No free wood is bad...

[Rick Smith]

How is Siberian Elm to turn? Our commercial property company purchased some land with 5 or 6 large Siberian Elm trees on it, and said I can have all I want. I brought this home to play with tonight, and will take the chainsaw and trailer over there tomorrow. This is one of the "small" pieces, 17" x 15", 15" tall.

[John Hart]

Pretty nice score if you ask me Rick. Looks like nice lookin' wood. All I've turned is American Elm and found it fairly pleasant all around. Cuts like butter.....likes to move a little as it dries...but then so do a lot of woods. Just kinda have to get a feel for it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have turned some Siberian Elm along with Chinese or American elm. They all turn very well. I really like turning it because of it's ease to cut. Like John said it also likes to move. So when I rough turn bowls or boxes with Elm I leave them slightly thicker than normal. I leave a 10 inch bowl rough out with walls 1" thick. Then when you return it to the lathe it turns out pretty nice.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats Rick! We'd sure like to see the finished product from that blank!

[Curt Fuller]

I think Siberian Elm is right up there with a plague of locusts as far as trees you want growing in your yard. It's about as messy and buggy a tree as you'll find. Sometimes they call it Chinese elm too. But for turning it's great stuff. It's open grained but turns well, has some great color and interesting dark stripes that show up out of nowhere. Sometimes it smells like a barnyard when you're turning it green but the smell goes away as it dries. I like it and because it's fast growing and somewhat of a nuisance tree you can usually get about as much as you want.

Here's a picture of a bowl made from it.