basswood uses

[bic]

I have quite a few of these on my 100 acre lot, and need to take them out, has anyone used this for shed siding or do I have alot of carving ahead of me....thanks ahead bic

[CX3]

Well if the siding doesnt work out you could always make a mandolin or something ;D

[SwampDonkey]

99% of basswood around here was cut for pulpwood. Sure you can carve it. But there are only so many carvers and most times the loggers aren't thinking of them. I don't know how well it would hold up as siding. Seems it would mold easy and turn black and possibly break down quick compared to cedar.

Of course I don't know what your management is for these woods, maybe they are considered weeds? They are so hard to come by around here and only along the main river valley, that I hate to cut them. That's just me and different circumstances. I have cut 3 or four of them on the farm and never could find a use for them. I have thought of carving, but I don't have the desire like I do making a piece of furniture. ;) Around here you couldn't sell carving wood unless you was Lowes. You could give it away though. :D

[chevytaHOE5674]

We buy basswood sawlogs and veneer at the mill. Prices aren't spectacular but it sure beats pulp prices. Mostly used for building pallets and crates to ship things in. Its strong enough for most loads and lightweight so its perfect for shipping containers.

[SwampDonkey]

It all depended on price of a sawlog. At $250/mbf for a log, it's no different that $125 a cord for pulp, and it didn't have to be sorted and bucked, thus less to produce. And I'm not so sure it's as good a price when converted to cordage as hardwood tapers faster than spruce. What I mean there is that not all cords yield the same board feet for all species. I would tend to lean a little bit heavy on the hardwood, requiring more volume in cordage to get the footage, 2.25 cords or such.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Last I heard hardwood pulp was less than 100 a cord and we were paying 350/mbf for #1 basswood and more for veneer. Really doesn't require any more work as they just "blindly" buck them to 8'8" (same length as our pulpwood) like most the other logs and toss them on a truck. Only thing is the woods guys have to remember to sort the better stuff into the log pile and not the pulp pile.

Must be worth their time as we are getting a lot of it in every day.

[SwampDonkey]

That's not a bad price for saw logs, basswood at that. But here's some of the higher paying mills in Maine for pulp. Most mills have gone tree length on pulp and some are random length, even less work. Hardwood like soft maple logs are way below that price here. Hardwood and ash are up around that price. Even hard wood veneer is way low these days and not much market. Most marketing boards have closed their yards to veneer collection for mills.

From the current market spec sheet at one of the marketing boards.

[Autocar]

We use to sell it for .35 cents a board foot it was sawed into 1x1's 16 feet and shipped to Florida and they would put a wire thing on one end and use them to pick apples  :D But as all other orders they went when the economy went south.

[bic]

They are sort of like weeds around here, and once they get to a certain size they fall over. The management fella I had in advised to cut it and get it out, (maple bush) A freind asked about cheap siding for a pole barn he had made and wanted to close it in, I just hate to cut it for him and it rots off in a couple of years. Would staining help much??

[Kansas]

Only thing we have ever cut basswood for is for carving blocks to sell, along with kiln sticks.  I know, as others have said here, that it is used in pallets. As far as lasting outside, I do know this. Years ago my Dad showed me a barn that had been built in the 1890's that had used cottonwood siding. This would have been back in the late 60's. The wood was finally rotting. The people who had owned the barn, and the ones after them, had kept it faithfully painted. I would think painting or staining with the right product would last a long time. I am not so sure the wood still wouldn't be fine on that barn but it got stopped being taken care of.

[Gary_C]

I am cutting some basswood now and even though some was sold as veneer, it's all going for pulp at the highest price it's been in about three years. It's now $31.74 per ton which is up from $25.00 per ton.

I do not even try to sort out any basswood logs anymore as the major buyer of sawlogs has cheated me so bad on scale in the past that I don't even bother sorting basswood anymore.

[northwoods1]

Well if the siding doesnt work out you could always make a mandolin or something ;D

Mandolins aren't made of basswood ;D    somethings are made of basswood sometimes :D

We have a lot of basswood around these parts it is about the least merchantable wood there is. Many times there isn't enough to make good loads of logs, so it just goes in with the bolts , pulpwood the mills around here never wanted in but would allow 10% in a load and we would have to mix it that way just to get rid of it. The stringy nature of the bark wouldn't go through there debarkers that is why the pulp mills do not want it. Basswood blossoms in the srping make very good honey!

[northwoods1]

I am cutting some basswood now and even though some was sold as veneer, it's all going for pulp at the highest price it's been in about three years. It's now $31.74 per ton which is up from $25.00 per ton.

I do not even try to sort out any basswood logs anymore as the major buyer of sawlogs has cheated me so bad on scale in the past that I don't even bother sorting basswood anymore.

Wow, close to $32 a ton... that is about what it goes for here. Basswood doesn't ## much!! :D

[Ron Scott]

It's not wanted for pulpwood here for the reason Northwoods1 stated. We did have an export market here a few years back when it was being shipped to China for vinetian blinds, but that market has now fallen off.

It's not very popular for firewood either. Wood carvers like it for carving blocks.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah about the only firewood product you'd use it for here would be kindling. That stuff catches fast when split fine or shaved on the end with a knife. Snap, crackle and pop.

I don't find basswood regenerates very well to be a problem weed tree. I would think a few mixed species in your woods would be beneficial even if a sugar bush. They will sucker off them stumps quite bad I think and are very shade tolerant, probably more so than maple.

[Chuck White]

If I get the chance, I'll saw a few basswood logs this coming summer.

I want to sheet the underside of the roof over my deck.

I've heard that basswood won't take much weather, so it should be perfect for this kind of project.

It should make a good choice if you were wanting to panel a rec room or something similar too.

[Gary_C]

Here is what one basswood clump on this job looked like.





The guy that marked the sale had all stems marked except the one on the far left.  :

Most all the basswood on this sale is in clumps and those are real hard to thin by machine without doing a lot of damage.

I personally would not use basswood for any outdoor application. It stains and rots so quick that it becomes ugly real fast. If you do use it outside, keep it painted, dry, and out of the sun. And if you cut it in the summer, it will stain very bad. Most mills that do buy it do not want basswood cut in warm weather.

[barbender]

It does make nice paneling, it usually goes to the pallet mill up here. They take it 112", you try to make as many pallet bolts as you can and not have very much pulp left ;) It works for firewood about like paper, not a lot to it. I think if you made a pole building with decent overhang, you could use it for siding, especially if it wasn't closed in on the inside so it breathes on both sides. I wouldn't use it for siding over a sheathed wall.

[BARPINCHER]

The best stretchers for putting up fur are made of basswood.

[Ed_K]

I sawed 6 logs this fall for my bil,he used it to make box's used for picking blueberries with a machine.sawed to 1/2 boards then planed to 3/8 for slats, pine 1"sides.their light and stack well for a ride from the fields.

[SwampDonkey]

Those the flats?

Regular strawberry boxes here were made from aspen veneer. One fellow near Sussex was making them for most all this region. The boxes coming in from Ontario were all plastic.

[IMOWOOD]

Around here we send it up to Commonwealth plywood in Vt, they take it 8'8" or 17'6" but it gotta be straight and no limb cuts bigger than 3 inches.  Other than that is just pallet stock.

[Ed_K]

SD,yes we put about 20# in the boxes then take back to the shed to run them thru the grader.

[SamB]

In my area crafters like Basswood for a variety of uses, it easy to work with light usage tools for one. Also been known to be used for shed or barn doors especially when on a slider track, because of it's light weight when dried.

[Bill Gaiche]

When I was at the Lebanon, Tn county fair this summer, there was some fellow there that made Arrows out of Basswood for the Bows they made.  bg