What can I expect when sawing these elms?

[kelLOGg]

A customer has 2 very nice looking elms about 24" dia and ~12 ft long. They are straight and no spiraling grain. Any advice about sawing? I know to saw them oversize. He's thinking about counter tops.

Bob




  

 

[ladylake]

 
Those look good but you never know how they will saw or dry. One time I needed 1  2x12 x 16 and used a nice looking elm log, I squared it up until I got a 12" face and sawed that 2 x12 , it lifted up 5 or 6" on each end.  When I turned it over with the hump up the center was at least 6" off the ground. The customer said that was OK as it was a outrigger plank on a trailer, I saw that same plank a couple of years later and  it was laying nice and flat on his trailer. Surprisingly  when I sawed the rest of that log not much tension at all.  Steve

[YellowHammer]

Pay attention to centering pith and dodging stress.  Elm really like to move.  I flinch every time a customer wants to use elm for long straight furniture like tables and benches because of its restlessness.  Try to limit the sapwood fractions on the boards faces, i.e. go for all sapwood or all heartwood, and certainly center the sapwood on the edges.  Also, as Ladylake says, youll see stressed boards carrot peel off the cant, when you see that, stop and try a differnt side....

I have had some luck putting lots of weight on the drying stacks to force flatness, but sometimes, after drying, some boards behave, some dont.  The problem with elm for furniture, is that its so strong, if it is firmly attached to something weaker, it will still bend and take the rest of the piece of furniture with it.  So furniture tops and large flat surfaces need to float, which is good furniture building practice, anyway. 

[WDH]

At least your logs are straight  .

[Farmerjw]

I firmly think you can expect sawdust coming out of those logs as you saw them.  ;D

[Ron Wenrich]

Penn State has a large urban forest of elm.  They have behemoths there.  They also have a problem with Dutch elm disease and now the yellows.  They are losing them.  I knew someone that was working at PSU in maintenance and he told me they buried the trees to prevent the spread of any disease.  I always thought there would be a good marketing scheme in it.  He did some poking around and within a couple of years they had their own elm collection.  Not sure if they got wind of what I was up to or not.  Anyways, they now sell all sorts of furniture, frames, walking sticks, and the like.  Point is, elm does make nice furniture and other projects. 

http://pennstateelmscollection.com/