What's it good for? Except for smelling like something that came out of the back end of a possum?
The lumber mills nice and don't look all that bad, kinda like a cross between ash and beech but a little harder than poplar. Heart wood is bright yellow with a thin layer of bright white sap wood and throws sawdust that looks like a frothy lemon aid. But it sure does stink like, well you know.
Thanks
BusyDad ;D,
I don't know anything about the tree you describe, but sound a bit like the Japanese ginkgo. There are two of trees, one male and one female. The female drops nuts each year that smell just about like something that fell out of the south end of a north bound coon hound that has been fed too many beans. To make it worse, some folks pick up the nuts, do something to them, only God knows what, then eat them. :o I can't imagine as I can't even stand to walk by the nuts laying on the ground.
As always, someone with a boatload of wisdom will stop by and give you an intelligent reply rather than one like mine.
Jim
Do a search here on the forum for Ailanthus.
We have them here. Some can be stunning if curly or interesting grains. Most locally are urban pioneer trees. I call them "mystery wood" cause the first lumber from one of these that I saw noone knew what it was. It had REALLY cool, curly, green hue and open grained like ash. I didn't buy the pile at the mill because it was 4/4, MISTAKE! really nice stuff. Been looking for another that nice since. I did buy one board for kicks, thank goodness, nice sample to have around.
Reid
We get them every once in a while. I did saw a few into RR ties, but that was because it wasn't on their do-not-saw list. Now I just saw them for pallet stock.
I guess if you had enough, you could saw and stick it. It seems to me that it wants to bend and warp. Every so often you'll find someone looking for something different. Just don't let them smell it. :D
I've sawn some, it always seemed to want to curl and warp. Now I mostly run it into pallet stock.