a use for beech

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806
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New Springfield OH
The last few days I've been looking over all those beech trees and it just kills me to turn it all into firewood. It's worth just about nothing at the local mills, 10 cents a bf for blocking :(

A friend suggested sawing it into 2x4 2x6 and 4x4 stock and make up kits for woodworking benches. I don't think you would ever wear it out.

What you think? Worst case scenario is I end up with kiln fried dimensional firewood :rofl:
 
I used beech for my vise faces. About $4 a bf out here. I've also made small lidded boxes out of it; riftsawn it has an interesting look for smaller items. Oh, and the most important use is filling the void in a large box addressed to me :rofl:
 
Actually, according the one of the trade mags I get (I can never remember which one), Beech is starting to show up in more cabinet work do to it's stability, availability and price. It is also an environmentaly encouraged material since the bulk of what we see in this country is European Beech and it is carefully harvested.

Doug

I used to make frames for tile (art type) out of beech, liked it when painted black but it was also nice when left natural.
 
I'm going to saw some of it into boards. The problem I have is storing it. never enough room :rolleyes: I figure it's not eating any oats just sitting there

I'm going to saw some for siding, need to build a building around the outdoor boiler next summer with room for firewood storage. I can't imagine it's going to be easy to nail though
 
Beech is great, it works well and you can stain it to match a lot of woods, it has historically been used for work tables and even in large kitchen work tables, as well as all kinds of uses in tools etc, from handles to shafts etc.

I too think it would be a shame to just burn it, as it would make great durable bench tops, and structural lumber, decking for trucks or trailers also.

Cheers! :wave:
 
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Discussion started with Beech and made a run to Birch.... Two different Species of wood and two different charasteristics as well...

I am Using Beech as a wood for the standards in construction of the frame for a wood body for a Model T Towncar. Most Model Ts are Ash in construction but a full Wood body was often of harder woods. I choose Beech for it's stability and hardness. Birch is indeed a hard wood but it is looser in its grain structure and lesser in strength than Beech.
 
Many of the Top Quality Commercially Sold Wood Working Bench Tops are made from European Beech, and I sure wish it wasn't so far and expensive to ship some of it to Texas, 'cause I would sure like to make a workbench top out of Beech. I was under the impression that most of the Beech in the US is of a slightly different type and quality from the True European Beech, but still stable and hard enough to make a really nice WW Bench Top.
 
Beech is a good wood...a wood that is dense, hard and has no taste to it. My Grandfather used it a lot in making wooden toys. Myself? Well I have a bunch of it on my property, and plenty of it in my solar kiln, but its nasty stuff to deal with, at least drying it.

With a kiln its easy to case harden it, and with an air drying kiln (like my solar kiln) its likes to bend, warp and twist on me. Not just a little bit, but into a prezel. Its very hard to overcome as many a suspicious woodworker/landowner/sawyer has found out.

As a landowner I have a whole Beech Ridge that is just about worthless. Its about 10 acres in size, yet the trees were stricken with a disease known as Beech Bark Disease. The disease hits the trees at a young age, stunts their growth and makes the wood knotted right up. Its absolutely worthless for lumber in this condition.

For the Beech that is healthy (we call it smooth bark beech here) you get about $120 a thousand bf for the wood and that is assuming you can find a place that will take it. Beech's one redeeming quality is that Spalts up very nicely. You can take a 2 foot chunk of beech, roll it out in your pasture and leave it for a year, and be assured in 365 days, you are going to have a spectacular piece of spalted lumber.
 
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