Sweet Gums - Worth?

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Not a tree guy. Looking to start to clean out some woods in front of the new place. I would venture to guess that about 1/2 of the trees in there are sweet gums. I (and my wife) am/are not fans of the sweet gum. Color isn't great in fall, those **** little spikey balls, and well, we just don't like them.

Once down, are they good for anything? Mulch? Firewood? I, as mentioned, don't know anything about hardwood, softwood, etc so not sure what burns well, what doesn't.

Bottomline - would there be anyone that "deals" with trees that might be interested in these OR do I just need to take them down and dispose of them?

Thanks guys!!

 

[BXpanded]

Gum burns hot but leaves lots of "Clinkers" kinda like chunks of charcoal that take a long time to completely burn. It's almost impossible to split. The grain twists. Its tough for most hydraulic splitters.
As far as other uses, I once had a house that had been built around 1950. The guy that built it had all the inside trim custom made from Gum cut from the property. Had 6 panel doors, crown molding, baseboards, fireplace surround and mantel... It was without a doubt the prettiest woodwork I've ever seen. I've never seen it used anywhere else.

 

[firedog]

Not good for firewood and definitely not good for BBQ wood (bitter), dull a chainsaw in a hurry. Other than using the gumballs to slingshot at pesky kids in the neighborhood I have found no use for them.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Anyone familar with the root system? Easy to knock over? My goal this winter would be to cut them down, leaving "X" number of feet above ground to have to push against later on.

 

[tony123]

Michael,

Look back on my farm thread near the beginning. You see the large hoe that he was ripping the trees up with. He could pull a 6"caliper oak up in about 3 seconds. The 6" Sweet Gums took him about 10 minutes of rough, banging work. The wood would not break, only splinter into an almost "fiberglass" look.

When our lot was cleared for the house, a large excavator was used. He would push over 20" oaks with ease....20" sweetgums would bog him down and he'd have to attack from several angles.

That being said, I've got a bunch of it that I'm using as firewood and it's not so bad for that. Oak is nicer, but the SG was free!

Hope you and your family are enjoying the house!

 

[SnowRidge]

When our lot was cleared for the house, a large excavator was used. He would push over 20" oaks with ease....20" sweetgums would bog him down and he'd have to attack from several angles.

Yup. Just went through the same thing. The sweetgums and sycamores really slowed things down. The operator spent a lot of time (@ $100/hour) digging to free up the roots. No way they would just push over without digging first.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

As always, great info guys! I appreciate it!!

Tony - I hope to update my house thread tomorrow. Not much in the way of pics but some comments. In a nutshell - we love it!!

 

[davo727]

We sat and watched the hurricane bend the pine trees over, snap the big pines, blow the oaks over and rip their rootballs right out of the ground and the big sweetgums just sat there and barely even twitched.

 

[SPIKER]

check here if anyone is near ya might be able to sell a few.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/board,3.0.html
mark

 

[teg]

Sweetgum is/was (?) used for Railroad ties. What diameter trees do you have?