Uses for Sweetgum lumber

[Mfrost459]

I have a customer that has brought several sweetgum logs. He is building a fence and wants to use the logs to make 4x6 fence post. Part of his process is to char the bottoms of the post and then coat them with a fence post sealer. 
I am just not sure Sweetgum will hold up. Any thoughts?

[Southside]

I would have my concerns with it being in ground contact. 

[Magicman]

Quick short answer.....NO.

[SawyerTed]

There's no screws or nails made that will stop the twist of a sweet gum board IF it can be fastened before it twists!  

[customsawyer]

He can go ahead if he really likes building fence. Since he will get to build it again in about a year or less.

[Rhodemont]

I have quite a bit of Black Gum (Tupelo).  Pretty in the Fall but otherwise you can have it all.  Posts rot and fall in a year or two even when I coated with old motor oil.  Tough to split as it is stringy. Twists like crazy if you saw it.

[YellowHammer]

It'll turn into rotted foam in a very short time at below ground level unless they are commercially treated with creosote or other cross tie processes. 

[Magicman]

Yes, RR cross ties are regularly made from Sweetgum.


 
Here is an old Sweetgum cross tie that I have that was pressure Creosote treated many years ago.  It is also a perfect example showing why Sweetgum does not easily split.

Yes, Sweetgum lumber can be used exposed to the weather above ground.  Board and Batten siding is one example as long as you prevent any ground spatter from reaching the board ends.  The tricky part here is that generally QS lumber resist twisting whereas flat sawn is subject to twist and cup.  It must not be used in any situation where it can not dry between wetting.  It needs air circulation and sunshine.

[jb616]

I have quite a bit of Black Gum (Tupelo).  Pretty in the Fall but otherwise you can have it all.  Posts rot and fall in a year or two even when I coated with old motor oil.  Tough to split as it is stringy. Twists like crazy if you saw it.

Is it ok for firewood?  I have some that needs to be cut down and i am not familiar with it here in Michigan. 

[Tom King]

It's okay for firewood if you need to keep a fire going but don't want any heat.

I've told this several times before here, but I'm sure someone may not have heard it.  A long time ago an old man told me that he built a chicken coop out of green Sweetgum.  He said after about a year, the inside was on the outside.

When we first got married, my Wife was doing pottery.  She was doing some experimenting using different wood ashes for glazes.  I told her that it looked like Sweetgum wasn't any good for anything else, so maybe ashes from some would make a good glaze.  It wasn't any good for that either.  A glaze made with it was the dullest, blandest looking glaze anyone had ever seen.

The last stand of timber we had thinned, the wood brought us about 20 bucks a ton.  There were two loads of Sweetgum left at the end.  We got a dollar and a half a ton for that.

You don't need to ask my opinion of Sweet Gum for a fence.  It might last a year, but probably not.

[KenMac]

It seems to me that I remember something about letting the SG logs lie off the ground for a year or so before sawing to get better results. Am I remembering correctly?

[Magicman]

That would work if you wanted nothing at all.  The bark will hold the moisture in and they will immediately begin to rot.

[Rhodemont]

JB616,  It burns if you get it split but the heat output is poor.  

[bluthum]

I had a standing dead sweetgum made into lumber once and built a shed with it, framing and siding but treated syp for the base.. It still looks good after about 30 odd years. As noted you have to allow for it being not decay resistant, the devil there is in the details but really just basic construction good practices. As a fence post no bueno, at all.

[Mfrost459]

This is pretty much what I figured. I told him that I thought the post would rot pretty quick. Even mentioned it again today to the driver picking up material. Someone told him they would be fine and he still wants me to mill them. I'll try showing him these responses and see if I can point him in another direction.

Thanks so much for all the input on this. You guys are really outstanding. 

[Mfrost459]

Sorry for posting this response so many times rookie mistake 

[Mfrost459]

Thanks so much for all the input on this. You guys are really outstanding.

[Southside]

A year is probably pushing it, and it depends on where you are to some extent, but I will leave larger SG logs on the ground for 6 months or so if I want interior finished lumber out of them.  Two things happen, first the stress relieves and second the heart bleeds into the sap wood and makes a gorgeous pattern.  Like anything you have to get the timing right, too soon and it does not behave well, too long and it gets soft.  

[caveman]

I wrote a response yesterday and did not post it.  Unlike many here, I like to get sweetgum logs.  I let them lie around, off of the ground for several months.  If I can get them to spalt and not rot, they make good live edged slabs that folks will spend good money on.  They seem to behave better after aging in log form.

[Magicman]

They seem to behave better after aging in log form.

Actually most logs/lumber does.  I much prefer to saw SYP lumber from 6 month old logs.  The stress seems to have stabilized a bit and the sap is not as bothersome.  I prefer bark slipped SYP logs.

I have a whole house framing lumber job ahead of me where the customer is falling fresh trees now.  He texted me today saying; "We got logs on the ground and a lot more coming!  We will be ready whenever you are." 

[Mfrost459]

Caveman, you are so right about the grain on S/G it looks awesome. Only problem is it is a pain to dry. I've had a few successes with it, but for the most part it just twist and warps. Customers love it when it comes out right. Got to learn the secret about drying this stuff. 

[Magicman]

 

 

 
Yes, it can produce some very beautiful but twisted woodgrain.  To kinda successfully dry it should be quarter sawn.

I have sawn thousands of bf of Sweetgum but mostly into posts/timbers.


 
Over 200 tree length Sweetgum logs which were bucked to 11'.  Most making 4 logs.  The largest posts were 12X12's and the smallest, 4X6's.
 More Sweetgum logs waiting to be sawn in to post/timbers.

Amazingly they stay relatively stable if/when you saw only one pith centered post from each log with no side lumber.

[jpassardi]

What the heck is sweetgum anyway...In Yankee country there's no such animal  

It is pretty neat looking.

[Magicman]

Sweetgum LINK will infest every inch of open land that is not maintained. 

I Hates Sweetgum !!!