Replies

1. 
   jonsherryl | Oct 12, 2003 06:22am | #1

   Ron, box elder is the softest and finest textured of the maples. It has outstanding shaping characteristics and is a nice wood to work with. It's strength properties aren't much better than those of yellow poplar...so, it's not a good choice for furniture components that will take a lot of abuse, like spindles in chairs...It's only about 75% as dense as hard maple...but for light duty projects it has adequate strength.

   It does have the highest volumetric shrinkage of all the maples...but not by much... and none of the maples have particularly good stability anyway.  It actually has a better T/R ratio than does sugar maple...so, while it looses just a wee bit more volume as it dries than do most of the maples, it has a lower propensity to distort.

   Too bad the stock you have isn't loaded with coral pink spalt, since that's box elder's greatest claim to fame, but it's still worth using.  

1. 
   ron61 | Oct 12, 2003 06:55pm | #2

   I think I may buy the rest of the Box Elder he has- what would be good to treat the lumber with the keep bugs from eating it in storage?

   I was hoping that it would have more red in it - he told me that the red came from defects in the lumber - also he cuts the heart of the log into ties would the heart have more red in it?

   RonWho Ever Has The Biggest Pile Of Tools When You Die Wins

1. 
   jonsherryl | Oct 13, 2003 04:08am | #3

   Ron, if it's green lumber, you'll have to coat the ends, sticker stack it and let it season...But you don't have to put anything on the wood as a preservative. Just getting it dry is the most important thing.

   It's doubtful that if the sapwood you're buying isn't spalted that the heartwood the seller has kept would have been. The attractive coral pink spalt in box elder is caused by a mold. Once the wood is seasoned to where its moisture content drops below about 20% the mold goes dormant.  

1. 
   ron61 | Oct 13, 2003 05:27am | #4

   The Box Elder lumber is Kiln Dried.

   Could I wet the  wood and cover it with something to get it to mold and get the spalted red ?If so how?

   He told me that he had sawn Railroad ties out of the heart . So you are saying that the heart wood is the best and  will have more red spalt?Who Ever Has The Biggest Pile Of Tools When You Die Wins

1. 
   jonsherryl | Oct 13, 2003 04:04pm | #6

   Ron, if the wood is already milled into lumber and kiln dried, I'd recommend that you just keep it dry and use it as is. It's possible the mold that causes the beautiful spalting would attack the wood, if you were to introduce the wood to a humid environment...in other words, kiln drying it doesn't make it immune to future attack by decay organisms...but you'd have to provide just the right conditions to get it to spalt in an attractive way and that's an unlikely proposition...especially once the wood has been milled into boards. 

   The point I was trying to make in the earlier post is that if the sapwood you have shows no sign of spalt, it's highly unlikely that the heartwood of the logs it came from were spalted. Typically, in most species, the mold that causes spalting attacks the sapwood first, because sapwood tissue is least protected by antiseptic extractives. Maple has very low decay resistance, but still it is most likely the sapwood would be more vulnerable than the heartwood. 

   Edited 10/13/2003 9:18:16 AM ET by Jon Arno

2. 
   steves | Oct 14, 2003 12:30am | #7

   According to a FWW article from last year the pink/red color is not caused by mold but by stress to the tree such as when bugs attack it or when a strong storm hits it.

1. 
   jonsherryl | Oct 14, 2003 02:28am | #8

   Steve, I think you are referring to some research conducted up in Minnesota, suggesting that the pigmentation results from the chemistry of the tree (its defense against infection) rather than the metabolism of the mold (Fusarium negundo). Could be...but I'm still curious about this study on several counts...First, if this is true, why is it that this pigmentation seldom occurs in other maples with similar chemistry and why does it sometimes occur in aspen, which does not share the same chemistry as the maples?

   I honestly don't know...and I sincerely respect the efforts of researchers who are trying to solve these mysteries...but, whatever the reason, this beautiful coral pink spalting occurs most often in box elder.    

   Edited 10/13/2003 7:43:06 PM ET by Jon Arno

2. 
   Napie | Oct 13, 2003 03:45pm | #5

   I love it for a secondary wood, it makes a very nice surprise to open a door and see those pink stripes on a cabinet back or a drawer side.  Also, the bowls I've turned from it are quite nice.