# Look what I found hiding in the woods!



## lumberjackchef (Jan 11, 2009)

I was scrounging around a jobsite that my dad has been working and found this diamond in the rough. They are cleaning up a huge amount of undergrowth and older not so healthy trees. This piece of spalted flaming Box Elder was laying on the ground in some brush so I threw it in my trunk this morning. Fired up the 066 with my homade alaskan style mill and this was the result. I got 3-3" thick slabs. Some of the most beautiful wood I've ever seen. You can guess where I'l be going tomorrow after the crew leaves. This stuff makes me want to buy a lathe. I have a friend that does some turning so I processed a little sampler for him.


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## peterrum (Jan 11, 2009)

Wow, very nice stuff. Love the red in the grain, hope it stays for you.


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## MotorSeven (Jan 12, 2009)

I've never seen that before, thanks for posting it....beautifull!

RD


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## Stihl-in-Ky (Jan 12, 2009)

The red in the grain is box elders reaction to stress you have to cut it to find it.


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## deeker (Jan 12, 2009)

You have a LOT more red in the box elder than what I have found.

Looks great.

Keep posting.

Kevin


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## sprung22 (Jan 12, 2009)

That's awesome...Ive never seen any wood like that...Great find


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## irishcountry (Jan 12, 2009)

Sweet nice stuff!! Really good find!


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## November Wolf (Jan 12, 2009)

That is really cool.


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## oldsaw (Jan 12, 2009)

Unfortunately, the red will fade in the sunlight. That's pretty red though. Very deep and a lot of it. I cut a lot of boxelder when I was growing up and didn't see many with that much red. Pretty rare.

Mark


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## BuddhaKat (Jan 13, 2009)

Really cool. There's got to be a way to preserve the color. Dang shame if not.


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 13, 2009)

First time I've ever seen it too. Wait till you see the stuff I found today. :rockn:Bad to the bone. Some is spalting very well too. We picked up a truck load of logs today and if the weather is good I found 2 more 20+ inchers to grab. One of the pieces has a pretty good sized burl in it as well. Can't wait to see what that may look like. I gave a pen blank too my BIL today to give to his FIL who has a mini lathe and makes a lot of pens. He came out tonight and told me that his FIL about Shart his britches when he seen it. He asked him where in the world that he found it and told him it was me. I gave him a little more in the hopes of getting a pretty cool lookin pen in return. Needless to say I think my milling addiction is getting to a fever pitch. My BIL has been helping me design a mill that converts to a thailer similar to the procut design but with a little twist. In about 15 mins you will be able to switch it over from a 16-30" chainsaw slabbing mill to 14" bandsaw mill similar to the ripsaw. I'll post some pics next month whaen we start the build.


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 13, 2009)

oldsaw said:


> Unfortunately, the red will fade in the sunlight. That's pretty red though. Very deep and a lot of it. I cut a lot of boxelder when I was growing up and didn't see many with that much red. Pretty rare.
> 
> Mark


 Ya the red does fade but the caramels, creams, and characteristics of the grain are pretty enough. the ones I found today have a bunch of greenish/blue spalt in them as well.


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## woodshop (Jan 13, 2009)

lumberjackchef said:


> Ya the red does fade but the caramels, creams, and characteristics of the grain are pretty enough. the ones I found today have a bunch of greenish/blue spalt in them as well.



Sunlight does fade that red, but you can keep it partially there by coating with UV resistant finishes, there are some. And yes much of it still looks great with all the mottled browns and tans along with the pinkish. Here in PA I've come across pure stands of it, it seems to grow very well in certain kinds of damp not well drained soil. On my Dad's property up near Hamburg PA, it's almost a weed tree with every 3d or 4th tree a boxelder.


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## Rockfarmer (Jan 13, 2009)

I love that red too,.. how about if you made what you wanted and then sealed it with West System epoxy. We use that epoxy for boat stuff and its bulletproof  It has a thick shiny finish to it like polyurethane and stands up to the elements. That is some neat looking wood!


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## Dai Sensei (Jan 14, 2009)

What beautiful timber :jawdrop:


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## carvinmark (Jan 14, 2009)

Never seen it before, pretty wood.


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 14, 2009)

Yeay , Its really cool looking. Thats why I couldn't resist, we went back and picked up two truck loads of logs that are highly figured. Some even have a little black line spalting in them. I 'll be processing some more blanks soon so I'll be posting my finds as they come. Anybody ever mill this into boards or slabs? Just wondering how this wood would work for some small furniture projects!


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## stipes (Jan 14, 2009)

*That is nice!!!*

I never seen box elder before...Thanks for the pics!!!!!


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## the westspartan (Jan 14, 2009)

There is a product I have used recently that may help the red stay in the wood, as well as eliminating the need for drying it. It is called CedarShield or Turners Choice. It is made by the Cedarcide company, the website is: http://www.cedarcidestore.citymax.com/cedarproducts.html

I used it on my deck and it seems to work really well. Also it is a small company out of Texas with a really friendly tech/help line.

Good Luck


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 14, 2009)

THanks for the tip I will check it out!


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## Gene DiNardo (Jan 14, 2009)

As Wood Shop said, we get a lot of that red streaked Box Elder here in pa.
It is my understanding that the red is caused by a beetle that only affects
the Ash Leaf Maple (Box Elder). If you keep it out of direct sun light the red will last quite a long time. I have some in my shed in boards that is 7 or 8 yrs. old and some unfinished turnings that are still quite red.
The lumber is pretty soft and light (bout the same as Poplar) but it works well and can be used as cabinet/craft wood. The surface when hand planned 
can exhibit some pretty nice chatoyance (a kind of iridescent glow that changes depending on the angle it's viewed from). I have found it to be exceptionally easy to dry and is very stable. Very little drying loss from warping, checking, or case hardening. I often use it as a secondary wood
for drawer bottoms for it's strength to weight ratio.


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 14, 2009)

Gene DiNardo said:


> As Wood Shop said, we get a lot of that red streaked Box Elder here in pa.
> It is my understanding that the red is caused by a beetle that only affects
> the Ash Leaf Maple (Box Elder). If you keep it out of direct sun light the red will last quite a long time. I have some in my shed in boards that is 7 or 8 yrs. old and some unfinished turnings that are still quite red.
> The lumber is pretty soft and light (bout the same as Poplar) but it works well and can be used as cabinet/craft wood. The surface when hand planned
> ...




Excellent information to hear Gene. Thanks! I was thinking about quartersawing one of the logs that i have. Do you think that it will exhibit any type of figure in the grain?


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## oldsaw (Jan 14, 2009)

woodshop said:


> Sunlight does fade that red, but you can keep it partially there by coating with UV resistant finishes, there are some. And yes much of it still looks great with all the mottled browns and tans along with the pinkish. Here in PA I've come across pure stands of it, it seems to grow very well in certain kinds of damp not well drained soil. On my Dad's property up near Hamburg PA, it's almost a weed tree with every 3d or 4th tree a boxelder.



Dad still calls them "weeds". Have a friend that wants some, so next trip to the farm I'll bring the mill. Dad has a huge willow he wants gone, find a boxelder, and I'm still working on "my" ash. 34" DBH and pretty straight with no branches for about 25 ft. Dad has hundreds of bft of ash in the barn, so I'm negotiating for "my" tree.

Mark


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## Wolfking42084 (Jan 15, 2009)

Hey guys,
I have turned two bowls out of box elder now. Both are 12" diameter and around 4" deep. The red has stayed in both since i've turned them around 5 years ago. I agree about the bug, because every red patch in the wood has a hole similar to wormy chestnut. All I used on one bowl was spray on poly. about 6 coats of it at that. Good luck with your findings, it's a really neat wood.


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## Gene DiNardo (Jan 15, 2009)

Chef,

Other than the added stability of quarter sawn, no reason to quarter it.The grain of the wood itself is rather subtle,no visible radial rays like oak that would produce fleck. The colored spalting appears to be more dramatic when flat sawn (through and through). The face of quarter or rift looks more like ink blotches than the streaking you see in flatsawn. Besides, if you saw through and through, the board before, and after the center board will be rift, and the center board will be true quarter sawn on either side of the pith.
That being said, Box Elder that has been affected by the bug, is like a box of Cracker Jacks; A surprise in every Box !
Gene


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## lumberjackchef (Jan 15, 2009)

Then I can't wait to open up these Boxes!:greenchainsaw: 









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## dustytools (Jan 15, 2009)

I posted these a while back. They are still awaiting their date with the CSM. View attachment 86998


View attachment 86999


View attachment 87000


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## Rookie1 (Jan 15, 2009)

I had a large box elder next to house cut down. I burned it in fireplace and it had no red in it.I cut one down at my FIL house for him to burn and it was full of red but not as much as that. Very cool


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## Sawmill (Jan 16, 2009)

I use to saw for a guy that had a lot of box elder and it had alot of red and some real bright green coloring in it. He was building a house at the time and used alot of this wood for some fancy trim work in it. He had a friend that was from Japan and they would soak the logs in a pond for a year to get different colors. They turned a lot of posts and bowls out of it.


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## oldsaw (Jan 16, 2009)

dustytools said:


> I posted these a while back. They are still awaiting their date with the CSM.



Holy crap, there will be some interesting stuff in their. I've never seen that kind of patterning, and I cut a lot of boxelder in my formative years.

Mark


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