Turning Elm

[mrGeeze]

My neighbor calls me up & tells me he has a big black cherry thats been blown down near his fence line. I tell him I'll be right over. A quick look at it and it turns out to be elm (not sure whether siberian or american). That precipitates an hour walk in his woods to teach him tree identification. It does provides opportunity for me to explain the dangers and perils his numerous black walnuts mean to national security. Gotta plant the seed.

Anyway, the elm is a nice sized tree so I tell him I'll help him save his fence & cut it up If I can take some of the base for turnings.

I cut 10 or so nice big turning blanks. get the pith out , get the ends sealed.

Throw one on the lathe. A bit like turning bricks compared to cherry.
I knew elm had intelocking grain but there was a noticeable difference in turning this stuff. It also threw off a lot of water spinning on the lathe.

Some of it looks pretty bland, some of it has nice heartwood/sapwood contrast. Can I leave mixed heartwood and sapwood in the turning or will it cause me problems?

Also, any tricks/comments on turning elm in general.

Thanks

 

[Sean Troy]

Using both sap and heartwood is done all the time. If your turning bowls, I would rough turn them to 10% of the diameter, i.e. 1" thick for a 10" diameter bowl. Then double brown bag them for 6-12 months. You could even seal them with Anchor seal for the same time. It depends where you are and the ave. humidity.

 

[Jake Debski]

Using both sap and heartwood is done all the time. If your turning bowls, I would rough turn them to 10% of the diameter, i.e. 1" thick for a 10" diameter bowl. Then double brown bag them for 6-12 months. You could even seal them with Anchor seal for the same time. It depends where you are and the ave. humidity.

Good advice, I would add only one caution. The American Elm that I have turned (green) comes from predominately wet soils. As such the 10 percent rule is a little light. I have had better luck by rough turning 10" bowls to at least 1-1/4" wall thickness. Also I turn the tennon larger than usual to allow for proper sizing on re-turning.

 

[Jack Savona]

Elm

Here in Kennebunkport we treasure our 200+ y/o elms, so there's little opportunity for me to get any. However, when a huge limb fell in a fall storm, I scavenged some sizeable pieces. From them I've so far turned a few nice bowls and was very pleased with the results. Turned green to 10 percent, soaked overnight in LDD (my current preference) and final turned about 4 or 5 weeks later. Minimal distortion in drying, no cracks.

BTY a 5ft. diameter diseased elm is coming down as I write this. I got a few crotches already from the upper limbs and this afternoon will try to get some chunks from the base. So I'm off to bring a bowl, pen and some keychains to the tree crew in hopes they'll cut me a few more pieces.

 

[S. Clark]

I turned some elm in a class with Stuary Batty. We had to sharpen our tools almost continually even though it was green wood. I wasn't sure if that was the nature of this species or just the particular tree we were working with? In any case, the resulting bowls were quite nice.

- Scott

 

[Mark Mandell]

I've done some elm, both carved and turned (my avitar is a piece of elm). The turnings I've done have been with spalted wood and it been rather nicer than other spalted woods to turn. It also displays some nice color in the effected sections. If you can, set some aside a few log sections in leaf pile to start the spalting. I didn't find it overly abrasive on the tools whether turning or carving, but I do "freshen" my edges often anyway.

Good get, enjoy it!

M