# Box Elder Photos Finally :) Milled



## Burlhunter13 (Jun 6, 2008)

Hey Guys! I finally got a camera that works! Sorry it took so long. These photos are from an old log that was downed and some blanks from a newer tree. A few of you were interested in seeing some box elder with color, look at the next five photos for the colored blanks. If there is anything ya like then let me know.


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 6, 2008)

Here are some of the blanks....I have more then pictured too and some more boxelder with burl and color instead of just color. The last photo is a crotch blank . Most of the pieces have good red color.....its just hard to see unless closeup in the photos.

Thanks Guys!
Keep Milling!


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 6, 2008)

also.....the dark parts that look like saw burns, arnt saw burns.....the older logs oxidized like that after milling....no idea why, kinda neat. If anyone knows then let me know, I'm curious!


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## wdchuck (Jun 6, 2008)

That looks great, and such a variety of workable pieces too.


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## dustytools (Jun 6, 2008)

Nice stuff Burlhunter!! I might just have to drop one of these Boxelders out back here to see what I can get from it.


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## Backwoods (Jun 7, 2008)

Now I have heard of stacking the wood so the water runs off, But???





Nice wood there.
I hope that is end seal that I see.


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 7, 2008)

Backwoods said:


> Now I have heard of stacking the wood so the water runs off, But???
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Ha! Yea, I have it standing for the photos only . The blocks on the other hand...I need to find a system of stackin the odd sizes....they are on a bit of an angle lol. And yea....they are soaked in wax (except for the live edges). 

What do you guys use to crosscut thick pieces? I have a chop saw.....but it's max is 3 1/2" or so....I have a bit of thicker stuff (4-8") that I cant crosscut yet....I was thinking about using a chainsaw....but its a bit inaccurate for me. Ideas?


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## slabmaster (Jun 7, 2008)

Burlhunter13 said:


> Ha! Yea, I have it standing for the photos only . The blocks on the other hand...I need to find a system of stackin the odd sizes....they are on a bit of an angle lol. And yea....they are soaked in wax (except for the live edges).
> 
> What do you guys use to crosscut thick pieces? I have a chop saw.....but it's max is 3 1/2" or so....I have a bit of thicker stuff (4-8") that I cant crosscut yet....I was thinking about using a chainsaw....but its a bit inaccurate for me. Ideas?



The thicker stuff cuts well with any shop bandsaw.Or clamp a couple of boards to each side for a guide and use the chainsaw. Mark


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## woodshop (Jun 7, 2008)

Nice little stash of bowl blanks... hope you coated the ends with sealer though or most of that will be firewood in 6 months or less. 

I use my shop bandsaw to whittle down bowl blanks, just use a blade with few tpi, like 3, and depending on the hp of your saw, go slow and easy with a SHARP blade. You will be cleaning wet smashed pieces of sawdust from the rubber tire in the bandsaw though... nature of the beast.


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## Brmorgan (Jun 8, 2008)

woodshop said:


> Nice little stash of bowl blanks... hope you coated the ends with sealer though or most of that will be firewood in 6 months or less.
> 
> I use my shop bandsaw to whittle down bowl blanks, just use a blade with few tpi, like 3, and depending on the hp of your saw, go slow and easy with a SHARP blade. You will be cleaning wet smashed pieces of sawdust from the rubber tire in the bandsaw though... nature of the beast.



My (Ridgid) bandsaw has little brushes on each wheel that keep them clean. I've never had to clean them yet in 2 years, though admittedly I don't cut huge amounts of wet stock. It would be easy to make something similar for any saw that doesn't have them stock too.

Another (last resort IMO) option would be a reciprocating saw with a long blade, though I don't know if that would be much if any better than a chainsaw for accuracy.


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## Backwoods (Jun 8, 2008)

I use a radial arm saw with a 12” saw to crosscut bowl blanks. Any thing that cannot be cut that way, I clamp down to a board, draw a line and use the small chainsaw to cut them. Then I round them up on the band saw. Dip the whole thing into a bucket of end seal. Place them on a rack to dry. Then stack them in a dark, dry part of the barn where they can get airflow (not a wind) all the way around them.


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## woodshop (Jun 8, 2008)

Brmorgan said:


> My (Ridgid) bandsaw has little brushes on each wheel that keep them clean. I've never had to clean them yet in 2 years, though admittedly I don't cut huge amounts of wet stock. It would be easy to make something similar for any saw that doesn't have them stock too.
> 
> Another (last resort IMO) option would be a reciprocating saw with a long blade, though I don't know if that would be much if any better than a chainsaw for accuracy.




My experience has been that those brushes on bandsaws do a fair job keeping tires clean for dry sawdust, but once you start cutting wet wood they clog up, and clumps of wet sawdust get onto the rubber tires where the blade then mashes them onto the tire with every revolution. Very hard to clean off once you get a lot on there. Makes for a lot of uneven vibrations and poor tracking. Reciprocating saws like a Sawzall, do OK if the stock is not all that thick, and you have a blade with few teeth per inch. They don't really have the power to go through thick wet stuff though unless you're very patient (I'm not).


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 8, 2008)

Thanks for the ideas guys 

I think I'll try the chainsaw/bandsaw method. Although I might give the Sawzall a try . (I currently dont have a shop bandsaw.....even though it is one of the most useful shop tools I think) we should be getting one soon though. 

I wax all sides of the turning blanks.....should I just wax then ends? Is it not worth the extra wax? Or is it more desired by the wood turners to have green wood instead of dry? Also...is there any special way of treating slabs, or anything with live edges (because of the mold problem)? 

Thanks for the help!


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## woodshop (Jun 8, 2008)

Burlhunter13 said:


> ...I wax all sides of the turning blanks.....should I just wax then ends? Is it not worth the extra wax? Or is it more desired by the wood turners to have green wood instead of dry? Also...is there any special way of treating slabs, or anything with live edges (because of the mold problem)?



If you wax the whole thing and not just the open end grain it will just take a LOT longer to dry, especially if it's more than 12/4.

As for treating live ends for mold... I regularly put clorox on some of my lumber either with a 4" roller (just like painting) or just a brush. It does discolor the wood though in SOME woods, so you might not want to put it on live edges you want to keep and show as part of the finished product. For boards, one pass through the planer and that bleached clorox is gone, down to wood. I'm of the opinion that a coating of clorox on the boards discourages beetles from attacking the piles as they dry. The beetle lands on the wood, gets a taste of the hypoclorate, and decides it's not the best place to lay eggs or bore into.


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## Backwoods (Jun 8, 2008)

Burlhunter13 said:


> I wax all sides of the turning blanks.....should I just wax then ends? Is it not worth the extra wax? Or is it more desired by the wood turners to have green wood instead of dry? Also...is there any special way of treating slabs, or anything with live edges (because of the mold problem)?



The bowl turners that I work with want all edges waxed to slow the drying and to prevent cracking. I have some woods that I submerge in bleach water for several years because it is the only way to slow the drying down so that the wood dose not crack. Other woods are turned green right off the tree and dried in bowl form. The bowl will distort and twist in the drying process and may or may not crack apart. It just depends on the look that you are wanting. Each wood has its own characteristics, most of the well-known woods are fairly stable and most any one can work with them, but some of your exotic woods like Manzanita, are so prone to cracking that extra care has to be taken from the time the saw hits the wood till the finished product is stable. The Box Elder is a wood that remains fairly stable thru out the drying process, but if you are not going to turn it right away then seal it up tight or you will loose over 50% of your blanks to cracking. 

Is it worth the extra money to seal all sides? 
That depends on if you want to use or sell 90% of the blocks, or 50% of the blocks. 

I know one bowl turner that troughs all of his blocks into a room with turning shavings. If it cracks it makes firewood if it dose not crack then it makes a bowl. The cost of the wax out weighs the availability of the bowl blanks.

As to the mold issue, increase the airflow across the wood by placing it so that the morning and afternoon breeze will blow thru the stack rather then around the stack.


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 8, 2008)

woodshop said:


> If you wax the whole thing and not just the open end grain it will just take a LOT longer to dry, especially if it's more than 12/4.
> 
> As for treating live ends for mold... I regularly put clorox on some of my lumber either with a 4" roller (just like painting) or just a brush. It does discolor the wood though in SOME woods, so you might not want to put it on live edges you want to keep and show as part of the finished product. For boards, one pass through the planer and that bleached clorox is gone, down to wood. I'm of the opinion that a coating of clorox on the boards discourages beetles from attacking the piles as they dry. The beetle lands on the wood, gets a taste of the hypoclorate, and decides it's not the best place to lay eggs or bore into.



Nice tip on the Clorox! I think I'll try that one for sure! I have a bit of red-colored box elder that I waxed completely and it have a few mold spots underneath the wax. It seems like it stopped though. But as for my maple that doesnt have color, clorox is the ticket . Thanks!


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 8, 2008)

Backwoods said:


> The bowl turners that I work with want all edges waxed to slow the drying and to prevent cracking. I have some woods that I submerge in bleach water for several years because it is the only way to slow the drying down so that the wood dose not crack. Other woods are turned green right off the tree and dried in bowl form. The bowl will distort and twist in the drying process and may or may not crack apart. It just depends on the look that you are wanting. Each wood has its own characteristics, most of the well-known woods are fairly stable and most any one can work with them, but some of your exotic woods like Manzanita, are so prone to cracking that extra care has to be taken from the time the saw hits the wood till the finished product is stable. The Box Elder is a wood that remains fairly stable thru out the drying process, but if you are not going to turn it right away then seal it up tight or you will loose over 50% of your blanks to cracking.
> 
> Is it worth the extra money to seal all sides?
> That depends on if you want to use or sell 90% of the blocks, or 50% of the blocks.
> ...





+1 I'm going to restack tomorrow in some free time, makes sense...I have my piles in the back yard near the corner of the property, I might bring the piles inward because me neighbors garage is kinda killing some of the airflow to the piles. I think that should help .

With the blanks, if I dry the box elder in slab form with only end grain sealed and then cut them into smaller turning blocks later is that ok? Or should I just cut them up front and wax all sides and sell them that way, fresh and green? I've also heard of taking the fresh cut turning blanks and wrapping them in paper and stuffing them in sawdust helps dry them (especially in burl, where slow drying is needed). Would this encourage mold if I dont use something like bleach on the wood beforehand?

Thanks again!


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## dustytools (Jun 14, 2008)

Burlhunter, I hope that you dont mind me adding to your thread but I had to take down 2 Elms and 2 Box Elders today that were blocking the satellite recievers reception (direct orders from the better half). I saved a 3ft and 6ft section of the Box Elder that I will mill up for rolling pin blanks. The end grain is awesome looking and I wanted to share some pictures of it with you guys. My son wanted me to include the picture of the firewood pile that he piled up so I threw it in there too. View attachment 73121


View attachment 73122


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## woodshop (Jun 14, 2008)

Wow Dusty, that's some of the reddest boxelder I've ever seen. I heard that some turners in the SW a while back were paying big bucks for that red stuff, as it was so rare to them. Apparently the red does fade in sunlight though unless you fix it to fend off the UV.


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## dustytools (Jun 14, 2008)

woodshop said:


> Wow Dusty, that's some of the reddest boxelder I've ever seen. I heard that some turners in the SW a while back were paying big bucks for that red stuff, as it was so rare to them. Apparently the red does fade in sunlight though unless you fix it to fend off the UV.



Hopefully I will get a chance to mill it up tomorrow. Im gonna mill it about three inches thick by full length so that I will have a little room to straighten it up if need be. It should be really pretty once turned. As far as protecting it from the sun to preserve the "Red" I may try to dry it in the barn away from any direct sunlight. Thanks for the tip.


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## Zodiac45 (Jun 15, 2008)

Very cool pix Dusty! I've never seen an endgrain like that!


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## woodshop (Jun 15, 2008)

dustytools said:


> Hopefully I will get a chance to mill it up tomorrow. Im gonna mill it about three inches thick by full length so that I will have a little room to straighten it up if need be. It should be really pretty once turned. As far as protecting it from the sun to preserve the "Red" I may try to dry it in the barn away from any direct sunlight. Thanks for the tip.



Dusty, wasn't necessarily saying you should protect it from the Sun when stickering and drying, I don't think you're going to keep it from fading that way. Was just commenting that folks who have made things from the wood have had that nice beet red color change to a dull reddish brown over time. Almost all wood changes color to a degree over time though. Cherry turns dark... pine often darkens a bit. Nature of the beast. Mineral stained wood also fades over time. Tulip poplar often has beautiful blue and green stained heartwood sometimes mixed with black streaks. Looks great when run through the planer and oiled and waxed, but over time in the Sun usually fades to a sortof gray. Nature of the beast.


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## Burlhunter13 (Jun 17, 2008)

dustytools said:


> Burlhunter, I hope that you dont mind me adding to your thread but I had to take down 2 Elms and 2 Box Elders today that were blocking the satellite recievers reception (direct orders from the better half). I saved a 3ft and 6ft section of the Box Elder that I will mill up for rolling pin blanks. The end grain is awesome looking and I wanted to share some pictures of it with you guys. My son wanted me to include the picture of the firewood pile that he piled up so I threw it in there too. View attachment 73121
> 
> 
> View attachment 73122
> ...





+1 SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!!!!!!! Thanks for posting! NICE STUFF! I haven't come across any that beautiful yet! Post some pictures of it milled when you get a chance!!!! A+ box elder! Only thing is that woodshop is right....it will fade over time, you can get some color protector for the really amazing stuff (whole log lol) to make the color last a little longer.....but it will turn brown in a few years....still pretty though.

Sorry this took so long to reply, I've been away for awhile. 

I went to belvedere to see my uncles property, a tornado went through his town, tons of trees everywhere, there are so many that they are being piled near the streets for people to take, I didnt have my mill with me though, I'm going back in a few days! I post some pictures if I can


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