Elm? Soaking up oil

[Tom Lynch in NH]

The log came from a nearby house lot ~3 years ago. It was already down and had no bark and I didn't make much of an effort to identify the wood. I roughed out a bunch of bowls in April 2017 and I recall a distinct smell of cherry while turning it and I didn't notice any punkiness. Fast forward 3 years and I can reach the lathe again as I'm finally moving into the new shop .

The rough bowls dried nicely with very little warpage. I finished turned a small bowl from the batch in order to get back in the swing of things and get some time on the lathe to determine placement in the shop. In any event, I turned it a bit thinner than I would have liked. Not paper thin, but thinner than I intended. While turning the tenon off, I dropped the bowl on the floor and it broke in half. Hmmm.

Next up was the real thing. A ~11 inch bowl with a foot, intended as a gift. The finish turning went fine, albeit with some struggles with tear out and fast dulling tools. I left it on the thicker side too. The big surprise came when I oiled the bowl after sanding to 400 grit. I've never seen a bowl absorb anywhere near that amount of oil on the first coat. I'm using Mahoney's walnut oil. I think the bottle had 20-25% left in the bottle (so probably 3-4 ounces) and it all disappeared. I barely got everything coated and there was no excess to wipe off. Now I'm concerned that the recipient will forever be eating dry salads if the bowl continues to absorb oil at this rate! I'll give it another coat after a day or so.

The other mystery is identifying the wood. Now I'm thinking it's Elm based on the end grain. Pics below.

Questions:
Any thoughts on the sponge-like qualities of this wood? I'll go broke pouring that much walnut oil into each bowl. Maybe a base coat of shellac?

Any other ideas on identifying the species? I wouldn't recognize an Elm by site, but they are in the area (or used to be). My deed even says "South... to an Elm Tree..."

One of the pics is the end grain on a rough bowl. The drilled hole is to try and stop a crack.

Thanks!

[Dave Mount]

The thirstiness of the wood is related to it having started down the road of decay. Punky spots in bowls are always extra thirsty. The decay seems to open up the structure of the wood.

As far as the wood type -- I don't have my copy of Hoadley handy, but the end grain does resemble elm, except that I'm more accustomed to seeing the lines of pores of elm wandering back and forth in a "W" or zig-zag pattern, whereas the pores in this sample seem to be more in lines. But that could vary with elm species also.

Regardless -- nice looking bowl, good on you for not passing on less than pristine wood!

Best,

Dave

[Edward Weingarden]

If you use a base coat of shellac, the wood pores will become sealed. Then the bowls won't absorb the oil. Perhaps a Danish Oil finish would work better (without a seal coat of shellac). I mix my own with equal parts of an oil, poly, and mineral spirits. I sometimes use Linseed Oil in the mix, but walnut oil would also be fine. I don't use Boiled Linseed Oil; I don't like the idea of metallic driers in a utility bowl used for food. With respect to the poly, once it's cured, it's food safe. I know that comment may open up a spirited discussion, but there is FDA info showing that many finishing products are food safe, once cured. One man's opinion.

[Prashun Patel]

I am with Edward. I wouldn't pour walnut oil into it. True walnut oil won't dry; it's like mineral oil in that regard. Shellac will seal the wood and the punky areas enough. As long as you don't build a shellac film, you can still coat with oil if you like that look.

If you are planning to wash this bowl, instead of sealing with shellac, I'd use wipe on poly or your varnish of choice.

[Jamie Buxton]

Elm to me smells like sweaty horses. Not horrible, but not cherry at all!

[John Landis]

If you have some more of the wood, and really want to know the species, you can send a piece to the USDA Forest Products service for identity. It's free to US citizens for up to 3 samples per year
https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/centers/woodanatomy/wood_idkits.php

[Brice Rogers]

I agree with Jamie, IIRC Elm kind of stinks. If you've even changed a cat's sand box, the urine smell is somewhat similar to elm.

[Mike Nathal]

I am with Edward. I wouldn't pour walnut oil into it. True walnut oil won't dry; it's like mineral oil in that regard. Shellac will seal the wood and the punky areas enough. As long as you don't build a shellac film, you can still coat with oil if you like that look.

If you are planning to wash this bowl, instead of sealing with shellac, I'd use wipe on poly or your varnish of choice.

treated walnut oil from Mike Mahoney or Dr's Woodshop does dry (cure, actually). It sometimes takes a couple of weeks, especially if you have saturated the wood with a lot of oil. Heat (~150 F) and sunlight accelerates the curing. Now that some oil is in the wood, more oil is not necessary to "pop the grain". Shellac or oil base poly can be used to seal the pores and save you from using more oil.

[Tom Lynch in NH]

Hmmm, maybe it's not Elm. It definitely had a cherry-like smell when I roughed it out. I have a bunch more, so I'll look into sacrificing one for identification. Thanks for the suggestion John Landis.

[Tom Lynch in NH]

Tying off an old thread… For the record, the wood was identified as hackberry (Celtis).

-Tom

[John K Jordan]

Tying off an old thread… For the record, the wood was identified as hackberry (Celtis).

Tom,

I just now saw this thread and on first reading/photos I also thought you might consider Hackberry. https://www.wood-database.com/hackberry/

Hackberry end grain is very similar to Elm, both with wavy bands of pores.

Hackberry, BTW, is quite common where I live, lots more than Elm. For anyone close who wants some big pieces I plan to take down a large Hackberry (maybe 30”) sometime in the next year. Perhaps of interest to a few: in my experience Hackberry stumps/roots are one of the more difficult to dig up. Years ago I took down a couple (maybe 18-20”) and dug up the stumps with a small backhoe, each requiring a hole over 15’ in diameter due to zillions of roots that didn’t want to give up.

JKJ