Basswood

[highway]

Does anyone know of a buyer of Basswood? I have 3 huge straight trees to remove from my sugarbush. Would hate to burn it up in the sugarhouse.
Thanks,

Ed

[mesquite buckeye]

One of the best carving woods for what it is worth. They also use it for shutters. I guess it mills nice and is light and not too expensive. ;D :new_year:

[coalsmok]

I made some nice interior paneling out of one.

[york]

Hi all,

The trim in my house is Basswood,but the word is,around here the big mills will not buy BW....

[Bruno of NH]

I think it would make nice interior millwork the kind that is painted .
Bruno

[69bronco]

I'd saw it in 4" cants and put and ad out for carvers. They love that stuff!

[Chuck White]

Referring to your opening post, Basswood doesn't make very good firewood!

Good wood for carving, and also good for making beehives!

[GAB]

One of the best carving woods for what it is worth. They also use it for shutters. I guess it mills nice and is light and not too expensive. ;D :new_year:

I've sawed some and slabs fresh of the mill from recently harvested trees are very wet and heavy. I was sawing 3" thick up to 20+" wide.
Highway: try and locate a carver's club locally and see if there is any interest.  Also try and find out what size stock they would be interested in.
There is a market but it is definitely not a strong one.
Gerald,

[highway]

Great info,

Thanks,

Ed

[johnnyllama]

It's a specialized niche but also basswood was always used for food containers.... apple and potato crates etc. I cut a bunch last year for a friend with apple orchards and they built a few hundred small crates (I think 1 bushel size) over the winter. My father said back in the 30's they always spent winters in the shop on the farm building food crates out of basswood to ship produce to NY city the following year's harvest. Basswood supposedly didn't impart any taste into the food. It's light weight when dry, clear straight grained, resists splitting, and fairly strong for it's weight. Plus it grows pretty darn big, at least around here. I've seen trees approaching 100 ft. tall with 3-4' dia. not uncommon although hollow trunks are also common.

[lirachamo51]

just checked amazon for basswood carving blocks,getting $12.00 for a 2x4x12" block if you could find the right buyer could make some quick change out of those 3 large trees, and if you find them let me know ive got some big ones on my property ! lol :D

[Clark]

Plus it grows pretty darn big, at least around here. I've seen trees approaching 100 ft. tall with 3-4' dia. not uncommon although hollow trunks are also common.

Basswood is easily our best growing hardwood. The tallest I've seen is 108'. Commonly they have self-pruned for 2 logs and I've seen them limb free up to 65'.  Since markets are so poor for basswood no one manages it so the potential for the species is unknown around here.

Clark

[mesquite buckeye]

Makes great honey too. ;D

[Ox]

Basswood can be used for building in the old ways, i.e. post and beam construction as well!  We have a road here locally named Basswood Rd., named after the many basswoods that grew there in the old days.  There was a church on the road a couple hundred years ago to serve the local hamlet in that area, known as "Basswood Church" and it was constructed entirely from basswood.  A house now stands on the site.  This information was learned by reading "The Annals of Oxford" written in 1906, I think, by a man named Galpin about the early history of Oxford before the knowledge was forgotten.  This area started clear back in the early 1700s, if I remember right. 

Look at me rambling on about an area nobody's heard of and don't care about!   :D

[Kbeitz]

I thought it was an interesting read...

[Gearbox]

Clark the basswood market 80 miles from you is HOT right now . Savana at mcgregor was paying 135 a cord . Nelson wood shims is paying $50 preimem for the first load . All last summer they were crying for basswood .

[Ox]

I thought it was an interesting read...

[highway]

Cool Info OX. If it was structurally sound I could use it for dimensional lumber maybe? 2x4 and 2x6?

Ed

[johnnyllama]

Hey Ox,
  Not only heard of Oxford, but got my darn mill from there. By the way, how come you aren't runnimg a Turner mill from your home town?  ???
You are right about using basswood back in the day though, I've seen it often in older buildings up here around the Tully/Otisco area.

[Ox]

johnnyllama - I helped run a Turner mill about 15 years ago when they were a relatively new and young mill builder.  That particular mill hasn't left this hill its whole life and its second owner is still running it to this day.  I wanted to try something new, could build a mill that handled larger timber, had some scrap steel from my first mill build and wanted to look at it and say, "Yep, I built that from a pile of flat steel!".
I wouldn't ever repeat the process again and would buy a mill before building another one.  :

highway - yeah, I suppose you could use basswood for anything you like since the old timers did and it worked just fine.  I'd look it up in a lumber strength chart to see what species it most closely resembles in span lengths and weight, etc.  Ultimately, men have built anything they needed using whatever was easily available at the time.  It all worked fine.  Everything's relative.  Weaker wood needs bigger lumber is all.  This is one reason I despise certain areas that have codes that dictate what type of wood you can use.  Most of these rules suggest you buy non-local wood.  Around here it's always been hemlock, white pine and basswood in the old days.  Mostly hemlock.

[highway]

Thanks for all the feedback.  8)

Ed