Anyone know if SG is considered a food safe wood? I recall read that it is but can't remember where I read it - so it might be true... Anyone ever did bench tops out of face jointed SG?
Thanks
Thanks
Sweeeet Gum
- Thread starter CrealBilly
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Sweet gum is a pretty wood but soft. Properly sealed, as in all wood exposed to food, it should be fine. I had about 1000 bdft from a couple of trees that fell and it dried fairly quickly but twisted. Much of it became bucher block type tables because I had to mill it down and glue it up to make anything of size. It is nice to work with but as I said, and you know, it is a relatively soft wood very similiar looking to popular.
Jeff
Jeff
Roger,
I'll bite...what's a snuff dipping brush???:confused_
I had a 90 ft. SG in my backyard that I am soooo glad it became stock for the bowl turners:gar-La;
Don
I'll bite...what's a snuff dipping brush???:confused_
I had a 90 ft. SG in my backyard that I am soooo glad it became stock for the bowl turners:gar-La;
Don
My grandfather always favored black gum to make snuff dipping brushes. He died in the 1980s but it was from a stroke, not the gum
Roger
Don,
Old timers commonly took a green twig off a black gum tree and chewed the end to soften and wet. This "brush" (sometimes called broom) was dipped into a can of snuff and applied between cheek and gum. The habit also necessitated that "spit cans" be conveniently located :confused_ Grandpa and grandma did this as long as I can remember . . . however, they never consumed a drop of alcohol :mrgreen:
Roger
So if I make a sweet gum bench top will I be the first only one stupid enough to try?
I would venture to guess that you would not be the first. Owing as to how our ancestors were pretty much left to their own devices and used what was readily available, I'm betting lots of eating/dining utensils were made from Sweet Gum as well as just about any other wood they had handy.
Only experiences I've had with Sweet Gum was for firewood. It chainsaws really well and if you plan on splitting it the same day you cut it, great. However, if you do as I did and not get to that chore for a day or two,:BangHead: better have some explosives handy. I completely gave up trying to split it with my go-devil and would up using the chainsaw to get into chunks small enough that it was almost kindling.
Only experiences I've had with Sweet Gum was for firewood. It chainsaws really well and if you plan on splitting it the same day you cut it, great. However, if you do as I did and not get to that chore for a day or two,:BangHead: better have some explosives handy. I completely gave up trying to split it with my go-devil and would up using the chainsaw to get into chunks small enough that it was almost kindling.
are you making a snake bench?:rotflm: not sure how flat it will stay but it will work. flat is over rated anyway.:gar-La;
What you think if I made up a bunch of 1x3's and face glued them together, drawn up tight with some lengths of 1/2" threaded rod through the faces and tighten it up with a impact wrench - think that would hold it? Then I would need to find someone with a wide belt sander to make it flat, since I don't have one of those...
it might but ya gotta work fast. that stuff twists as it comes off the saw!:elvis:
It makes good chair seats and biscuit trays (bowls for mixing up lard biscuits the old fashioned way), and also have heard it was used for spoons. It is listed as a good "secondary wood" for furniture. I would say cut it thick, let it warp, and then mill it flat. Hope you come up with a good technique, as it grows like a weed, and pretty soon its gonna be the only wood I can afford!! I keep chopping it back in my woods to give the other trees a chance to grow. Besides, the wife hates all the little spiny balls in the yard when she runs around barefoot.
Go
I do know its the last tree you want near a sidewalk or driveway. Within 15 years the roots will turn either one into a roller coaster.
Go
I do know its the last tree you want near a sidewalk or driveway. Within 15 years the roots will turn either one into a roller coaster.
Years back when I was a kid my Dad got me and my brother a Sat. job.We had to rake those d#@$& little spiny balls,ALL DAY.The guy had 4 LARGE SGm's.My brother and me SWORE we would never have one in our yard when we grew up.
Well the summer after my Dad past I had a small tree come up.Fed the little thing and started calling it Charlie after my Dad.Yep you guessed it it's a SG.It's getting pretty big now.But I can't bring myself to cut it down.Not sense I named it after my Dad.
Got to talking to my brother a while back.WE had to laugh because.Dad got the last laugh.:gar-Bi
Well the summer after my Dad past I had a small tree come up.Fed the little thing and started calling it Charlie after my Dad.Yep you guessed it it's a SG.It's getting pretty big now.But I can't bring myself to cut it down.Not sense I named it after my Dad.
Got to talking to my brother a while back.WE had to laugh because.Dad got the last laugh.:gar-Bi
Well named....
Occasionally one of our dogs will get one stuck in his/her paws. They sure are a pain.
Sweet gum ought to be food safe. Old timers used to chew it and used the chewed end as a toothbrush. My grandmother had a biscuit bowl out of gum I'd give a lot to have. Sure never seemed to hurt anything using it. The only finish it ever saw was a little mineral oil once in a great while. She said that would keep it from cracking. I don't know that it needed it, but it never cracked.
Gum turns well and I've seen pieces that were truly outstanding.
Gum turns well and I've seen pieces that were truly outstanding.
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