Tupelo Wood Uses?

[Haoleguy]

To add pasture acreage I have a hired expert clearing a few more acres. For a few of the better logs I'm saving them for flooring, doors, etc, however, I'm a bit stumped on what to do with the tupelo trees I have growing around the existing pasture. Up in these parts tupelo is not so common and thus people don't know what to do with them...no wood sawlog prices listed. Has anyone used tupelo for furniture or trim or other besides firewood? I'm thinking of having a harvest table made from one of the bigger trees but am still stumped on what to use them for.......Gary

 

[forgeblast]

I have seen a guy using tupelo to make bread bowls.
Tupelo Bread Bowl by csj10092 on Etsy
Tupelo Bread Bowl at Lehman's

 

[Haoleguy]

Very nice. This is the example I'm going by for a table .... Vintage Flooring & Furniture / Products / Furniture ....Gary

 

[RobertBrown]

We have lots of water tupelo down here. I have never heard of anyone using it for anything other than dunnage or pallets.
This species we have only grows in the slews and the trunk looks sort of like a hickory in that it's long, tapered and thick at the bottom. You must have a different variety up there, might be more useful.
I would expect that it's likely to split and not as hard as an oak, more like a gum tree

 

[ctny yankee]

We use tupelo for carving decoys. It brings big bucks, but you need clear pieces at least 5x9x18 or larger (inches that is)!

 

[forgeblast]

Ctny Yankee do you have any pics of your decoys? Do you have a favorite to carve?

 

[ctny yankee]

Never posted pics before but I'll try. Here's a few recent ones. My favorite is the one I'm doing at the time.

 

[ctny yankee]

BTW, by big bucks I mean I pay $30-$65 for a single piece of wood.

 

[forgeblast]

My favorite is the one I'm doing at the time. I can truly understand that. Real nice carvings and color too, do you airbrush them? Is the bottom piece added after or carved into the decoy?

 

[AchingBack]

From wikipedia: Uses

Tupelo wood is used extensively by artistic woodcarvers, especially for carving ducks and other wildfowl. In commerce, it is used for shipping containers and interior parts of furniture, and is used extensively in the veneer and panel industry for crossbanding, plywood cores, and backs. The wood can be readily pulped and is used for high-grade book and magazine papers. In the past, the hollow trunks were used as "bee gums" to hold beehives.

Tupelo trees are popular ornamental trees for their mature form, shade, and spectacular Autumn leaf colors.

Tupelos are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Endoclita damor.
Tupelo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[plowindeeper]

I wish I'd known it was worth something. I pushed a half acre of "Sweet/Black Gum" into the burn pile. They were not straight enough to be saw logs to make pallets out of. I live about 20 miles from Tupelo, Ms so there is plenty of those junk trees around here.

 

[ctny yankee]

Forgeblast,

We use quality artists oil paint, like grumbacher. As for the bottom board, you may be seeing the keel. The keel is separate. We cut the bottom inch or so off the decoy and hollow them out. Then attach the keel to the bottom board and glue back together.

I just noticed that the original poster is from SE connecticut. We don't have tupelo, at least it's not native. I wonder if he is talking about tulip poplar, aka yellow poplar, aka tulip tree? In which case he's right. It's not worth much except for pallets.

 

[plowindeeper]

We call tupelo trees sweet or black gum here.

 

[Reyer Farms]

Bees . The best honey is tupelo honey. Tongue slap your brains out good when it sugars!!! If you like honey of course.

 

[MotorSeven]

Yank, very nice work. Do you hunt over your decoys? If not do you "age" any of them? I've only hunted over a few cork decoys in my time, the rest all plastic, so real wood decoys are just fascinating to me.

 

[ctny yankee]

Motorseven;

Yes they are working decoys, although I admit I don't have a full rig of these. Mostly just put them out to give me something to look at while waiting for the birds.

 

[retiredmgn]

To add pasture acreage I have a hired expert clearing a few more acres. For a few of the better logs I'm saving them for flooring, doors, etc, however, I'm a bit stumped on what to do with the tupelo trees I have growing around the existing pasture. Up in these parts tupelo is not so common and thus people don't know what to do with them...no wood sawlog prices listed. Has anyone used tupelo for furniture or trim or other besides firewood? I'm thinking of having a harvest table made from one of the bigger trees but am still stumped on what to use them for.......Gary

I believe it is the same tree known as poplar in Maine. We got's lots.
It is the only wood I have worked that is subject to logitudinal shrinkage.
If you use it for finish work or furniture keep this in mind. It can make your
joinery look sloppy. It has a hardness of white/swamp maple. Some of the
original flooring in my house was poplar - some still is after 200 years.

 

[retiredmgn]

Never posted pics before but I'll try. Here's a few recent ones. My favorite is the one I'm doing at the time.View attachment 291634View attachment 291635View attachment 291636View attachment 291637View attachment 291638

How many cord would you like?

 

[forgeblast]

Just remember up this way (north east) people will call aspens-- poplar, or popples. They are related to the cotton wood family and are a pain to sand. I am making a buddys mantle out of one. I wish i cut something else down...lol

 

[MotorSeven]

Motorseven;

Yes they are working decoys, although I admit I don't have a full rig of these. Mostly just put them out to give me something to look at while waiting for the birds.

Now that is cool!....:thumbsup: