Blackgum Behavior

[elk42]

Lynn do you know if they are carved green or dry. My mother had one that was about two' long and it came from her mother and I don't know the age of it. My dad said it was black gum. Also as  young boys we would make toy log  wagons and make the
wheels of black gum.   

[Alligator]

MM do you see Black and Tupelo Gum as the same spices?

I am not a "tree-ologest", but to me they are cousins and their wood use is interchangeable.

Water Tupelo (tupelogum, sourwood) scientific = Nyssa aquatica.
Black Gum (black tupelo, sour gum, pepperidge) scientific = Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.
Swamp Tupelo (swamp blackgum, blackgum) scientific = Nyssa sylvatica bilflora

The reason I ask, I spent about 6 years scaling / trying to separate Black Gum from Tupelo Gum. We had a log swap deal with a plywood / door manufacturer. They wanted only Tupelo Gum in 12-14-16 ft. lengths. We swapped even for Cypress which they had no use for. They used the Tupelo for the face of the doors. Almost every load they would send 1 to 5 logs back, said it was Black Gum. Close to the end I figured it out pretty good, but still sent a "Black Gum" every now and then. We were happy to get rid of the Gum of any kind. As discussed it was hard to keep on the sticks, with lot of loss. I never got to see any leaves, on the yard, just ends and bark. Tupelo most of the time has a greenish 1" to 2" pith on the butt cut, but sometimes not. We thought Cypress for Gum was a good deal any way you slice it.

[Den-Den]

Black gum is great wood for carving.

Sorry to be a bit "under informed" here. When you say carving, does that also mean it would be good or acceptable for turning? Especially for a prospective beginner?

It turns very nicely, excellent for a beginning turner.  It is also nice wood for enhancements like carving, pyro  or dye.

[chickenchaser]

Thanks, Den.

Sounds like I have quite a few options after all.

Thanks, everyone.

[Magicman]

Lynn do you know if they are carved green or dry. 

I have no idea.   ???

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Lynn do you know if they are carved green or dry. 

I have no idea.   ???

You might want to ask user @woodbowl

Herb

[Magicman]

Herb, the @ notifier had to be disabled.   :-\

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Thanks MM, I missed that.

Maybe woodbowl will happen to read this and give us his expert opinion.

Herb

[WDH]

The dough bowl that woodbowl made for me is pecan  .

Carvers prefer the wood from the butt swell of the water tupelo.