Alianthis

[campy]

Greetings,

I am about to recieve a 25" Alianthis  butt log.

Does anybody have advice on what this is good for?

In my research It said that the wood dries uneavenly because of how fast it grows.

In the past when I cut one of these it was very very light like balsa wood.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[bandmiller2]

Tree of heaven,never heard of it used for anything, the wood is light and brittle.Please tell us how it mills and looks.Around here it more or less a trash tree grows along parking lots and vacant areas.Frank C.

[Jim H]

I milled some a couple of years ago for the Virginia dept. of forestry for their alianthis project to try and find some use for it. It was a medium density wood when cut and tended to move alot coming off the saw (tension & compression wood). In appearance it was closest to ash with more of a yellowish color. They had me cut some boards and some pallet parts for testing (MOE, MOR, compression ect.) at VA tech, I never heard how the test turned out. I think it would be best to cut it oversize and resize after drying.

[5quarter]

I have cut some...I cut it wide and thick to correct for movement and because it shinks quite a bit when drying. I make sure it is stacked near the bottom of the pile on 16" centers. density is medium (42lbs/cu ft) and while it is pliable when wet, it is very hard and stable when dry (1570 at 12%, 1730 at 7%). Also, The odor is not pleasant when being cut. grain and color are nothing special, imo, but I suppose you would use it much like you would ash or similar wood. Look forward to hearing how you make out.

Chet

[icolquhoun]

smells like peanut butter when being cut and is poisonous to some people while being chipped/cut, so just be careful

[Ironwood]

Likes to clog your blades, I hate the stuff.

Ironwood

[SDM]

Sounds like the tree of heaven might of been misnamed. Sure has a bad rep. 

[Frickman]

I have always cut it inot coal mine blocking that way it is buried and noone has to look at it. It doesn't even make good firewood for me.

[NMFP]

I usually saw it into 10/4 for guys to carve.  I have also cut 6/4 for making deer antler mounts and trophy boards.  takes stain well but it will twist, warp and crook if its not restrained during the drying process.  I normally put a concrete parking barrier on top of my packs while drying for added weight to keep the boards from moving.

Around here, we lump it into the classification of Staghorn Sumac.  Absolutly useless and good for nothing.

Hope this helps.