The Forestry Forum

 :) ;) 8)  hello out there anybody cut any beech if so hows it cut and what can you get for clear green lumber thanks tom

We don't get too much beech in my neck of the woods.  What we do get, we put into pallet stock and RR ties.  Grade lumber doesn't sell for too much, since demand is pretty low.  You see it used for drawer sides on lower qualiy furniture.

However, I did hear that if it is steamed, it turns pink.  I can't verify that.

Also, the Germans have started to export the European beech.  One guy told me that it is a way better looking wood than our American beech.

As I recall Brian Bailey posted a bunch of nice pictures of some beech he has worked with....

Captain

I have a post from last winter where I was fit to be tied over some large very nice and very frozen beech. Neither of our mills would saw them. When they thawed out in the spring they sawed pretty good.

As for market, there essentially is none here other then pallet stock or steel stickers. Typical blocking.

Right now I have two perfecto 34" American Beech logs.  It is odd that there is low demand for the wood, since all its mechanical properties are good.   Too bad that a wood has to be "en vogue" to bring good money, but it's true.

My take on these logs is to either use it for my own dream house as flooring  or to find a niche market interest in it.

When cut for quarter sawn grain pattern, the wood has appealing fleck rays - a little smaller than the similar pattern found in Sycamore.  They appear as dots.

Anyone else want to chime in?
Phil L.                   (oops, my musical side coming out.)

I've used it in the cabinet shop, I like it. We called the ray flecking "chicken scratches". It has been used for tools and jigs, look at some old wooden planes. Drying degrade is supposed to be high. I've got a number of dead ones that need to go through the mill.

Thanks,  Don P.

Your mention of high degrade makes me lean toward quartersawing on Beech.  I have found that even the lowest grades of oak ( Laurel, etc.) will lay down and be nice, when cut that way, whereas they will cup and split and check like crazy, when cut flat/plain.  ( Of course, slow drying helps, too.)
PHil L.

   My handweaving loom from Harrisville Designs is made of Beechwood and it is lovely, strong, high-quality wood with- as you say, very nice fine graining to it.lw

Years ago it was used for hand saw handels. Was a factory in Carthage that used it to make brush blocks and broom handles. Made a good truck rack.
         Junkyard

Here is a picture of some drawers I had made for a forum member and I'll bet that he is wondering where the heck his request is  ???  :D  :D.
All I can say is that it is almost done  :).

Anyways, the wood is QS beech with cherry dovetail keys.

(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/Bai%20beech%20drawers%20o.jpg)

 Dennis sent me some Red Beech that i used in a bowl.
 It sure did turn out nice. It turned on the lathe real good.
 Any one out there have some quarter saw beech i could
 git. Thoes draws sure look like sycamore wood. Would
 be hard to tell them apart.

 Sawwood

Shhhhh... she might be listening. :D

Nice work Brian. :)

You could sell the Beech to a brewing company for their Beechwood aged beer. Or then again maybe they would trade you beer for beech.

...Hum, I might need to find me some Beech! ;D

The only beech wood I know of is what is refered to as "beach wood" aka "drift wood" that comes up on my beach in Washington.  ha-ha :)

I'm not sure I know what a Beech Tree looks like.  Perhaps it's another name for a tree that I don't know???  Anybody have a picture of this tree so I can keep an eye out during my travels?  

I 've got a Beech you can have.  When "Isabel" came through last summer she took down one. The root structure is about 40' across and 20' in the air and a trunk between 4 and 5 foot. I figure it is well over a 100 years old. I am glad it fell behind the house and not on it.

We occasionally cut a few beech. We can't quarter saw too well on the old Frick, so we plain saw it. A local furniture maker/cabinet shop buys it all. Anything that is a minor species in our area they'll buy.

There's a mill in the next county over that buys beech and sycamore logs for a decent price. They have a big order for stainless steel blocking.

I don't usually cut beech.
Last year I was cutting survey stakes out of beech for a customer.
The beech was the cheapest logs I could get.
When cutting the stakes, the ray fleck was grabbing my eye. I thought to myself, I've got to get some of this stuff.
So I bought a couple of prime logs and QS'd them.
I've used some on a couple of projects and I'm really happy with the results.
Contrary to some of the horror stories I heard about beech, I find it rather easy to work with.

JD,  
Type in, american beech, over on google.com.
Lots of info. for ya.

I cut a lot of beech, 22" to 24" and split it if its to big to handle  ;D

I intend to use beech for the timber bridges I will be building.  Any advice?  I will be sawing 4 x 8s and joining them together with 4' bolts every 3 or 4 feet.  I am thinking plain sawn.

my understanding of beech is that it has a natural lubricity(is that a word?) that makes it perfect for drawer slides.i also understood(past tense) that you had to be careful to make sure that there was no sapwood and heartwood in the same board because due to the great difference in moisture contents,they would always check there.Brian Bailey's awesome looking drawers sure seem to disprove that.
    as far as using it for a bridge,beech has very poor decay resistance.with laminated beams you could be in trouble there.i always thought it would be a good idea when building a bridge or other durable outdoor structure to build in tubes so you could pump in preservatives in a continuing manner to critical decay prone points.i think you'd be better off using white oak or something with natural decay-resistance.hth.

I like oakiemac's idea!!!! :D :D :D

Gosh those drawers are pretty, Brian...can't wait to see the rest of the project!  8)     Good things come to those with patience  ;)

Thanks Patty for being so patient.  

The project is pretty much done except for a little artistic embellishment that I want to add.

The only problem is, I have never done that kind of work before  :o.

So o o,  I had to ruin a few pieces to get the technique down before I attempt it on your project.

When you see the results, I think you'll understand  :D :D.

I'm planning on putting it in Mr. Browns (UPS) hands sometime next week  :).