Sweet Gum for Windsor chair blanks???


Tom King

Recommended Posts

Previously, my favorite thing about Sweetgum, was when I found out about Arsenal, so finally something that would kill it.  

Anyway, on one of the old house properties I look after, there are two HUGE Sweet Gum trees that need to come down.  They're big enough, that if they aren't hollow inside-which I've never seen in SG,  there could be Many quarter sawn seat blanks cut out of these trees.  They're well over 4' in diameter, and high enough to the first branches that the saw logs should be pretty good.

The owners are going to pay someone to cut them, and dispose of them, but I'm wondering if they are worth any effort, at all, on my part to try to do something with them.  One of the things on my to-do list is to build a run of at least 20 Windsor chairs, but there is no rush on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know how Sweet Gum goes crazy when flat sawn, but I've never seen any quarter sawn.  Windsor chairs are painted anyway, so it doesn't really matter what the wood looks like.  The blanks could be cut, or split, oversized, ends painted, and left to air dry for several years.  Around here, the only thing I know that's made from it is pallets.

Does anyone have any experience with it at all, other than what you've heard?  I've never even considered doing anything with it before, but it would please all involved if these trees were put to good use.

The last timber we had thinned, the good stuff brought $15.50 a ton, and Sweet Gum brought a dollar a ton.  No one even wants to burn it as firewood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IIRC the heartwood of sweetgum is quite pretty looking in my opinion. The downside to the wood is that it is kinda soft like poplar or a good SYP.

If you can get it dry i think the wood is a good choice. It looks like it responds well to steam bending from my research and another upside is it's lightweight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some quick searching on the web I was surprised to find out that the strength of sweet gun is comparable to cherry. Thought it was softer like Nut had mentioned. 

It has favorable characteristics to steam bending and can be a pretty wood. I would say if you have the time and energy it is a wood that could work for you if, and it's a big if, you can get flat stable stock out of the logs. I assume quartersawing will help but it still moves a lot.

Here's a nice link from a wood guru, Gene Wengert, he actually comments that it is one of his favorite species that is overlooked as a premium and relatively strong wood.

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/wood-explorer/sweetgum

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 9/3/2019 at 8:03 AM, Tom King said:

Does anyone have any experience with it at all

Yes, I have experience. A long tome ago, early 70's, Gum plywood was available by only one distributer. Dixie Plywood. No grain to it. But it is the best wood to paint. Better than poplar. I only knew of it in plywood. Never boards. But the plywood behaved OK. A year ago I had work that needed to be painted. Made me think of gum ply. So I called Dixie ply and asked for the oldest employee. He remembers the salesman I dealt with and the plywood. He told me that the gum has been gone for decades. So I bought birch ply and poplar lumber to paint.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Windsor chair seat blanks.  Windsor chairs are painted, so the grain doesn't matter a bit.  It's no trouble finding seat blanks, but we need at least 20 of them, and they typically go for a hundred bucks a piece, already dried.  These trees are large enough to get quarter sawn, one piece seat blanks out of, without the pith, and they need to come down anyway.  We have the years to dry them before I can get to making the chairs anyway.  I have absolutely no use for the wood from these trees for anything else, nor does anyone else involved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   0 Members, 0 Anonymous, 45 Guests (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
  • Forum Statistics

    31.2k
    Total Topics
    421.8k
    Total Posts
  • Member Statistics

    23,758
    Total Members
    3,644
    Most Online
    R Parekh
    Newest Member
    R Parekh
    Joined