Red Alder?

[Kris Langohr]

Our HOA spent the day cleaning out an overgrown area that had a lot of 3-4 year old decidious trees. We cut down a bunch of them and I salvaged the straighter parts of the trunks. I grabbed a tree ID book from the library and as near as I can tell the trees are very young Red Alders. Not sure if we have any professional arborists who might be able to make a positive ID. For geography info our property is about 20 miles north of Seattle.

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Whatever the wood is I got a good size wheelbarrow full of it, most pieces are between 1-4 inches in diameter and 24-42 inches in length. Worst case I can use them to practice my spindle technique since I am new to this. As I saw someone here say "Free wood is good wood".

Thanks,
Kris

[Kris Langohr]

As a note I do not have hairy gorilla like fingers :) The last photo is a piece of the trunk resting between my knees so I could take the picture.

Kris

[David E Keller]

As a note I do not have hairy gorilla like fingers :) The last photo is a piece of the trunk resting between my knees so I could take the picture.

Kris

LOL... I actually thought you might have the grossest fingers I'd ever seen!

Sorry, can't help with the wood ID.

[Curt Fuller]

Being from the Cascades, I though maybe you had Sasquatch holding it while you took the pics. I was hoping for a shot of his/her face.;)

Looks like alder to me too.

[Jim Sebring]

Sure looks like the alder we often use for fire wood around here. Very nice stuff to practice on. Many flat workers use it as a substitute cherry - almost no figure, but about the same color.

[Josh Bowman]

:DLOL!!!!! I'm not sure what your asking since I can't get past the hairy fingers picture.:p:p:p:p

I googled Red Alder and clicked on images. The leaf and wood looks about right for Red Alder. To check more accurately, get more of a sampling of the leafs, so you can tell if they alternate on the stem, if they are compound, etc.

And the USDA Forest Service said Red Alder is a favorite of the Sasquatch.

[Dennis Ford]

I can't help with the wood ID but those pieces are the right size for making natural edge goblets.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Josh said. I looked it up and looks pretty much like alder.

[Kris Langohr]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I learned 2 valuable lessons:

1) The wood I found appears to be Red Alder and I am going to have some fun with.
2) When cropping photos take a close look at the final product and make sure it resembles what you want it to :rolleyes:

Thanks,
Kris

[Thomas Canfield]

On your list of practice work, you might put "natural edge goblets". I have seen them done and this wood looks like it might work, but at least would be good practice. I was told that limb material works better so that the pith is not in the stem area, but you could make a heavier stem doing practice. I think that there are 3 sections to work on: goblet section, base, and then the stem. I have seen SMC member Dennis Ford do his demo a couple of times on this and they are neat.

[George Overpeck]

The red alder will actually turn red or orange after it gets exposed to oxygen for a bit, at least when I've harvested it in the spring. That can be fairly pretty but it seems to bruise and be splotchy if you're not careful. It also seems to have a tougher fiber than the white alder I've used, much harder to get a good cut off the tool. Neither gets much figure but they make great natural edges since they seem to grow uniformly round, or more so than the birch I usually work with - also make great practice wood.

[Steve Kubien]

If it is an interest of yours, you could carve some wonderful spoons out of this wood. Just an idea.

[Jim Sebring]

Actually the only part of red alder that turns red when exposed to oxygen is the cambium layer just under the bark. The heartwood dries to a nice neutral tan. That is why furniture manufacturers can use it as a substitute for cherry. It takes very little stain to get it to the right shade of cherry wood.