These are fast growing, follow the sun and snap under their own weight.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/51245/IMG_0651~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1535231250)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/51245/IMG_0652~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1535231664)
Here is the leave close up.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/51245/IMG_0655.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1535236982)
I can't tell for sure, but it looks like boxelder
They get to be about 60 feet tall then start falling down, snapping, limbs, and at the y Crotch, or however you say it.
I think you are right, Box Elder. I looked it up and they are usually accompanied by these heinous little red bugs,)which we get often, although not bad this year.) They lay in wait at the entrance to my shop, and jump on my back when I go through the doorway. Crawling down my back, in my ears, and on my face.
The article said these are considered a weed, are softwood, and have no commercial value. That figures, the one species of tree I have ample access to. Maybe I can use them for stickers and such.
That would be the boxelder bug. :)
Can be some beautiful wood though. Look up images of "boxelder turning" or "boxelder lumber".
I feel your pain on the box elder bugs. They pretty much took over my house this year. If you catch them in a group you can wipe a pack of them out out by spraying them with some soap and water mixture. Not sure why but its almost instant kill.
Box elder lumber can have a gorgeous red hue to it. As a small mill owner / operator you have to think outside of the box - no pun intended - and find those logs that the commodity mills shun - they are your diamond in the rough.
BTW, your picture of the leaf is actually not the leaf. Box elder has compound leaves, and what you have pictured is a leaflet. Box elder usually has three to five leaflets to the leaf.
Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet (http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=3)
Old office I was in for awhile got box elder bugs inside every fall. Those, and ladybugs. Tons of them. Mildly irritating, but not a huge deal. Beats the stinkbugs I get now :^S
Quote from: Southside logger on August 25, 2018, 11:03:32 PM
Box elder lumber can have a gorgeous red hue to it. As a small mill owner / operator you have to think outside of the box - no pun intended - and find those logs that the commodity mills shun - they are your diamond in the rough.
Yes I did some reading on it in an effort to find some redeeming features of the wood, as I have it in abundance. I think, as I make signs and do wood working, I can find some use for it. I can run an add too if I cut some up, as some people seem to think it is awesome with the red staining in it. It would make nice boxes.
Funny the things people say, one girl was told the red is from the Box Elder bugs peeing on the wood, others thought it was fungus. As far as I can tell the red is thought to be an antifungal tat the tree releases when it splits, or gets an abrasion.
It's no good for anything exterior though, just interior!
I believe many people like it for turning also.
I really want to mill some boxelder. It grows a lot around here in bottomlands by rivers, but I don't have a source for it. I think I can sell it as soft maple or with red and pink streaks I think certain people will want it for that.
I kind of laugh at how a lot of woodworkers want the exotic woods. Yes, some of them are very special, but "exotic" and "desirable" also depends on your location...
What I mean is that Honey Locust, Hedge, Persimmon, and Eastern Red Cedar all grow like weeds here. But I see threads periodically about people yearning to get their hands on these weeds... :D
Sometimes it isn't about the species, but about proper preparation and shipping. ;)
I have a customer who was telling me about being overseas at a local wood yard - Ipe that sort of stuff was all over the place. In the middle of the yard was a secured area which he asked about. He was told he needed the managers permission to go in there as it was the "very special wood". Of course he had to go check it out, got permission and opened the Arc of the Covenant, only to reveal ---- Southern Yellow Pine!!! So yes, it's all about location.
It usually takes a really sick box elder to have the red streaks. Woodworkers who prize the red streaks will be so disappointed in just a few years. Exposed to sunlight, that red goes to a dull salmon color in no time at all. Won't be great for exterior signs either, almost no rot resistance. I hate the smell.
I hope to never be that sick. :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/BoxElderBurl015.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1307156261)
How sick do you need to be? ???
Quote from: low_48 on August 28, 2018, 09:53:41 PM
It usually takes a really sick box elder to have the red streaks. Woodworkers who prize the red streaks will be so disappointed in just a few years. Exposed to sunlight, that red goes to a dull salmon color in no time at all. Won't be great for exterior signs either, almost no rot resistance. I hate the smell.
I was more thinking interior novelty signs, as I did read how left outside it will disappear in a couple of years!
MM, that looks like Acer negundo to me but I am not an expert. Good looking slabs, regardless.
You would be correct so apparently you are an expert. ;D