Tractors and wood! Show your pics

s219 · Nov 17, 2017

Creamer said:
Not being familiar with gum trees - what is the issue? you have my curiosity peaked.

Twisty grain, almost impossible to split into straight pieces. I have also noticed it rots too easily in the woodpile. On the other hand, we accidentally ran a red gum log through our sawmill and it was gorgeous wood when cut into slabs. We ended up using it for stair treads and it looks amazing.

Luke'sScreenName · Nov 17, 2017

s219 said:
Twisty grain, almost impossible to split into straight pieces. I have also noticed it rots too easily in the woodpile. On the other hand, we accidentally ran a red gum log through our sawmill and it was gorgeous wood when cut into slabs. We ended up using it for stair treads and it looks amazing.

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Wow, that is really pretty! :thumbsup: Just poly on it? Has is stayed stable?

s219 · Nov 17, 2017

Luke'sScreenName said:
Wow, that is really pretty! :thumbsup: Just poly on it? Has is stayed stable?

Yes, that's just poly, about 3 coats. We stacked the slabs carefully to dry, under a big stack of heavy oak, and it stayed perfectly straight. Then screwed each tread down with 12 screws and they have been stable and solid (been down 4.5 years).

We were able to cut pegs from the same batch of wood, in both dark and light sections of wood, and some of the pegs blend in so well you almost don't see them. My wife thought it was pretty cool that we could pick through the pile of pegs to find one that matched each screw hole or contrasted, depending on the look we wanted to have. Everything about that wood was wild and whimsical.

The interesting thing is that when we sawed into the log, the wood was purple in color -- it was really wild. I will try to dig up a photo of the fresh cut slabs if I can find one.

tjkubota93 · Nov 17, 2017

I've heard that gum is worth something (previously worth nothing?) now because China is building a railroad. Gum is preferred for ties because the twisty grain won't spit out spikes like oak. Yall know anything about that?
I have a 22 ton oregon splitter. About 2 years ago I tried splitting a 24" piece of gum. It actually got stuck on the wedge and was a pain to get loose. I saw a few in a pile and got them thinking they were oak. Some azz hole piled them next to some willow oak branches they cut. I can tell leaves but but not bark.

Creamer · Nov 17, 2017

s219 said:
Twisty grain, almost impossible to split into straight pieces. I have also noticed it rots too easily in the woodpile. On the other hand, we accidentally ran a red gum log through our sawmill and it was gorgeous wood when cut into slabs. We ended up using it for stair treads and it looks amazing.

View attachment 528861

View attachment 528860

I would love stair treads like that!

goeduck · Nov 17, 2017

s219 said:
Twisty grain, almost impossible to split into straight pieces. I have also noticed it rots too easily in the woodpile. On the other hand, we accidentally ran a red gum log through our sawmill and it was gorgeous wood when cut into slabs. We ended up using it for stair treads and it looks amazing

I had an old house filled with gum wood doors once. Very beautiful wood. Not sure why it isn’t used more.

4570Man · Nov 17, 2017

I had a big sweet gum once. It all got split for firewood. It split terrible. I never had a chance to see how bad it rotted. It was a light wood. Probably comparable to maple. I got the impression it would have made pretty lumber, but this is the first I've seen of it.

Sawyer Rob · Nov 17, 2017

I wish I had some decent red gum logs...

I've used it in the past for wood working projects and liked it a lot...

SR

MossRoad · Nov 17, 2017

This is the reason there are very few trees over 100 years old in my area... the Singer Sewing Machine Company! They consumed pretty much all of it in the late 1800s, early 1900s. All of it.

This is a pretty good read in its entirety, but here's an excerpt as to how much lumber they were consuming....

The History Museum >> Singer Sewing Machine Company

"The year of 1914 was the peak year for production in South Bend. At that time there were about 3,000 employees working in the Division Street plant. In the early years of the 20th century, about 50 million feet of hardwood lumber for cabinets, 20 million feet of softwood lumber for packing boxes, and 10 million feet of walnut, oak, gum for veneer were used in the South Bend plant per year. This was all stockpiled in the huge 20 acre lumber yards adjoining the factory. David Pollack, a Singer researcher, estimated that three-quarters of all sewing machine cases and cabinets in the world at that time were made in South Bend, with a year output of 2,000,000 cabinets."