Box Elder question

[Jeff Belany]

I am mostly a lurker on this forum. I do small turnings, mostly pens and other small items. I've only done a very few bowls but I love seeing what you guys come up with. I have a basic question -- a friend is having a couple fairly large Box Elder trees cut down. I looked through quite a few searches and see that some of the wood is very pretty, especially if it has red flame. My question is this -- is the red apparent when you look at the cut ends of the logs? Or do you only see it when it is cut open? I can get as much as I want but I am limited somewhat as I don't have a very large chain saw to cut it up or a lot of space to store it. I'd love to take some for pen blanks and maybe even some small bowls. Any advise would be greatly appreciated .

Thanks in advance.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Dennis Ford]

You will be able to see the red once the tree is cut into log sections (if there is any red). The red is more likely to occur near the base of the tree.

[Phil Labowski]

Get ready to sand. hehe. I have some of that cuz I love that stripe of color you're talking about, but my PHD in forestry friend says it's the softest of the maple family, which explained all the tear out I had to deal with. I think it's a really pretty wood and you can make some great looking stuff with it, so have yourself a blast!

[Jamie Donaldson]

Don't forget that the red color is only temporary and will guickly fade to a honey brown with light exposure. If you want it to be permanent, apply some red TransTint dye with a small brush right over the initial red colors. BTW, Box Elder often smell like a cow pasture, and the red areas are even worse!