Scored some sweet gum today! Need suggestions on an interesting piece

[Dave Spivak]

This is my first post on this forum. I got some big pieces of sweet gum today from a neighbor. I have to store them out doors for now so I'll be getting anchor seal on them tommorrow. There is one interesting piece I like some opinions on it. end grain bowls? epoxy? The wood is fairly wet. Any pictures of what others have done with this kind of growth pattern would be really helpful. Thanks!

 

[Charlie Knighton]

The lower portion blank will have grain distorted, he upper grain rather bland from what little I've turned, enjoyed turning it.

 

[Dean]

Dave, the bottom pics are perfect pieces. the top I really do not know what i would do but I do know I would be very careful with it especially if I were to try any face grain type turnings. Epoxy can be used but your wood needs to be dry, do not use it on green wood. good luck

 

[Vincent Vogel]

On the top right photo I would cut aboiut 1" off to get rid of the drying cracks then cut a 2 or 3 inch thick slice off to make a bar height table top. Would have to treat it with something to prevent cracking while drying.

 

[hockenbery]

cut through the pith on the bottom 4 that will reduce the chance of radial cracking.

the other piece doesn’t appear to have the structural integrity for a shallow endgrain bowl that would have a super wavy bark.
I’d look for NE bowls that should have nice rim contours.


this is a 11” diameter beach bowl centered on a deep valley

 

[Marc Banka]

My comment is about handling Sweetgum, such that it won’t be boring!

I don’t want to call it spalting, but the how of it is similar. Sweetgum needs time to ‘develop’. As you can see looking at your logs, it’s blonde, without character. Do your anchor seal, then wrap them in a tarp for a while. A few months is good. Or, you can turn some while green, but only for twice turned pieces. Turn them while soaking wet, and anchor seal right away.

A black bloom will appear. It’s a bit off putting, looks kind of scary. Don’t worry, it’s fine.

I found that after ’blooming‘, the bland and blonde turns to beautiful browns, reds, greens and blacks.
i had turned a few pieces, once turned and finished right away. That stuff is still blonde and boring.

The ’bloom’ doesn‘t seem to affect the strength of the wood. Letting it sit and spalt surely does. I don’t care for the spalted Sweetgum, only the bloomed.

This is a twice turned, bloomed, Sweetgum. Nothing to enhance the color. Walnut oil finish.

 

[Randy Anderson]

I turn a good bit of sweet gum and it can make some outstanding pieces. If you let it age a bit, sealed of course and out of the rain, it develops some great color and spalting lines. Watch it since it can go punky and become firewood fairly quickly. The large piece is hard to discern a good plan for but my input is to think about some hollow forms with inclusions or like the piece Al and Marc posted. Not everything is a bowl blank.

 

[robo hippy]

The bottom log sections do look like sweet gum. It can and does spalt nicely. The top pieces do not. Woods that come to mind are hawthorn, which can have those big bark inclusions, and I did see one Bradford pear that was maybe 36 inch diameter, and had bark inclusions like that, but the wood was white. The hawthorn does have a reddish/pinkish color to it. You can get some small bowls out of the lobes, possibly lots of spindle or box blanks out of that. Some people love taking the nastiest piece of wood they can find and make some thing out of it. I don't, too much risk, and too much work.

robo hippy

 

[Dave Spivak]

My comment is about handling Sweetgum, such that it won’t be boring!

I don’t want to call it spalting, but the how of it is similar. Sweetgum needs time to ‘develop’. As you can see looking at your logs, it’s blonde, without character. Do your anchor seal, then wrap them in a tarp for a while. A few months is good. Or, you can turn some while green, but only for twice turned pieces. Turn them while soaking wet, and anchor seal right away.

A black bloom will appear. It’s a bit off putting, looks kind of scary. Don’t worry, it’s fine.

I found that after ’blooming‘, the bland and blonde turns to beautiful browns, reds, greens and blacks.
i had turned a few pieces, once turned and finished right away. That stuff is still blonde and boring.

The ’bloom’ doesn‘t seem to affect the strength of the wood. Letting it sit and spalt surely does. I don’t care for the spalted Sweetgum, only the bloomed.

This is a twice turned, bloomed, Sweetgum. Nothing to enhance the color. Walnut oil finish.
View attachment 50173

Wow! Thanks, will have to try this "blooming" thing love this pic.

 

[Dave Spivak]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions!

 

[Dave Spivak]

My comment is about handling Sweetgum, such that it won’t be boring!

I don’t want to call it spalting, but the how of it is similar. Sweetgum needs time to ‘develop’. As you can see looking at your logs, it’s blonde, without character. Do your anchor seal, then wrap them in a tarp for a while. A few months is good. Or, you can turn some while green, but only for twice turned pieces. Turn them while soaking wet, and anchor seal right away.

A black bloom will appear. It’s a bit off putting, looks kind of scary. Don’t worry, it’s fine.

I found that after ’blooming‘, the bland and blonde turns to beautiful browns, reds, greens and blacks.
i had turned a few pieces, once turned and finished right away. That stuff is still blonde and boring.

The ’bloom’ doesn‘t seem to affect the strength of the wood. Letting it sit and spalt surely does. I don’t care for the spalted Sweetgum, only the bloomed.

This is a twice turned, bloomed, Sweetgum. Nothing to enhance the color. Walnut oil finish.
View attachment 50173

How tightly do you wrap them up? These will be outside. are we cutting off air flow?

 

[Marc Banka]

Not airtight, but no breeze either. I used a tarp and tucked it in. Mine lived outside, too

 

[Randy Anderson]

A large piece of sweet gum I started on yesterday. I left the stump in place about 24" tall and sealed the top. I cut it off at the ground yesterday and started shaping it. The piece to the left, out of frame a bit, is from the same tree. It can really get crazy in terms of color variations. The large piece will end up with more darker areas I think since it aged outside a while longer.

 

[robo hippy]

A turner up in North Washington would spalt the Monkey puzzle trees. Outside, one end on the ground, and let them sit for 6 months. Pretty wet up there. I would suggest the same for the sweet gum. The proverbial 'individual results may vary' applies here....

robo hippy

 

[Dave Spivak]

Thanks all for your help. I just cut up the first round and it seems to have worked!

 

[Richard Coers]

That must be from the maple rounds you posted in February? Because these new pictures sure aren't sweet gum.

 

[Tom Lucas]

What Randy said. Let it sit for a while and it will spalt. Let it sit too long and it will be too punky to use. It can have some beautiful spalting and is easy to turn. Otherwise it is pretty plain and has a color that just isn't attractive even if dyed. OK for tool handles if solid wood, though.

 

[Dave Spivak]

That must be from the maple rounds you posted in February? Because these new pictures sure aren't sweet gum.

Yep sweet gum!