Japanese Cork Tree

[logboy]

Anyone ever cut a Japanese Cork Tree into lumber?  I got a trailer load today.  The bark feels spongy, like cork, and the inner bark/sapwood is bright yellow.  I'll get pics later.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Being from the south, this sounds like a Palm Tree.

[logboy]

I sliced up a small crotch.  The inner bark is bright yellow.  The wood itself is beautiful.  It looks like a cross between Cherry and Ash.  I'm till trying to figure out what to do with it all. I may just slab the whole lot so it has the yellow inner bark. It cuts super easy. It is some of the most unique wood I've ever cut.

[Jeff]

That looks a lot like Sassafras to me.

[Celeriac]

It's an invasive species, so keep on sawing!

[logboy]

Nope, its a cork tree. The bark and bark color are not right for sassafras.  The bark is spongy like cork when you touch it.  The tree is apparently invasive so the new homeowner had them all cut down.   I hope the bark stays on or I'll lose all the yellow.  Here is some more info.

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pham1.htm


"Both young and old trees have bark that is slightly spongy or corky to the touch and a distinctive bright neon yellow layer of inner bark that can be revealed with a quick scrape of a pocket-knife. "

[WDH]

That is really pretty wood.

[Dodgy Loner]

Very cool! The wood looks a lot like Chinaberry.

[jueston]

thats real pretty wood, it sure is bright yellow under the bark...

i heard somewhere that the world is running out of cork, that the consumption of it outpaces the production and soon wine makers will have no choice but to go to rubber corks or screw tops.... that piece of information is completely unrelated, since i'm sure corks are not made from this tree, but i like to pass along useless info.

[Mzanger]

Tests indicate that wines age just as well with rubber stoppers or screw tops, so some winemakers are putting them on fine wines as an inverse snob thing. I am interested in where you see this tree and how you use it, as they are a common invasive where I live.

[Mzanger]

On the earlier pictures, that looks like a philodendron cork tree: Amur River Cork Tree or possibly Japanese Yellow Wood. That chrome yellow cambium is the feature. Looked nice sawn up, did you ever make anything out of it?