350bf of sweetgum for 50 bucks.

[Robert gree]

i have no experience with this lumber at all. All i know is if i get it by tommorow its 50 bucks for 350BF it is dry.

What can i do with this lumber?

here is a picture of said lumber http://images.craigslist.org/3k63m03ob5Tf5P05R7a1j3d87a148ecce1263.jpg

[Jerome Hanby]

Found this passage online

Sweet gum wood, though, has been another story. The often beautifully figured stock can resemble walnut. And when quartersawn, it passes as the costly Circassian walnut fancied for fine furniture and gunstocks.

[Tom Winship]

$0.14 per board foot (if my math is correct) is a steal for any kind of wood, I would think.
Tom

[Robert gree]

$0.14 per board foot (if my math is correct) is a steal for any kind of wood, I would think.
Tom

idk what to do with it though

[Jon Grider]

Get the wood! Worry about potential projects later, you're a woodworker I know you have ideas for things to build. If not, I'll gladly take it off your hands.

[Tom Winship]

Get the wood! Worry about potential projects later, you're a woodworker I know you have ideas for things to build. If not, I'll gladly take it off your hands.

My sentiments exactly. Probably can't buy firewood that cheap, although I think gum is "snap, crackle, and pop".

[Jon Lanier]

Buy it, buy it now... right now! Resale for a profit at worse.

[Robert gree]

is it stable enough for furniture?
I do need to build a new desk for my office.

[Zach England]

Many of the homes in my neighborhood, built in the 1910s-20s, have gum wood for the moulding and casing work. My neighbor just stripped and restored hers and it is beautiful. I cut some of it for her and it has a very odd smell when cut.

I am not sure if my trim is gum wood or not. When I was remodeling I did not have the gumption to strip it so I just painted it (again). Hopefully some some day I will strip a piece and see what I have.

[Robert gree]

going monday to pick it up. hes actually has 500BF im going to get it all

[Scott T Smith]

Sweet gum is a beautiful wood, but it tends to move a lot when drying (or when exposed to moisture changes). Be sure that it is completely dry before using it for your furniture projects.

[Robert gree]

thanks for the info all,

Also i can also only get about 300BF in my shop anything wrong with story in the attic?

[Bob Smalser]

This child's rocking chair is out of Sweetgum. Made in the 1940's, it has served us for three generations.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2999461/368380294.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2999461/382001718.jpg

[Robert gree]

good looking chair, think it would be suitable for a office desk or workbench?

[Robert gree]

is this suitable for a office desk or workbench i need to build both

[Ted Calver]

I like to turn Gum but only the heart wood. My experience has been that the sap wood is rather bland but the heart wood is really nice, often with black streaks in it like some of the ebonies. I look for Gum with a large proportion of heart wood whenever I'm out scrounging wood but unfortunately most of the trees I find in our area have very little heart wood. I took down a 20" tree in our back yard several years ago and it had only 6 inches of heart wood.

[Scott T Smith]

thanks for the info all,

Also i can also only get about 300BF in my shop anything wrong with story in the attic?


Attic storage is a great way to store wood. The heat from the attic helps to keep the wood around 6% MC.

[Karl Card]

idk what to do with it though




just tell me where to pick it up...lol

[Van Huskey]

Attic storage is a great way to store wood. The heat from the attic helps to keep the wood around 6% MC.


Sorry for the hijack...

I have stored wood in my shop attic plenty of times with no ill effects. I have a bunch of extra bamboo 5/8" flooring and my flooring guy said NOT to store it in the attic, he had no reason other than the heat ruins flooring, didn't bother questioning it. Anyone stored flooring in the attic?

[Roger Bullock]

At 10 cents per BF, I'm sure you will find some uses for it. As to what you could use it for.......let me GUM it over for awhile and I'll get back to you. :D:D:D

[Robert gree]

At 10 cents per BF, I'm sure you will find some uses for it. As to what you could use it for.......let me GUM it over for awhile and I'll get back to you. :D:D:D
Sounds good.

things i wouldnt mind building out of it

Entertainment center.
Desk
Workbench
Toolbox

think it would work for the above?

[ken gibbs]

This sounds like a lot of money to pay for kindling. You may throw about half of that sweet gum in the woodstove.

[Jeff Willard]

Good luck with it. That stuff moves-a lot.

[Jason White]

Gum wood was a popular choice for interior trim in houses near Boston 100 or so years ago. It was usually left natural and finished with shellac. It's quite beautiful when darkened with age and is very prized around here among old house enthusiasts.

Jason



i have no experience with this lumber at all. All i know is if i get it by tommorow its 50 bucks for 350BF it is dry.

What can i do with this lumber?

here is a picture of said lumber http://images.craigslist.org/3k63m03ob5Tf5P05R7a1j3d87a148ecce1263.jpg

[ROBERT ELLIS]

A few years ago, I believe Fine Woodworking Magazine, done an article on sweet gum. It's was well worth reading. As I remember the article went into the history of how America used to use a lot of sweet gum (red gum) in the early days, i.e, trim (mostly). They also showed a picture at the end of the article of a Danish Style (?) cabinet built many years ago. The article mentioned Europeans still treasure the wood and seems like they consider it as a cheap alternative to Walnut. The article also expounded on the properties of Gum, things you need to know about how and why it moves around so much.

My neighbor, a logger, got an order for a large sum of gum trees a few summers ago. It was slated to be sawed into large timbers, and from what I understand they were to be attached edge to edge to lay flat to enable drilling companies to move heavy equipment over swampy areas.

If you look for the Fine Woodworking article and don't have any luck, try Wood magazine, I subscribed to both at the same time.

Hope this helps,

Robert

[raul segura]

I was looking at cutting and drying some Gum trees and was told it was trash. Its best quarter cut because of its warping. I suppose it may continue some warping after build. At that price Id be game though.

[Homer Faucett]

I was looking at cutting and drying some Gum trees and was told it was trash.

I get told the same thing about a lot of trees around here. IME, most loggers around don't have much experience in woodworking, and only see value in cherry, walnut, hard maple, and oak that they can resell to sawmills who have large orders for commonly used hardwoods.

Most will also tell you that osage orange, locust, and spalted maple are trash wood as well, but I really like to use each of those, if the tree is big enough to justify hiring a sawyer.

[Paul Johnstone]

i have no experience with this lumber at all. All i know is if i get it by tommorow its 50 bucks for 350BF it is dry.

What can i do with this lumber?

here is a picture of said lumber http://images.craigslist.org/3k63m03ob5Tf5P05R7a1j3d87a148ecce1263.jpg

Since you are only paying $50 for it, you are doing well even if 1/2 of it is not usable.. Get it and build something small out of it. See how it works.

[Micheal Roth]

I used some sweetgum for some bedroom furniture i built last year. I used black walnut for the majority of the pieces and the sweetgum for the drawer sides. This sweetgum looked like some spaulted maple,very pretty. The only downside was the stuff was tough to plane. It is a dense wood sort of like maple or birch. I say buy it, use it ,and learn!

[Luther Oswalt]

We used Sweet Gum for siding Pole Barns for hay storage ... We never used it for much else ... warp to much and was hard as all get out when dry. Drove nails with sledge hammer! We also ran a lumber yard and no one really wanted to buy gum!
Leo

[raul segura]

Sound right to me different prospective. Maybe Ill give it a try. I here the same about Sycamore but I gues these woods will get more popular as the (good) stuff gets harder to attain.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Sweet gum frequently has nice figure and can resemble walnut. The wood is frequently used in fine interior woodworking, flooring, and veneer. The wood is not good for outdoor use (I think because of decay problems and maybe it moves a lot??)

I expect the wood to have a smooth grain but to machine well (and I understand that it is difficult to split for firewood).

[Homer Faucett]

Sound right to me different prospective. Maybe Ill give it a try. I here the same about Sycamore but I gues these woods will get more popular as the (good) stuff gets harder to attain.

Sycamore has been used pretty extensively as a replacement for "poplar", especially as secondary wood on furniture. It's super wet when green, and most recommend quarter sawing it. As would be expected, it is pretty soft and light for a hardwood, but some people really like the quartersawn figure. It should be readily available, as those trees grow FAST and BIG around here.

[Homer Faucett]

Everything you wanted to know about sweetgum, its worth in woodworking, and its use in the timber/lumber business:

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-300-W.pdf

Sounds to me like if it was dried properly and not warped now, you shouldn't have too many problems with warping, but if you have a board with both sapwood and heartwood, you might have some internal stresses.