Red elm

[chet]

One of the Elms I used to see around here was Winged Elm. Been many years since seeing one now.

[doc henderson]

Bruno, with all the discussion about species, I do not know how what you have will compare.  We have so much here that people are just happy to have it not go the landfill.  I have never paid for elm.  I have barely ever paid for walnut, as we do not really have a logging industry here.

[Larry]

I know just a little about red elm. It is highly sought out by chair makers because of its strength and most of all resistance to splitting. When I get some it moves fast.

A little side note. I had this gadget show up on my PC a few days ago. It's called Microsoft Copilot which is a AI program. I decided to ask it a few questions about elm and in a few seconds got lots of great information. Uses, how to identify, and all kinds of other information that I think is accurate. I spent 15 minutes in the rabbit hole learning. I'm impressed.
 

[doc henderson]

have a friend John RN wanted some years ago to make a yoke and harness parts for oxen he was training.  same reasons.  strong and grain resists splitting.  wanted to make the oval that goes over the head to rest on the shoulder for pulling.

[Don P]

I've had a couple of people ask for elm for that use over the years.



This is another, the big horizontal upper gear there is the mortise wheel, it has cast in square mortises that the elm teeth insert into to create replaceable cushioning teeth in the cast iron drive train of a late 1800's gristmill. They are embossed with a makers mark. We found these and more in the dirt under the wheel where these worn out ones had been replaced.

[moodnacreek]

I dismantled a cattle body off a 1972 f 500 to dispose of it.  Except the plywood [tinned] roof it was all rough sawn hardwood. Most of it was elm. The crossmembers under the floor where hard maple .... creosoted. They had no rot. I would never use maple for that.  In the book 'the wheelwrights shop' elm was used heavily used in wagons and other farm implements. They liked to dry it for 8 or 9 years and store it near their furnace.  I have read of a 3rd type of elm that is rot resistance but no nothing of it. It is in this country.

[Don P]

Red is the most rot resistant that I know of. Elm was the hubs of hell and many wagons. Around the end of WWI the forest service was asked to find a substitute for Ash as they were afraid the auto industry was going to deplete that supply. Just like with sports equipment in my years on this marble, maple was the next choice.

One of the Elms I used to see around here was Winged Elm. Been many years since seeing one now.

As long as we are in common name purgatory , another common name used here for that was Wahoo. Absolutely nobody knows that now. And so it goes.

[moodnacreek]

have a friend John RN wanted some years ago to make a yoke and harness parts for oxen he was training.  same reasons.  strong and grain resists splitting.  wanted to make the oval that goes over the head to rest on the shoulder for pulling.

I was told those 'hoops' where white heart hickory quartered and bent heart out.

[moodnacreek]

Grandad use to say in his younger days kids chewed the inner bark of slippery elm.  For Don: upstate ironwood is called hatmatack and don't forget pepperidge wood if you think elm is hard to split 

[chet]

Red is the most rot resistant that I know of. Elm was the hubs of hell and many wagons. Around the end of WWI the forest service was asked to find a substitute for Ash as they were afraid the auto industry was going to deplete that supply. Just like with sports equipment in my years on this marble, maple was the next choice.

One of the Elms I used to see around here was Winged Elm. Been many years since seeing one now.

As long as we are in common name purgatory , another common name used here for that was Wahoo. Absolutely nobody knows that now. And so it goes.

Yer wrong there Don,  I did know dat.     I'll admit, yer da first I heard call it Wahoo.   Pretty obvious why it's called winged elm, but can't fur da life of me figure out why it would be called Wahoo.  

[Wlmedley]

My first experience with elm was I cut a couple at my mothers house that were starting to die and decided they might be good for firewood. Tried to split them and maul was constantly stuck.At this time they had just came out with the Monster Maul and I bought the biggest one they had.That did the trick and I split all my wood with it for the next 25 years.Probably why my shoulder hurts so bad today.

[Larry]

About 25 years ago I got a commission from some civil war reenactors to saw out all the parts for a cannon carriage. Their plan was to build the carriage and have some local Amish make the wheels as they did a lot of that kind of work. The Amish flat out told them no way would they make wheels for a cannon, I guess shooting people is something they don't believe in. The reenactors came back to me for wood for the wheels but the hubs had to be red elm as they said nothing else would work for that much weight.

About that same time I had a old horse drawn cultipacker that I wanted to pull behind my grain drill. The wood bearings were rotten so I replaced them with red elm. Used it for a long time until I bought a new drill.

 

[Don P]

My first experience with elm was I cut a couple at my mothers house that were starting to die and decided they might be good for firewood. Tried to split them and maul was constantly stuck.At this time they had just came out with the Monster Maul and I bought the biggest one they had.That did the trick and I split all my wood with it for the next 25 years.Probably why my shoulder hurts so bad today.

I've still got mine but the pull starter broke  . I still have their barrel stove as well, I think its been through 5 barrels.

[Bruno of NH]

I made the deal on the red elm.
May have paid to much.
We will see.
Its very rare to find this in New Hampshire. 
It coming from an old farm on the Connecticut River.  I miss some other good logs from this property. 
Black walnut and hickory .

[doc henderson]

If it is rare in your area, you prob. did ok.  it is considered trash here, but not to us logger/sawyer/woodworkers.

[Larry]

As I wrote earlier, it is in demand by chair makers. I did a quick google for "New Hampshire chair makers" and the the first listing was New Hampshire Furniture Masters. I checked out some of the members and they have some heavy hitters on the role call. Since you said red elm was rare up your way I would drop them a email and tell them what you have. Also mention that it can be custom sawed to meet expectations. 

Can't catch fish unless ya toss em some bait (a Larry quote).

[Bruno of NH]

Thanks Larry 
I sent them an email 

[doc henderson]

PharmD Roger over getting some elm for a counter for a basement bar/counter.  final thickness 1.75".  rough 10 feet long, and 25 to 26 inches wide with live edge.

[doc henderson]

Well, this could go into the "what ya makin", or the "happy customer" thread, but I added it to this one.  We glued up a countertop and it came out flat with just a little edge that was off from the glue up.  despite having a bigger planer at 24 inches, this was over 25 on the live edge flare at each end.  so, we called up retired ortho doc Jim and asked to have him flatten it on his CNC.  he took 40/1,000ths off each side and made it very flat.  it measured 6.7% MC.  and yes, Roger was also happy.

[Bruno of NH]

Pictures of the red elm logs and one log sawn
I couldn't wait to see what it looked like .
Sawing around the bark was a challenge, it's very sappy.
After that it saws nice

[Bruno of NH]

I ended up with (7) 4/4×11×10 clear
(1) 4/4×9×10 clear
(4) 5/4×6×10 with sap wood a nice country grade would make some cool wall paneling