As a woodworker I have loved working with sweet gum. It’s one of the prettiest grains and colors of wood out there. It sands well and takes stain beautifully if it’s handled right. I was scratching my head when you said some of the things you had heard about it.
An old man told me many years ago that if you would cut and mill sweet gum, and immediately nail it down as lathing strips for tin roof. Nail the tin down with leadhead nails, as the sweet gum dries it shrinks around the nails and your tin roof would be there forever. (My English teacher would faint at the length of that run on sentence)😂
Man, I just love how excited you got at the end of the video. Beautiful wood is beautiful wood, even if it is finicky. Hope it stays straight. Look forward to seeing what it becomes.
best to dry it in the round for at least a year. The color varies a bit from tree to tree,I have some that's chocolate milk colored,dried it in the round for a couple of years and no warping at all.
A lot of gum (both sweet gum and black gum) grows around here in East Texas (along with pine trees). Had a client back in my lawyer days (not one any longer, got crippled up enough court was a hassle) who was a logger. I did a fair number of contracts with a tie mill for him, so it got used for railroad ties and I'm told bridge timbers if you have one big enough.
Down here in south Louisiana sweet gum was used to make boats with. I’m sure it was because of the strong cross grain that you mentioned. Same goes for live oak lots of ship/ boat building with it too.
That is absolutely gorgeous!!! Maybe you could put those slabs together to make a fabulous dining table. But, it definitely needs to be made into something that will show off it's beauty. Really enjoyed watching the process. Thanks. :-D
Back in the day my Daddy used to make cattle troughs out of old gum trees by cutting 4’-6’ logs in half lengthwise and nailing boards on either end. The natural tendency of gums to get heart rot eliminated most of the work to hew out the trough. He would also leave sometimes leave hollow rounds whole, weigh them down and sink them in our catfish ponds for fish habitat! I suppose most folks didn’t have the desire to expend the effort to dry properly in order to use as lumber. I agree it is a beautiful wood.
I mill sweet gum into slabs pretty regularly. It's a really pretty wood, definitely under appreciated. Drying can be a little tricky, but it's not as impossible as some people would make you think. Cut a little on the thick side so you have more material for surfacing. Stack and sticker it nice and flat and, as you mentioned in the video, use some weights and/or straps to keep things from getting too out of hand.
@jfricke4413 - I'm building a barn/shop with an upstairs and I'm considering cladding the walls upstairs with shiplap. I have a bunch of sweetgum I want to remove this winter. I'm curious whether or not I could use the sweetgum. I'm also curious how I should handle the wood. Should I mill it green or cant it and let it dry for a while, or just girdle the trees and fell them in a few months?
Sure would be nice to be able to make matching coffee tables or a nice dinner table. Ya got to figure out a way to keep it from bowing. That would is WAY to beautiful to go to waste. Check with some other sawyers and get some ideas. The concrete block idea might work, I would love to have a table out of this incredible wood. Never seen this type of tree look this wonderful. Best of luck. Maybe post a video later after it has dried to show us how it turned out. Good luck my friend!
Great job on the sawing you can get good useable wood but must take extra care in stickering and drying. Once good and dry about 8% moisture you will need to run the slabs on a jointer to get them perfectly flat and usable. Its worth the extra work as the wood does have a beautiful color and grain.
Fall Line Ridge I like your chain saw oldie but a goodie beast the log slabs had some of the prettiest dark reddish brown grain I have ever seen mazing stuff. Thanks be blessed.PS the dog is soo cute.
I thought that beast looked familiar! I bought an L-65 husky in 1977 brand new for $275 I logged with it and cut thousands of face cord of maple, beach,oak,and elm with it after 20 years I just plumb wore it out, it never completely quit but once it got hot I couldn't restart it till it completely cooled off. God help you if it kicks back! I loved that saw. I ended up replacing it with a 372xp been running it hard now over 20 years, and I got a 395xp case I need back up! Lol
My buddy took a few gums down, got a cheapo ratchet bander, trussed em up and air dried them in the shade and made stunning kitchen cabinets out of them. He cut everything up into the small sizes to get the twists out and then jointed and planed them. I think his final kiln dry was too fast because they got a bit wanky. Made some beautiful raised panel doors.
I have 10 acres of sweet gum. I researched and found it's used a lot for railroad ties, matchsticks and pulp wood. Reading below looks like good for firewood too once dried well. I have a lot of people who come to cut up a tree when I fall it as they like to burn sweet gum around here. Also I had a wood pulper come out and offer to buy my wood to sell to paper companies. So I've got a lot of choices. Would love to see how your lumber turned out - how much twist. I'd love to make something out of some of my logs that have been sitting here.
I burn it myself. It gives up all of its heat pretty quickly so I tend to mix it with dense oak. My wood stove won't damp down enough to burn sweetgum slow but it damps down too low for oak on its own. Mixing works the best when I have it damped all the way down.
I think you might find this homesteaders channel informative and useful in your daily doings. Give this video on tree uses a look. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b_1gh3lfMJQ.html
I am not sure if your sweet gun tree is the same as a Redgum. If so, it is used by many furniture companies to fabricate their Dinning room chairs. It is a beautiful wood. They would stain it to a walnut, pecan finish. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for doing them.
Finally, someone who faces the stump and not the first cut of the tree. I heard some stories years ago about people in Arkansas building barns with sweet gum, some of the tales made me wonder why they would do such a thing knowing what was going to happen. Pretty wood though.
Gretsch Drums. 4 center plies of Gum (cross sectioned h/v/h/h ) between two plies of Maple "sandwich. Been the Great Gretsch Drum sound since +/- 1958-60 to today
I can't offer any advice on drying, but I've heard it's hard to dry properly. I do know that around here (central Alabama) the heartwood is called Red Gum. It's unusual to find that much heart in that size tree from my experience. Also, the sap wood spalts easily and makes very nice wood for turning and other projects where the grain is appropriate. I turned a very pretty goblin from a piece of firewood. By the way, my brother does burn it in his wood heater. It's also almost a nuisance around here, but can have red leaves in the fall.
Not sure how it would turn out but I would like to see a natural edge table top. Wish I had a piece and I would try a table top. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your project, Jim
I cut some about 4 weeks ago, snickered, stacked and used band clamps to hold it straight, its very pretty, not sure why more is not used. I have had some end cracking even with sealing but so far I am very excited also!
USE THE CUPPED BOARDS TO CARVE OUT AND USE FOR UTENSILS AROUND THE HOUSE. My grand mother had some we used to shell peas and beans in, worked really well for us kids at the time. they were a bit heavy but we enjoyed them just the same. I can still see them, they were nice and very usable. Papa did carve notches into them and bind them with copper strips to keep them from splitting.
RE: What can be done with this wood. The small conference room in M. White Smith Hall, the former forestry building at Auburn, was paneled in sweet gum. It was, as you have shown, can be beautiful. Drying is a challenge but has been done successfully.
nice looking wood. I have a friend sawing gum up with a chainsaw mill into 2inch slabs. he's been making benches out of it. he's had no problem with twisting yet. the slang name for sweetgum is American mahogany. it looks a lot like mahogany.
When cutting your notch for felling, direction, depth, meeting the first cut (often level) with the second (often up slope to meet) ,, it makes it easier for the angles to meet if you do not move. With your current skills and excellent saw, I have no doubt you can as well. Quicker, easier.
The chain break once saved me from cutting my face in half. Literally Right after you started the saw, you held it in one hand and looked away to fiddle with your chaps, that's exactly how my, almost, accident happened.
I have the same question, a year after yours, and now 3 years after the cutting.. statistically a divorce and a job change has happened.. maybe yet another entheusiast lost to the pile of things no ones ever gonna care even happened.
OH! i see he's got videos 11 days old.. its ok to show failures dude.. we're all human and Ive got a 20 inch gum trunk waiting for my decision. mine's heart is 7 inches and darrk. S.E P.A.
Excellent video my friend. I enjoyed it, I don't think I have ever seen a sweetgum tree, not sure I would recognize it if I had,. Thanks for sharing, keep up the fun videos, subbed you as well.
IF when you were young like any youngster picks up acorns pine cones and sweet gum balls you would remember it when you got stung by a thrown one it looked like a spiked ball.
Would love to see a vid on the drying process, etc. I've got so much of this and want to see if I can use it for a barn/out buildings/ creed bridge - not just burn it. Just no clue where to start after milling. I've never milled -never dried....
Sweet Gum Trees, both clear & black sap type which are locally known (coastal S.C.) as Tupelo Trees, produce some really heavy pollen during the tree's blossoming time in early spring. This type of pollen is in high demand by Honey Bees which use the pollen to make some really good tasting sweet honey in my area. Also, South Carolina Wood Ducks like to make their homes in rotted out knot holes of this particular tree in water areas of the state. We Carolinians treasurer this species of tree, for both their honey and as a wild duck reproducing refuge. Many Gum/Tupelo Trees can be found in and around our inland fresh water areas, growing in both still standing as well as in running water ways. The wood its self represents only a small amount of lumber milled in the United States. (approx. 30 MBF annually) My understanding, is that all the lumber which is milled, is almost exclusively used in producing veneer lumber and not at all in furniture making.
I'm in nc and we mill a huge amount of sweet gum here and we are milling it into cross ties and pallet wood like someone else mentioned. We have a large hardwood only mill that specializes in hardwoods and veneers and export about 90% to China but they send all the gum to us for ties and will not saw any of it into their specialty woods. If you can dry it slowly then you have a chance at getting good boards from it but it is beautiful wood and has remarkable coloring in it
Allot of the old cities in the north (I live in Rochester) will advertise in their real estate listings: "...Home has beautiful, original Gumwood trim and moldings..." and this was a popular and pretty wood in homes that were generally very well built around the 1920's. So it CAN be a premium hardwood if it is dried properly
I also have seen it used as decorative trim in older homes....it resembles mahogany when dried and finished with linseed oil.....also makes beautiful mantles and fire place trim....but, to dry it properly, my grandfather would dry it for a year or more as a full length log, then cut it into saw logs....he sold it in 5/4 by 10 or 12" by 12 foot planks.
When we mill 'Red Gum' or any hard gum we are supposed to take some of the "hook" out of the bannd saw (when sharpening). so its more of a rip saw.... beut timber when it its worked. Makes wonderful siding, bench tops, flooring etc
Nice. definitely underappreciated wood. Be sure to place ratchet straps every 2 feet to keep it flat. The weights won't be needed and aren't enough anyway.
I've heard that it needs to be cut a few feet longer than needed, mill it into cants and stand on the ends to dry, then mill it dry. I imagine it still twists. In the south they are used for cross ties or pallets and furniture framing. I think the specs were logs need to be 11 feet long and minimum 14 inches on the small end. They won't take split or knotty. Wood's Backhoe Service cut some for ties off a property for clearing. Wasn't worth the fuel to haul for him.
some mills have soaking ponds for their logs. Leaving them in the water for about a year is reported to take care of the twisting and curling. Apparently removes the acid that causes much of the movement.
I have a big Sweetgum, that's going to be sawed up this spring. Its 28-30" or bigger. Plan is to strap it down with 4" straps and weight it down with 2 500lb slabs of lead. Also have a 24"+ Persimmon that will be sawed up. and a big Catawba tree. I know the Catawba is soft wood. But it makes some nice wood.
Awesome video! What did you end up doing with it? We have a ton of sweet gums .... I love trees, but cannot stand these things ( in NC). Live edge tables would be great, epoxy tops would be amazing!
can you give an update as to what you may have built with the sweetgum and how it has held up i have some on my property that are about 3.5 ft across and i feel there is just too much wood there to burn in a burn pile i want to try to do a board and batton style shop with it and i figured since its going to move anyways why not and the way i see it is all the criss grain should grab nails or screws real well as it shrinks im realy interested to know how it turned out
Tree value is more than just firewood or $$$, think about the carbon sequestration and air cleaning aspects, clean air is way higher value than lumber products.....
plenty of gums in australia our koalas eat certain types of gum tree mainly eucaylts [pardon the spelling ]you can use gum in boat building frameing furntiture it does tend to warp but when you cut a stright bit itll last a longgggg time .you can also cut lengths about 8ft x 4inch thick and pain with sump oil then use it as retaining walls in au alot of ppl use it in gardens once white ant treated.
Really good looking wood! I’m impressed! I’m new to your channel and don’t know what state your in, I’m from East Texas. Tyler to be exact. We have a bunch of sweet gum in our area. There are two types regular sweet gum and black gum, there is no difference between the two, leaves, bark, growth rate, limb structure is the same until fall sweet gum have yellow fall color and blacks have a deep red color. I wonder if that was why the wood was so dark. Every time I’ve cut them down the wood was way more white. I don’t know for fact that any of the trees that I have cut where black gum. Black gums are not as abundant as regular gum.
The black gum a single lobe leaf has a different leaf pattern from the sweet gum which has five lobes. I have lots of black gum on the property just above where you are mainly in the draws where they can get lots of water.
@@davidpape9726 Out of curiosity I did a little research and realized that a Black Gum is a different tree all together. But what I am intrigued about is that in a stand of Sweet Gums they all look the same tall, five lobed leaf, and spiked balls. But in the fall most of them turn yellow then there is a couple that turn deep red almost purple. Why? Is it a different subspecies? Also I haven't found any literature on this, and I don't think anybody else notices or gives a crap. But thank you for correcting me.
I got a couple 6' logs of this stuff a while back. I let it sit out for about 6 months before milling it up with my chainsaw. It was heavily spaulted and some of the logs were rotten beyond use. The stuff that I was able to mill up and dry was very nice. The sapwood was extremely soft almost like balsa wood but if properly sealed and finished it came out nice. So far I have made some cabinet door panels and a bathroom vanity top out of it. Here are some images of it. imgur.com/a/9pIuQ9K i.imgur.com/juA7qsJ.jpg
Take three and make a harvest table out if them. I know the price of harvest tables has fallen like a rock from their high point 15 years ago but it would still make that of a big bookcase. I once had a sassafras cut down and didn't think it would make anything so I told my brother in law he could have it to burn if he wanted. When he cut it up I had him saw a piece of firewood horizontally with his chainsaw and the color of the wood was amazing. I am too old to mess with that now but try some of that and see if it wouldn't make kitchen cabinet wood.
lewandlo I believe those are two different species. Tupelo I believe grows around South Georgia and Florida. Not so much in my area. Thanks for the kind words!
that has got to be some of the most beautiful world that I've seen we can't seem to find would that nice up here and if we find it they charged us for two arms and a leg that would make some beautiful tables tops Live Edge table tops at that. But you have to dowel it to stop it from twisting
Kept at the proper width I figure that would be good wood flooring for a shed. I've got a couple of them and need to make a plan. It's a lot of lumber to let go to waste
Did you switch log sections from the first skidder hookup and the time you brought it to the mill. I did not see any heart rot in the mill portion of the video.
Justin Robertson Thanks for the sub! We did consider others. This video details our thought process behind going with Wood Mizer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XFYCdBVeVis.html
Sounds like if you learn how to dry it without warping, you have a great source for beautifully grained wood! Weird how it is hard but has little btu value as firewood.
Ive had best results with SG sawing it into cants...8x8 10x10 ect. Then set it to the side for 6 months to a year and let it do all its warping. Then take those cants and resaw them into lumber...works good. And makes some beautiful lumber that is stable
