Box Elder ??

[DSWalker]

I'm going to be making a desk for my grandson and he is a huge NC State fan.

Thought about flaming box elder for the top, but I know nothing about this wood.

Does the red color fade? I thought this could be for a cool top for a State fan. Is it a hardwood? Pros/Cons appreciated.

Any local sources?

 

[bob vaughan]

Its diffuse porous like maple. Its about as soft as poplar. The red can fade if left in the sunlight. I gave away a box elder bowl to a friend telling him that the red would likely fade. It didn't in 15 to 20 years but that's because he kept it in a corner that got no sunlight I think.

AKA: Ash Leaf Maple.

Funny aside: That friend had a good bit of property and he was quite a woodsman. He cut down a box elder tree and was blocking the log. He looked down and saw blood red shavings coming out. He jumped up and felt all over his body to see where the blood was coming from. He said it gave him quite a moment or terror. At that time he didn't know about the red streaks in box elder. To him, it was just another trash tree at his fence line.

 

[HITCH-]

I remember hearing about a Turner who painted the box elder red markings onto his bowls so that they would not fade. You could try a faux box elder top if you want to avoid any fading.

 

[Bill_L]

I've only seen it at Woodcraft (I'm in the Raleigh area and shop there, Hardwood Store of NC, and Capital City Lumber). My son bought a couple live edge pieces from Woodcraft. I've included a picture of the smaller board / coasters that he made. Really easy to work with. You could always use bloodwood if you can't find the flaming box elder. Though bloodwood is extremely hard and you can find varying colors of it too.

 

[John Jimenez]

Hi David. I used flaming box elder to make our dining room table. It’s going on 4 years old and it hasn’t faded. I finished it with Rubio monocoat. As I understand, it is a type of maple but it is softer than maple. The flame color comes from a release of chemicals by the tree to kill algae that grows in the holes left by beetles. My brothers grand kids were drawing pictures with a ballpoint pen on some paper and it left some light indents in the table top. It was pretty pricy. Hopes this helps.

 

[J_Graham]

I have a couple board feet for small projects. And I will say, expect to fill lots of bug holes since that's what gives its color. I might look into accenting a white table top with red Grandis or red heart, much more consistent.
That being said I know of a sawyer in upstate SC who has a good supply of it.