More Beach Milling

[Daninvan]

Milling at the beach, not milling of beech!

This time it was Manitoba maple, AKA box elder. Had my eye on this piece for a while, finally had a chance to go at it today.

Looked promising from the end, but the other end was badly rotted. Not sure if I would get much out of it.

First couple of cuts were pretty astonishing! I've cut Manitoba maple before, but these colours were brilliant, and the cracking was not too bad. I've found this wood very susceptible to cracking in the past.

Another nice day at the beach, no rain, 10 degrees C, snow on the mountains, freighters at anchor in the harbour, etc, etc.

The chips looked like I had cut myself with the saw and bled all over them! And it's not chain oil, I use canola.

I wound up with four nice slabs and collection of smaller pieces. All in all pretty successful!

View attachment 221330View attachment 221331View attachment 221332View attachment 221333View attachment 221334

 

[discounthunter]

simply awesome.i love your threads. you want to pay for your gas and time, cut me some 2x2x 10-12" ,blocks. pm me if your interested!

 

[BobL]

Amazing colours Dan.

I assume that's some sort of spalting or is it the natural colours?

Cheers

 

[MHouse1028]

it's a type of ambrosia beetle and thats how boxelder get's its flame.its also a good tree to tap for syrup i've heard it's sweeter than traditional sugar maple..very nice

 

[MHouse1028]

View attachment 221388 see if this pic uploads this some slabs i milled this summer of boxelder not as pretty as yours

 

[Daninvan]

I think the jury is still out on what causes it. The two leading candidates seem to be some kind of physical stress, or a fungus getting in. As I mentioned in my original post I find this wood to be quite 'cracky' and almost always the cracks are where the best colours are. These pieces are nice in that they have tons of colour and are not too badly cracked.

I have not ever seen evidence of beetles in box elder, at least in the few trees I have slabbed up. I was under the impression that "ambrosia maple" was actual hard or soft maple (acer saccharum, acer macrophyllum, etc.) that had been infected by the ambrosia beetle, and that was different from the effect seen in Manitoba maple (Acer negundo). In any case I will leave all that to the wood scientists to clarify!

Mhouse, you have some nice pieces there too. Of course mine will fade quite a bit as they dry. I have heard that even once it is dried and finished, if the wood is exposed to light the reds will fade to brown over time. That being said I have a bowl sitting in my living room that has been there for probably two or three years and is still virtually unfaded. So who knows!

Dan

 

[MHouse1028]

i was told it was beetles by my company arborist..who knows haha...i have turned many bowls and it seems to hold it's color also so im not sure if it does fade or not..all i know i love when i pull a slab off and see the flame it can really be stunning

 

[Old Blue]

more great etceteras !

Thanks for another look at your piece of the world. Glad you got out for some milling.

Old Blue
Bedevilingly taxed in...
Kali-bone-ya

 

[aclawrence]

Wow, that looks awesome. It's like opening a christmas present, you never know what's going to be inside there.