sour gum

Okrafarmer · May 13, 2014, 08:45:29 AM

Let's be fully sure that everyone understands-- sweetgum and sour gum are two entirely different ~~animals~~ plants. It's not just the taste that's different, they are largely unrelated. Sour gum is generally a better actor than sweetgum, but then again you need to expect different things from them.

hackberry jake · May 13, 2014, 11:42:37 AM

Quote from: Okrafarmer on May 13, 2014, 08:45:29 AM
Let's be fully sure that everyone understands-- sweetgum and sour gum are two entirely different ~~animals~~ plants. It's not just the taste that's different, they are largely unrelated. Sour gum is generally a better actor than sweetgum, but then again you need to expect different things from them.

and never cut either one of them less than an inch thick... unless you "put it up green".

ely · May 13, 2014, 01:22:44 PM

ive seen entire barns that were built of gum, and the nailed them up while they were cutting the logs. they dried reasonably straight... I can now 70 plus years later pull the nails and use the wood for anything. my dad says a lot of times water would run off the walls of the barns for a day or so.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · May 13, 2014, 05:32:54 PM

Just in case someone does not know the different wood names:

The southern sweet gum tree (with those prickly balls for fruit) is Liquidambar styraciflua. The sapwood is white and is sold as sap gum; the heartwood is reddish and sold as red gum. Note that sweet gum does produce an aromatic resin which must be the reason for its name.

Sour gum refers to the black tupelo (also called black gum and sometimes just tupelo, but there are other tupelo species) and is Nyssa sylvatica. In the Appalachinas, the tree is often called sour gum. I do not know why "gum" as it is not gummy. [Extra note of trivia: In Massachusetts, the tree is called beetlebung, probably because it was used to make a mallet, called a beetle, that was used to hammer in the bung (the plug or stopper) in a barrel.]

Many species of Eucalyptus are called gum trees (such as blue gum). A common species is Eucalyptus cinerea. Australia is known for the large population of Eucalyptus trees, but we do have a few in western U.S. (Trivia: This is the gum tree that the kookaburra sits in in the (Australian origin) song you might have learned at camp, or your daughter learned in Girl Scouts, etc. Also, the gum typically smells wonderful (bees love it and the honey is awesome) and is used in medicines, as well as in flower stores' bouquets.)

JustinW_NZ · May 13, 2014, 08:13:06 PM

ah Liquidambar - that's the common name for it here in NZ.

yeah, that stuff is pretty awful to dry!

Cheers
Justin

hackberry jake · May 13, 2014, 09:14:08 PM

I didn't mean black gum when I called it sour gum. I was just referring to spalted sweet gum. I don't believe the coloring in the log was heartwood (red gum), I believe it was just from the bacteria/fungus living inside the log.