Jon Endres
09-26-2016, 11:45 AM
Let me preface by saying I do not have a lathe set up at the moment, and have not for several years. I am in the process of getting a new shop set up, and hopefully I will have my grandfather's old Delta Homecraft lathe set up with all the important bits and pieces sometime next year.
Anyway, yesterday I was cutting up a box elder tree that had fallen over in a windstorm, and the core of the tree near the base had an amazing amount of red in it - almost the entire heartwood. Upon cutting it was blood red, after a few hours in the sun the end grain had turned a dark reddish brown from oxidation. I would like to be able to preserve a few pieces of this for future turning, but I have no idea how to do it without the wood rotting on me, or losing that bright red color. I have turned box elder before but that was years ago when I could just bring it pretty much straight from the tree to the lathe. Can anyone offer me some tips on doing this? Or tell me now if this is a futile effort and I will just send it to the woodpile. I would need to keep the wood somehow "in stasis" for 7-10 months. I've got Anchorseal but I'm not sure that will be enough.
Alternately, if anyone here wants some nice box elder, I can send it to you. All I ask is that you cover shipping, which might get expensive. The trunk of the tree is about 15" to as much as 18" diameter where the best color is. I can cut USPS shipping-box-sized pieces and ship flat rate USPS.
Anyway, yesterday I was cutting up a box elder tree that had fallen over in a windstorm, and the core of the tree near the base had an amazing amount of red in it - almost the entire heartwood. Upon cutting it was blood red, after a few hours in the sun the end grain had turned a dark reddish brown from oxidation. I would like to be able to preserve a few pieces of this for future turning, but I have no idea how to do it without the wood rotting on me, or losing that bright red color. I have turned box elder before but that was years ago when I could just bring it pretty much straight from the tree to the lathe. Can anyone offer me some tips on doing this? Or tell me now if this is a futile effort and I will just send it to the woodpile. I would need to keep the wood somehow "in stasis" for 7-10 months. I've got Anchorseal but I'm not sure that will be enough.
Alternately, if anyone here wants some nice box elder, I can send it to you. All I ask is that you cover shipping, which might get expensive. The trunk of the tree is about 15" to as much as 18" diameter where the best color is. I can cut USPS shipping-box-sized pieces and ship flat rate USPS.