It’s good to have a horticulture fella in the family. One of my wive’s cousins spotted this tree and asked if I’d be interested. After picking myself up off the floor, I told him that yes, I would be! A few months later, she’s home and waiting.
From what I understand, Box Elder trees don’t get very large. This one was on the big side!
Good thing all I had to do was push the pieces out of the truck. Actually I was also able to push the pieces into a truck… Conveniently enough, the tree was uphill of there we loaded the truck. We literally rolled the wood onto the tailgate and into the truck! That’s easier than using a tractor!
The crown of this tree is pretty big, so I’ll have lots of options. I’m thinking at least a big hollow form and platter. I’m super eager to cut open this piece. The grain patterns should be excellent! I’m still itching for a real porker to try out the full capacity of the lathe!
Since this is rather prized wood, I want to do just about everything I can to insure it doesn’t rot before I can get to it all. If I had a ginormous shop, I’d go ahead and process the logs and cut everything into blanks. However, that’s not the case…
Fist bowl from Box Elder! This one is destined for my wife’s cousin to thank him for his hard work and patience dealing with an overly excited woodturner.
David Hostetler says
Be careful about embedded metal in that wood, you never know when a nail or screw for a clothesline was pounded in, and grown over…
Mike says
David,
I actually cut through an old tapered square nail and found a clothesline in a knot hole while cutting up the tree. I’ve never found any “goodies” before during my urban tree scavenging, but I’m always on the lookout for something that wants to ruin my fun.