Liquid Amber tree good for lumber?

[James Baker SD]

My wife wants a Liquid Amber tree removed from our garden. It has a very straight trunk with first branches at about 8 to 10 feet above ground. Tree is about 14 inches in diameter near the ground. If I have the tree service leave the trunk in a single big piece, is Liquid Amber any good as furniture lumber? Does it have a pretty color or interesting grain?

My bandsaw can only resaw about 12" unless I play games with how the guides are mounted (something I have considered doing for a long time but was never urgent). Tree service said they would be willing to carry trunk into my garage shop and place it on roller table on infeed side of bandsaw. But is it worth the hassle?

Second question. If I go forward, what initial cuts should I make to optimize air drying?

Thanks for any opinions.

James

[Mike Henderson]

Liquid amber is a common name for a sweetgum. See here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidambar). Free wood is free wood. I'm sure you can find something to do with it.

Here's (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/sweetgum/)another description of the wood. And one more here (https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fnr/fnr-300-w.pdf).

Mike

[And just a comment about the tree: It's a very messy tree. It drops its leaves in the fall and those seed balls are a real pain - and it produces a LOT of those seed balls. It's one of those trees most people regret planting.]

[Wade Lippman]

It is not particularly desirable, but if you have never made lumber before it is a good experience.
I have split the wood to fit it on my bandsaw.

You will need a fair amount of room to dry it in, so bear that in mind.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I have split the wood to fit it on my bandsaw.

I have split liquidambar to burn in the fire box. I don't have much use for it, especially the live trees that leave spiny balls littering the yard and the driveway.

[James Baker SD]

It's one of those trees most people regret planting.]

which is why the wife wants it gone.:)

[Orlyn Gaddis]

Liquidambar is actually the genus that sweetgum belongs to (Liquidambar styraciflua). It is also referred to as "redgum" sometimes because of the reddish brown heart wood in larger trees. The small booklet "Forest Trees of Texas" lists uses as flooring, interior finish, paper pulp, and veneers for baskets. The booklet also mentions that it is moderately hard, close-grained, and not durable on exposure. The book "Texas Trees" by Patty Leslie and Paul Cox states that it is the leading commercial hardwood in East Texas due to the qualities mentioned above, ready availability, size, and quick growth rate. I can't find any comments regarding stability of the wood. I wonder if it might be a good secondary wood like poplar (Tuliptree - actually in the magnolia family).

[John Vernier]

Red gum was a very popular wood for house interior fittings in the early part of the 20th century. The heartwood was marketed as "Satin Walnut" because of its streaky dark color, although it mellows to a honey color fairly quickly. It has a very wide sapwood band which is whiter than tulip poplar, and (when I used it) it was sorted from the heartwood because the color is so different. I built a staircase out of it once in an expansion of a large 1913 house in Pasadena CA which was entirely fitted in the wood. Its working properties are much like tulip poplar, maybe just a bit harder, but similar texture and mild character.

Currently I have a large sweet gum tree in my front yard, conveniently placed to drop seed balls in our gutters, and yes, I want it gone. Pretty tree though.

[Danny Hamsley]

Many Foresters in the South consider it a weed tree. It is prolific and suckers from the root. Cut one down and it will sprout from the roots. There was a time when a lot of it was sawn, but these the large, older growth trees. It has spiral grain, very difficult to split, and flatsawn, very prone to twist and warp. If you flat saw the lumber, expect up to 50% loss due to twist and warp. I have not been able to machine out the twist and keep a flat board. The way to go is to quartersaw it. It will dry much straighter and flatter. However, it takes a big tree to quartersaw, best at 24" in diameter and up if you want any wider boards. Also, small, fast growing sweetgum, like in a yard, are more prone to twist and warp than large, older, slower grown forest trees with a lot of heartwood.

Personally, I would not saw it. I have a sawmill, and I saw very little of because of lack of demand and the spiral grain issues. If you leave it outside and turn your back on it, the wood will rot. There is a good market for it here in the South, but as low grade dunnage, pallet wood, and railroad crossties. I do not know of any hardwood sawmills that try to produce grade lumber from sweetgum anymore.

[Cody Colston]

Many Foresters in the South consider it a weed tree.

So do many land owners! It makes a pretty tree with good shade although it weeps a lot of sap. You don't want to park a car underneath one. Those balls make for a lot of racket when run over with a lawnmower, too. They are also not very kind to a barefooted country boy. :D

I've done turnings from Sweetgum. The wood is rather uninteresting.

[Noah Magnuson]

I wonder if it might be a good secondary wood like poplar (Tuliptree - actually in the magnolia family). Just to clarify, poplar is from the Populus genus ( cottonwoods, aspens etc.) and is not related to the tulip tree (Liriodenron tulipifera), or tulip magnolias (Magnolia genus). The problem with common names is that they are used casually in different parts of the country and different regions for different things.

[Malcolm McLeod]

It's not ALL bad: the tree has beautiful color in fall, and there are seedless cultivars (male?) available in nursery trade, and in some cases a fast grower is a good thing (insert personal yard experience).

Also I dimly recall it made a list of 'often overlooked' lumber in FWW some time ago. I have seen it in lumber yard at very reasonable cost, but it has never made it onto my cart (elide shop tool experience).

[Danny Hamsley]

The spiral grain makes it a tough wood to deal with unless quartersawn.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Just to clarify, poplar is from the Populus genus ( cottonwoods, aspens etc.) and is not related to the tulip tree (Liriodenron tulipifera), or tulip magnolias (Magnolia genus). The problem with common names is that they are used casually in different parts of the country and different regions for different things.

Interesting first post Noah, welcome to the Creek. I went and looked for information on this since I had assumed otherwise.

From what I can tell, and odds are I am misunderstanding things so please set me straight.



For someone in the know, there is something called "Tulip Poplar" and and another called "Poplar"
These are different in that Poplar is aspen and cottonwood and the other is related to the Tulip tree.
My local lumber place might refer to all of them generically as Poplar


Does that sound accurate? If so, I was not previously aware of the distinction. I thought that they were all just Poplar.

[Danny Hamsley]

Tulip poplar AKA yellow poplar is in the Magnolia family. It is in the genus Liriodendron. Aspen and cottonwood are in the genus Populus, and are in the Willow family.

In the South, if someone has "poplar", it is almost always yellow poplar. If you are the Northeast, then "poplar" is usually one of the aspens. It is not uncommon for local common names to be wrong.

[Steve Peterson]

It looks like you have mostly negative opinions about saving the tree for lumber. San Diego is not exactly the hardwood capital of the US, so any free wood is good wood. Save a few crotch pieces if you have a lathe. Make a judgment call on the trunk after they drop the tree and you can see if there is any good color. Maybe you can get the cutters to rip a 4' section of the trunk down the center so it is easier to handle on the bandsaw. I am not sure if you would need 8' lumber.

Steve

[Dan Hahr]

I cut up a very similar sized sweetgum and was very happy with the result. It did shrink a lot, so I'd cut it at about 1.25". It's not the prettiest wood, and it doesn't have any chayotance, but it is hard and works well and makes a good utility wood. I don't think it would look good with a gloss finish.

334539

I dried this board in the fridge; that what the writing is from.

Dan

[James Baker SD]

It looks like you have mostly negative opinions about saving the tree for lumber. San Diego is not exactly the hardwood capital of the US, so any free wood is good wood. Save a few crotch pieces if you have a lathe. Make a judgment call on the trunk after they drop the tree and you can see if there is any good color. Maybe you can get the cutters to rip a 4' section of the trunk down the center so it is easier to handle on the bandsaw. I am not sure if you would need 8' lumber.

Steve

The wife wants it down and she is doing the negotiating with the lumberjacks. She is driving a hard bargain on price so I doubt that I will be able to ask too many favors of them. I do have an electric corded chain saw that I could finish chopping up an 8 or 6 foot section it I decided it was a no go for lumber. It is a nice symmetrical tree, but warm winters here prevent the vibrant colors Fall can be known for. Leaves go from green to ugly brown in a couple of days with only a hint of yellow color, no oranges or reds.