Paulownia

[Guido Salvage]

I am picking up some paulownia logs on Tuesday after work. I have never milled any before (though I did mill a bunch of ailanthus for kicks), looking for ideas on how to cut it. Slabs, dimensional lumber, turning blanks or ?? Preferred thickness and any special precautions I need to take while air drying?

[aigheadish]

I can't help but I'd love to see some pictures when you slice into it. 

I've got a bag of Paulownia seeds I've been hesitant to plant. 

[YellowHammer]

I've got about 4MBF on stacks I killed earlier this year.  It saws like balsa wood, and dries as easy as cork.  It will have a hole right down the center of most of the logs, like the hollow down the center of a piece of Johnson grass.  Actually, that's about what they saw like, big grass.  Easy money.

[Sixacresand]

Light wood, beautiful when flat sawn.  I set out about fifty seedlings.  They perished where I wanted them and flourished where I didn't want them.  Most folks that have them as yard trees hate them.

[aigheadish]

I've heard they can be pretty finicky to grow, then potentially invasive if they find a spot they like. I've got a couple places in the yard and a bag of 1000 seeds, but I'd hate to have them take over the neighborhood, I already have bamboo that'll do that if I don't keep an eye on it. 

Between the 2 acre field out back and a spot or two in the front yard I think I could plant some and like them but...

[btulloh]

Interesting wood for special uses. I don't find them to be invasive really, but there will be scattered seedlings that should be removed right away. They are messy so not great in the yard. Put them where you don't mind big leaves in the fall or branch ends full of seed pods breaking off in the spring. 

[CCCLLC]

A friend cut one into a 7x9 rail tie for kicks. Carries it on his shoulder to show off.

[Ianab]

The current commercial market for it seems to be for making wooden surf and paddle boards. It's almost as light as balsa, but stronger and actually fairly durable. Musical instruments seems to be another use, like solid body guitars with a more durable laminate on the outside. 

[Ron Wenrich]

There used to be a hot market in the export for Paulownia logs.  The Japanese used Paulownia for wedding chests and other types of furniture.  I'm not sure if that market still exists as it was during the time the Japanese economy was really strong.

Surfing the net I found one guy selling Paulownia wood for $15/bf.  Seems a bit high, but apparently he gets that price. 

[VB-Milling]

Saws easy although I find it dulls a chainsaw and band saw edge more than you would think. Could just be that the logs I have sawn were on the ground for many months.

I'd saw it 8/4 or thicker if you don't have a particular use for it now. Air dries easy with some weight.

Echoing what others have said, the current market seems to be eBay for string instruments and sporting good.  Guys selling packs of it with enough BF to make those types of products. 
 
@Southside referred a guy to me for some late last year, but it didn't go anywhere. That's the only demand I've seen around my area for any.

[711ac]

Speaking of the paulownia market of the past, I witnessed a guy stop by a buddies place, knock on the door and offer $400 to a couple of small trees no more than 6" across and barely covered the bed of a pickup. Then I watched him hand my friend $400! 
This was over 40 years ago, but not too many years later a friend who worked for a big dirt work and clearing outfit found a nice paulownia, it made a full p/u load. He collected $5000!
From what I've gathered they stuff 20' containers full of it and it goes to Japan.

[kantuckid]

In my state, KY, the U of KY ag forestry dept became interested in the tree as a re-forestation plant for old strip mine sites and did much research on them, sold seedlings to landowners and I used to have (may still have it) their multi page booklet on propagation. The ag teacher at my school who also farmed, became interested but never planted any to my knowledge, just got that bug for a bit. 
Like said, at that time the market was export only, nothing was domestic. The value was said to be a fast return given the growth and high dollars paid. Faster than any domestic species for a tree that grows in poor soil. 
 He gave me a small piece of the lumber he'd sawed from a smallish tree and IMO it's more ugly than interesting. I never could grasp that it is durable outdoors given it's so soft and spongy? 
I've never heard what became of U of KY's Paulownia promotion project? My nearby KY state tree farm (in Grassy Creek, KY) doesn't grow them, that I do know.  Did the Japanese stop wanting the wood? As I recall those wedding chests were lacquered and the wood didn't show as it were. 
They have become a weed tree in the entire Tennessee river system. I see scads of them come spring when we cross Jellico Mtn on I-75 to visit our grandkids in TN. The millions of purple blossoms make them easy to spot. 
They might just be the largest tree leaf in the entire USA? Seedling leaves are huge! Like up to ~one sq foot each.   

[aigheadish]

Which would you rather Paulownia or Kudzu? 

[kantuckid]

Great way to throw a ringer question? :D
The construction company who operates the limestone quarry a few miles down the road from me, also owns a large, forested parcel surrounding the quarry. Few years back they had it all logged selectively which opened the canopy such that the small kudzu patch nearer to the actual quarry took off like crazy. Now what was a beautiful woods lying along side a local gravel road many of us use to save a few miles when we travel toward a certain direction it's flat out ugly. It's said to be a plant that cannot take over an area where it gets cold but that's far from true. I'll vote for Paulownia.   

[aigheadish]

I figured it'd be a tough one to answer. 

I don't know much about either but I know it's amazing how much the kudzu can take over along the highways. I presume it takes over everywhere else as well. Do y'all with it growing around have to manage kudzu in your yards? Has anyone figured out a solution to it yet? Goats? I'm not a Round-up kinda guy but man, I've never seen anything take over like that stuff.

[just_sawing]

The wood is valuable if it is grown on a north facing hill. The Export market needs 10 growth rings per inch. The Japanese woodworkers brag about boxes that they have built that the lid is so precise that it takes minutes for the lid to settle. 
Australia is growing them for studs in building. 

[WDH]

Here they grow 2" a year or more, so 1 ring per inch, not 10 .

[bigblockyeti]

Here they grow 2" a year or more, so 1 ring per inch, not 10 .

That's pretty aggressive, I'm not that far from you and am looking for a few more deciduous trees to plant around a couple acres.  I like that growth rate but how do they handle wind and the rare ice load when growing that fast?

[aigheadish]

I've heard growth rates much faster than that, or do you mean 2" around? The stories I've heard is that they grow, to maturity, in 10-15 years, and what 40 feet tall? Maybe more? 

[btulloh]

The limbs don't handle ice or wind very well at all but the tree puts up with it ok. There's always a pile of broken limbs under a p tree. Especially when the seed pos get big and heavy. Maybe if grown fo r commercial reasons they get a lot of pruning. Most people that tried to do it commercially back at the peak of interst ended up with a lot of trees and no market. As noted above, there are local exceptions where people do pretty well, but probably don't get rich off it. It's fun to play with a bit of it, but that's not really an income opportunity. 

[kantuckid]

Here they grow 2" a year or more, so 1 ring per inch, not 10 .

That's pretty aggressive, I'm not that far from you and am looking for a few more deciduous trees to plant around a couple acres.  I like that growth rate but how do they handle wind and the rare ice load when growing that fast?

Maybe contact the American Chestnut folks and see if you can grow some of their seedlings? Todays NYT's has another article featuring that trees new story as planted on an old coal strip mine area of SE OH now. 

[Ron Wenrich]

Planting trees for fast growth often ends up being a disaster.  I remember seeing a hybrid walnut that claimed to be 18" in 25 yrs.  I run that past a veneer buyer and he said who would want it.  Growth rings are too far apart to make very good looking veneer.

I also remember when hybrid poplar was the craze.  This is just a fast growing type of aspen.  The thought was that biofuels were going to be an answer to the energy crisis of the '80s.  I had one guy who said that he wanted to plant a bunch of acreage in it.  I asked what his goal was.  Biofuels.  And what happens if that market falls through?  Firewood.  Hybrid poplar wouldn't make good firewood.  Luckily he didn't go through the project.  Biofuels never developed.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Paulownia

I sawed it twice. Spicy crunchy wood, no end checking of logs that were 10 years old, hole down the center of every log and twig,and growth rings that were as much as an inch apart.

[YellowHammer]

Here is Paulownia off our rack, 8/4 x 8', clear a bell, beautiful wood.  Very stable, lightweight and rot resistant.  The label own the rack has the Southern spelling.... :D :D

[711ac]

Those are all of the attributes that I've been told also.