Cracked open that sweetgum today....

[TexasTimbers]

I couldn't stand it any more. I had to look inside. I didn't want to cut nearly three feet of the log off but .... had to get rid of that power line anchor first. This is the tree I had to remove before I could move the sawmill a couple months ago. The power to the mill was anchored to this tree....


Now that that was out of the way I thought I had it made, but ........



Had to remove those nails you see up there, here they are after I dug them out ...



It was worth it though ...



A close up ...




I haven't got to the all heart yet. I left it in a 10" X 10 " cant, because I want to prepare a place where I can sticker and weight it down and leave it.
I'm curious to see how far those few boards I made will have moved by tomorrow? ???

[jpgreen]

Perdy stuff kevjay..  8)

I wish we had the selection of woods you guys have back east..

[Hbarker]

nice pics
:-\ sweet gum wood hmm,, we got lots a that here,  does sweetgum wood in make nice lumber??
never heard of no one buildin nutin outa it  :D

[Tom]

You'rer missing a bet on some of the prettiest wood around.

The heart, you may have heard called Red Gum.
The Sapwood is marketed as Sap Gum or White Gum.

[thurlow]

We've always used sweet gum for lathes under metal...........we alwuz called it tin.........roofs;  1 by 4s, 1 by 6s, maybe 5/4 by 6, (where they were spread further apart).  Put 'em up green, before they twist up.  Nails won't pull out............of course, the last 3 or 4 sheds/barns I've put up, I've used screws to hold the tin on.........

[Tom]

Way to go Kevjay.  8)

I love a dark heart like that.



Now, make yourself one of these.  

[highpockets]

Me and Billy have been talking about sweetgum.   It grows like fleas around here.

[TexasTimbers]

Wow that table is niiiiice. How is it finished Tom?

I got to wondering today, does sweetgum look good Q'sawn? And would that help minimize the twist?
I sketched out a little Q'saw plan on the end of the cant once I knocked of the slabs, and got to studying it real long and hard, and it looked to me like a whole lot of cuttin and turnin and cuttin and turnin .....
I've not Q'sawn anything yet. I didn't want to experiment on the only sweetgum in the pile.

[Tom]

It's finished with a little polyurethane varnish.

[Coon]

Yup just got a call from my neighbour who wanted to know if I wanted a nice maple tree to saw..... I said do I have to answer that question.....  well I guess I should have known better was his next comment...  The tree has just blown over tonight in the wind storm we are having.  Just think,  it was one of the maples I was gonna tap.  Not near as nice as these sweetgum you guys are showin...... but it's got two nice burls on it and it's about 25-30 inches dbh and staight as an arrow for about 20 feet to the first Y.
Brad.

[Hbarker]

 8) really nice i woulda never thunk "sweetgum", welp im off to cut few of my sweetgums today,
wife hates those sweetgum balls all over the yard anyway, makes the leaves hard to rake. :D

[chassawyers]

Folks ask what sweet gum is good for and I tell em if you carefully cut, stack and dry it, it makes lousy firewood.  The table shown if awful nice though!  I cut some big quartersawn boards (20" widex2"thick) and they make an excellent workbench top.  It is shonuf tough stuff.

As for quartersawn, I do all my hardwoods quartersawn if they are big enough.  I just split the log down the middle (measure up from the bed to center and adjust both ends of the log) and then kick one side off onto the loader (woodmizer) and saw the other.  Just watch the growth rings and make sure you stay in the quartersawn/riff sawn range.  I flat saw the remaining wedge into 2" thick stock.  This works out well, especially for oaks in the 30" range.  Take off 2" on top and bottom side, turn it so the 26" side is between the roller guides and split er down the middle.  Dont be afraid to use a chalk to mark the log through the center many times so you will always have a reference point.

I will be watchin to see how yall's gum endeavors work out.  All the best.

[sbishop]

Tom...wow that is some sweet table you have there...got to have one of those for camp to be.....Now where do I find some of the gum here in Canada? 

Sbishop

[rebocardo]

Yea, I remember being told it was only good for nothing and people (tree companies) taking it to the dump in GA. Then one day, I decided, hey, its wood, it has to burn, I am going to at least trying burning a cord. So, while cutting/rippingn it up into firewood, I notice the spalting effect (did not even know what spalting was at the time) and thought, that is beautiful wood. I wish I had a few boards for projects. Which is what kind of started me on milling and getting a chain saw mill  :D

Sweetgum, I don't know if I luv ya or hate ya!  :D