New Elm Stash

Dave Hoskins

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5,252
Location
Parker County, Texas
Had the opportunity to grab some nice American Elm from maybe 1/2 mile down the road. Brought up the trunk today to get started on things. Still have limbs and other trees to get including a pecan tree. Will be doing that all the weekend as rains are coming again around Tuesday. Because this one was down in a ditch, I had to cut it into lengths that would fit in the bucket of the tractor. Had to latch onto them each with a cable and bring them up to the road. Took a little while but will be worth it. The average diameter of these logs is 20". Should get some nice stuff from this wood.

 
Nice score! Elm can give you some beautiful grain. It's a pretty stable wood too. Not much movement when turned green. Be prepared for a bit of a nasty smell from wet shavings....
 
Hi Jeff! It's a good wood. I've turned a bit of it. I don't remember anything about a bad smell from the wet shavings, though. I sure do when turning green hackberry, though. It can really put you off sometimes until it dries out some.
 
Nice haul... ELM has some pretty grain.... I had a large Elm standing behind my shop that was dropping limbs... the trees tend to die pretty quickly if you disturb their roots and when the guy prepped my shop site, he disturbed the roots of my tree... it was about 30 inches at the base and I had it laid down right where it was, the trunk cut into about 3-4 lengths and stacked behind the shop... I couldn't get to it fast enough and most of it rotted before I could get it turned. SAD!

I got a limb from a friend in my art group that fell out of his slippery elm tree... the limb was from about 10 or 15 foot up in the tree and almost a foot in diameter... it was green and I've turned a good bit of it... hard wood, but does turn nicely.

Speaking of smell, I picked up a Walnut tree from a family in North Knoxville... it grew between their driveway and the neighbor's horse lot... they hated the nuts falling on their cars and all over the driveway, so it came down.... now when I turn it, I can smell the horse lots next door... Walnut isn't supposed to smell like Horse Dukey.
 
You are right, Chuck. It's very nice looking wood. I'm not sure what to say about the walnut stinking like that. :rofl: But I guess wood picks up the smells of where it came from. Never thought much about it, but I guess it's true. I will do my best not to get a tree from a horse lot.
 
I am getting kinda antsy about having to wait before I can cut down and rough out some bowls from this. Still hauling logs from the site. I plan on finishing up the logging part of things by Monday. Hopefully. A lot of what I am bringing out now is in a very low boggy area and it's hard to get in and out of there. Can't get a truck and trailer anywhere near it. All tractor and cable work. AAARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Looks like fun! I need to find another downed tree around here somewhere....

I think one of the reasons folks think elm stinks is that a lot of them are cut down for infringing on the septic system and they've picked up a bit along the way.
 
Well, Ryan. I guess if the opportunity arises I will turn down wood coming from trees next to septic tanks, lateral lines, and horse runs. Sounds logical in my feeble mind. Actually, I'll put up with it until it dries out then no problem. I guess. If it dries and still smells of pookey, then I'll know better next time. Then instead of calling it elm or whatever, it will become pookey wood.
 
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