The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: markkelly on October 16, 2011, 10:21:56 AM

Title: American Elm
Post by: markkelly on October 16, 2011, 10:21:56 AM
I am going to be milling American Elm for the first time any suggestions.   8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: WDH on October 16, 2011, 08:56:31 PM
Stack the best boards on the bottom of the sticker stack as elm is bad to twist and warp.  The weight from the lower grades will help keep the better stuff flatter. 
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: SwampDonkey on October 17, 2011, 05:56:21 AM
I pulled an A. elm board from the stack that was drying for years and that thing had the contours of a wrinkled blanket not yet folded and ironed. :D
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: WDH on October 17, 2011, 06:41:52 AM
I have had hackberry, a member of the elm family, twist it self around and walk off from the stack  :D.
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: coldnorth on October 17, 2011, 08:29:45 AM
I quartersawed one a few years ago.  They are not as ornery to dry if QS.  The one I sawed was really not large enough to qs but I got some GREAT 7-8" wide boards. Very pretty wood.
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: blaze83 on October 17, 2011, 08:37:02 AM
this stuff does move like crazy but is very very pretty, I started cutting all mine 5/4 so i had a little more wood to work with, would like to try quarter sawing some, havn't found a log big enough yet

steve
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: Kevin on October 17, 2011, 09:05:39 AM
This is Harry Boyer who is unfortunately no longer with us but he dragged this elm out of his field and I chainsaw milled it several years ago behind his farm house.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/Harry_Boyer.JPG)

The boards warped like crazy but I did make some flooring for a closet with some of it and it was a lot of work but finished up looking really good.

I still have a few boards and just use it for small projects like this knife handle.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/knife_handle.JPG)

If I was ever to mill another, I would quarter saw it and band the pile.




Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: zopi on October 17, 2011, 10:50:27 AM
Yeah, I just massacred a little hackberry on a job...thought about milling it....naaaahhhhh...got eniff corkscrews.(loose)
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: SwampDonkey on October 17, 2011, 04:11:23 PM
Elm is pretty as some of you stated, no question about it. I have used it in small projects. But most of my elm lumber never made it back home from the sawyer. I used some blocks that were cut up from that elm of grandfather's to turn a couple bowls on the lathe. I still have a half dozen or so pieces of elm kicking around in the barn with bark still on. It was 1993 when my uncle cut the tree down in the yard. The living room here is elm paneling.
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: LeeB on October 17, 2011, 07:49:04 PM
In Texas we had an elm called cedar elm. Not nearly as unruly as some of the others. I've got several hundred BF of it still. Guess I need to do something with it.
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: WDH on October 17, 2011, 08:17:03 PM
If I elm to saw any again, I will quartersaw it too  :D.
Title: Re: American Elm
Post by: mrcaptainbob on October 17, 2011, 10:57:08 PM
There was a GIANT American elm in Mom's back yard. The side was a bit less than six feet from the back of the house. It was so large that it took three of us to hold hands around it with a bit of overlap... Well, that beauty got diseased and the city took it down for her. I ended up with the rounds. Those cutters must've been doing a lot of saw sharpening or chain replacing, as it had nails and screws through and through. It was a Detroit city tree. Splitting it exposed so many nails almost each piece looked like a pin cushion. ...