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Thread: Preserving box elder for future turning

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    345

    Preserving box elder for future turning

    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.
    Jon Endres
    Killing Trees Since 1983

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Imperial, MO
    Posts
    589
    Dont know a whole lot about box elder but people in my club tell me it loses the red color after a few years after its been a finished bowl or what not so guess its gonna change no matter what you do to it but maybe there is a way to slow the process down some.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    lufkin tx
    Posts
    2,054
    I had the same problem several years ago--might try this. BE is a very weak wood and sevdon cracks in drying--it does like to mildew however. Iwould try cutting it into blocks, endseal the endgrain and dry it in a open shop or shed. Might even try a small fan to increase air movement. Well stickered of course. I have some red pieces that have faded very little in 15 years--avoid sunlight--finished in lacquer. One large piece mildewed black on me-damn-turned a large pueblo bowl from it and it brought big bucks. Who knows. Just sent you a private message!
    Last edited by robert baccus; 09-26-2016 at 2:47 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Mountain Home, AR
    Posts
    547
    Box Elder is fun to turn. Tearout on dry wood is almost certain, but it sands easily. The red color will fade quickly in direct sunlight with no protection. What I've cut in the past and left out looked like plain maple the next day with little trace of the red. Just under the surface though it is unchanged. I would cut your blanks a bit bigger than you might need or leave it uncut as long as possible. If you seal the end grain you shouldn't have much loss to checking at all. I've used candle wax dissolved in mineral spirits with good success.

    As far as where to store it, under cover would be ideal, but it will attract bugs so I wouldn't bring it in the house or garage for long-term storage. Stack it on a pallet to keep it off the ground and cover it with a sheet of OSB to keep the sun and weather off it and it should stay useable for a long time. On the other hand, BE spalts nicely. Since you have time, if you have a couple of chunks to spare I'd cut them long-ish, seal one end and put the other end right on the ground for a few months to encourage spalting. Might not do anything, might even come out worthless, but they might come out prettier than you'd expect. To be honest most of my BE wood is stacked outdoors in the elements. I will probably lose most of it before I ever get around to using it, but free wood is something I'm never short of.

    The pieces I've turned have kept their color with no noticeable fading after about a year, but they don't see sunlight often. I finished a few weed pots with UV-resistant spar urethane, but I don't know how much good that will do. Time will tell.

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