid of visible grain or figure. Straight-grained portions of the trunk should dry well, but I've heard that knots and branches can cause the wood to twist up in all kinds of imaginative ways.
-Steve
Dan,
I sawed some up into boards a while back. Makes nice inlay material.
Ray
Dan,
I recently had the opportunity to work with dogwood recently. The wood I had was from a tree larger than 15" diameter and had lots of colour. From what I understand, only the older trees have colour in them. It may depend on what area the tree is from as well. I found the wood to be hard, though not noticably harder than rock maple. I would cut the log into slabs and let it dry. The wood I used came from a dehumidification kiln and showed little evidence of twisting and warping.
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Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
I think it's only the western species (Cornus nutallii) that ever gets any significant color in the heartwood.
-Steve
I've turned dogwood for mallet heads. Hard stuff, but turns fairly easy when green.
Lucky me. I guess that makes up for my lack of good deals as discussed on another thread.Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Dogwood has beautyful grain and colour, you can use it for furniture, carvings and turnings. I am talking about the Pacific Dogwood, the provincial tree of British Columbia and it is potected. See if you need a permit to cut it down perhaps the owner has to comit to plant anew one or two. Ernie
Very nice wood, turns beautifully. Many of my rasp/file handles are dogwood that I turned from dry stock. Looks like a slightly pink maple, but the color probably varies.
You probably know this already, but small blocks of it are primo for turning tool handles and things. You can accelerate the drying process of small blocks in the microwave. I have a 4" x 4" by 24" chunk that I want to make a high angle plane out of when I get around to it.
I have one dogwood left growing that the hurricanes and windstorms haven't uprooted yet and it certainly put on a show with flowering this year, with all the rain we've had this winter.
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