Red elm, what's it good for?

[Bibbyman]

 

 

Customer brought in a half dozen red elm logs he'd cleared from building a fence.  Unfortunately, they had a good bit of shake in them.  When we pointed the shake out to the customer and advised that the lumber would likely fall apart, he decided not to have them sawn.  Yesterday we started sawing them up into small blocking.  Some of it just fell apart but we can recover something out of it.

Red elm makes beautiful wood with its strong grain pattern.  It's also very decay resistant – unlike other elms that rot quickly.   Years ago I sawed some into 4/4 grade lumber and had it kiln dried.  I tried to interest our dry lumber buyers in buying some.  None would take it.  I gave a few boards to some of them to try out.  Got no response.  The rest was given away or lost in the shed someplace.  It's a shame as it looks to be very nice wood with a color similar to Kentucky Coffee Bean.

[Ron Wenrich]

It sure would make some nice looking flooring or wainscot. 

[SPIKER]

I believe in the past red elm and "Slippery Elm" were used a lot inside barns as stalls, walls and flooring for their rot resistance and durability the shake I'm told also is an issue with them.   

interior barn floors were common as it is also rather strong where no shake is found.   

fence row trees of all types will commonly have the shake (maybe due to wind blowing them around more when growing?)

Mark

[tyb525]

Elm is a great farm/utility wood. All of our wooden gates are made with elm. It also has a very beautiful grain, some I have cut is a beautiful red/brown.

I like it better than oak as far as looks go.

[Nomad]

     I've never had a chance to saw elm.  I'd like to!!!  That is some really pretty wood.

[shelbycharger400]

guess this is a good place for this one
Im watching and seeing what everyone says.
Buddy called a little bit ago, only a few miles down the road.
Has a roughly 22 in dia red elm on the ground, says its smushy the first inch or 2 on the outside.  It was a standing dead,   Goin to look at it this comming sat.

[Bibbyman]

Wonder if it's really a red elm.   Any dead ones I've found the sap wood is hard.

[thechknhwk]

Wonder if it's really a red elm.   Any dead ones I've found the sap wood is hard.

The ones around here dry rot, and they're still hard as nails even when they fall over.  Even tho you can tell it's dry rotted a splitting maul bounces off it.  Then you put it on the hydraulic splitter and it breaks in the middle of the grain.  Anyways.... just saying :-\

[Okrafarmer]

Wonder if it's really a red elm.   Any dead ones I've found the sap wood is hard.

Perhaps it's something else. Do you have coffetree where you live? Some people might not know what it is and think it's an elm.

[Axe Handle Hound]

Red elm can be a bit of a bear to deal with when it comes to warp and chipping, but the extra effort is definitely worth it in my opinion.   It has a beautiful red gold hue when you put an oil finish on it.

[Bibbyman]

Wonder if it's really a red elm.   Any dead ones I've found the sap wood is hard.

Perhaps it's something else. Do you have coffetree where you live? Some people might not know what it is and think it's an elm.

We had a couple of red elm come in on a load of oak.   I asked the owner of the logging crew why he sent in red elm. He said the guys thought it was white oak until they cut it down!

[Skip]

Red Elm is an excellant trailer floor material we used all we could get to redeck lowboys in the pipiline industry ,I sold a lot for equipment trailer floors. It will rainbow its best to saw when needed and put down green. Wish i had more.

[WDH]

I think that it was used as wagon wheel hubs in the old days.  The spiral grain makes it a challenge to dry flat.  Paneling or wainscoting like Ron said would be beautiful, and since the wood would not be glued and each board can shrink/swell unrestrained by the neighbors, it should do fine. 

[Okrafarmer]

By the way, what latin name is Red Elm? I can't find red elm in my book. Is it a native elm, or introduced?

The ones listed in Peterson's guide are: American, Slippery, Winged, Rock, Cedar, September, Siberian, and Water elms.

[tjhammer]

I have been milling over the thought of redecking my lowboy with red elm,would it be better to let it dry out  or saw it green it has treated planks on it now. ???
tj

[Dodgy Loner]

By the way, what latin name is Red Elm? I can't find red elm in my book. Is it a native elm, or introduced?

The ones listed in Peterson's guide are: American, Slippery, Winged, Rock, Cedar, September, Siberian, and Water elms.

Red elm = slippery elm = Ulmus rubra

[thecfarm]

I think we only have american elm here. My Father said they like it for the work horses stalls. The shoes would not tear up the wood as bad as others.

[beenthere]

 Google came up with this wikipedia link. Not sure why the realplayer comes up in its place.
(remove the 'blank space' in the http)

h ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_rubra

[countryjonez]

Red elm will give you melt your stove type heat. And burn for a long time with big coals. Love it when i can find it.

[dboyt]

I always keep one or two pieces around my firewood pile, so that if someone wants to "help" split wood with a maul, I can have him work on it.  Good entertainment (the maul just bounces off of it).  Makes beautiful turning stock, and I've made some nice bowls out of it.

[1woodguy]

I did the wood splitting game on my sons gave them red elm and I was busting big pieces of oak
Told them that one of the granddaughters could split bigger chunks than them
Did the same to a bro in law :D

[tyb525]

I'm 99% percent sure that's red elm. Lots of it dead in our woods after dutch elm disease. It's great firewood!!

[thecfarm]

The few elm we use to cut and needed to be split,my Father would leave it behind the shed for a year. He said it would take the life out of it and split better. That stuff is so hard can't even get a iron wedge to open it up.

[Bibbyman]

I've not tried it but old timers say not to try splitting across the chunk like most other woods but to split slabs off the edge.

[thecfarm]

My Father was an old timer.  ;D  There was 4 boys all trying to out do the other. There was no way that we knew of,with a sledge hammer and iron wedges to split the elm we had when it was just cut.

[Okrafarmer]

I've not tried it but old timers say not to try splitting across the chunk like most other woods but to split slabs off the edge.

You have to do that with sweetgum, too. SG is notoriously hard to split, even though it is a relatively soft hardwood. It has interlocked grain. A woodsplitter does the job.

Cfarm, Peterson's guide shows a blob of slippery elm in central Maine, around Skowhegan and vicinity, for what it's worth. Peterson's has been wrong before.

[WDH]

There are exceptionally fine slippery elm (red elm) in the swamps and bottomlands around here.  However, it just goes for palletwood. 

[5quarter]

Okra... Red elm is also called slippery elm here.

[wesdor]

We had a couple of red elm here on the farm and the lumber looked nice. 

Couple of questions:  Is red elm susceptible to the dutch elm disease? 

If not, is it possible to purchase seedlings anywhere?  I would like to plan to few next spring if they had a good chance to survive.

[Okrafarmer]

I hope I can develop a market for the elm that's here, as it's brought in. We do have it around here, especially the winged elm. I cut one down once, and found  a rock in the middle of the stump. Good old MS 290 cut right through the rock. It was an inch or two in size.

[1woodguy]

About thirty years ago we were pushing trees down and we cut up afew red elms that were frozen and they split about the same as red oak until the sun warmed them up then a maul bounced on them

[thecfarm]

Okrafarmer,my Maine book only mentions that slippery elm,Ulmus rubra has been recorded in Franklin and York counties,but these records are historical,it stated. I'm in Franklin and York is down by the coast,NH border. But Skowhegan is only 45 minutes away too. Close enough. The book does state that "If it still occurs naturally in the state,it is undoubtedly quite rare."
American elm,Ulmus americana occurs through out the state.

[Axe Handle Hound]

I hope I can develop a market for the elm that's here, as it's brought in. We do have it around here, especially the winged elm. I cut one down once, and found  a rock in the middle of the stump. Good old MS 290 cut right through the rock. It was an inch or two in size.

I think it must have been pretty popular for furniture back in the day, in fact given the number of antiques I see that have at least some elm in them.  That being the case, the idea that it can be used for lumber is not out of the question.  The commercial mill up the road regularly has it in stock for about $2 per foot.  I don't know if they sell a whole lot of it, but I'd buy a truckload of red elm before a truckload of red oak anyday.  The elm has way more visual appeal in my opinion.  The photo below shows the top of a Mission style nightstand I built out of red elm. The picture really doesn't do justice to the depth of color in the wood when you view it in person.


    

[Okrafarmer]

Just to clarify, I want to develop markets for every species in my area-- a very ambitious project, I realize. I really like it when wood sells itself-- meaning, when I take somebody into my wood storage area, they see a piece of wood, and say-- "Wow, what's that? I've got to have it!"

[Bibbyman]

I've not seen as much shake and shell in red elm as I have in these logs.



 

Here are some parts from the log I pictured on the mill.  I was the best of the lot and some fell aprart and others have a lot of shake in them.



 

Here is an end view of parts from the other logs that were worse.

We cut 2x3 x 40" blocking out of it and pitched the worst parts.  I just hope our customer does not complain.  :'(

[Okrafarmer]

That's too bad, Bibby.

[WDH]

I see pieces of elm in older "oak" furniture all the time. 

Bibby, that stuff is pretty ratty.

[tyb525]

I have noticed sometimes the standing dead elm will have shake pretty bad, also stinks pretty bad, I think it is caused by decay rather than the wind.

[Okrafarmer]

Could be.

[shelbycharger400]

Bibby... ur right
Went to buddys house this morning, 24 in at the butt. first 20 feet looks good with not a lot of taper, no branches either. Not an elm, its a red oak.   Didn't spent too much time looking, but its darker wood so im thinking its a black or blackjack. definately not pinkish like pin. definately not the typical "red" of northern red oak.
And its going to be fun to get even my short mill in their. People that owned it before him cut off stumps a few inches above the ground and everything upgrew about 4 feet. To top it off, its down in a "fish bowl" nothing level or flat. 

  

For a reference, my 2 critters (kids) are about 4 ft tall.

[Bibbyman]

Looks like a good place for it! To stay, that is.