Sweet Gum Uses?

[EisnerCraftsmen]

Anyone use sweet gum in their woodworking projects? I was sorting through my stash of kiln dried wood and came across a nice hoard of 4/4 sweet gum that I milled and dried more than a decade ago. It was from a tree that my 90+ yo friend Ed helped me cut down. It produced nice boards once I air dried them before going into the kiln. Not too much movement. Takes a clear finish real nice and has almost like a cherry look to it.

The last thing I made with it was the memorial box for Ed's ashes when passed a 1.5 years ago.

Interested in hearing your thoughts!

Joel

P.S. If anyone would like some of it give me a holler.

 

[ScottM]

Beautiful box. How wide are the boards?

 

[EisnerCraftsmen]

Beautiful box. How wide are the boards?

Thank you Scott. They are ~6-8 in wide and mostly 4/4 and 8 feet long.

 

[EisnerCraftsmen]

View attachment 235082

Very nice.

 

[creasman]

Nice box! I like the color variations and grain patterns in sweet gum. The main problem is warpage. I got around this by slicing it into veneer for the following project. The sides, frame and drawer fronts are all sweet gum. The sides and drawer fronts are book matched veneer. Trim and panels are pecan.

 

[Echd]

I've never used it although I have a few small boards laying around. It seems like a widely hated wood, though... but i agree it often has attractive coloration and patterns.

 

[EisnerCraftsmen]

The key for me was to air dry under a well weighted pile then it went into the solar kiln. Little movement after that.

 

[Gotcha6]

A former member who was a sawyer vowed that the only way to keep sweet gum from warping was to park a bulldozer on top of it while it air dried...........................
The only commercial use I have ever heard of for it was from an entrepreneur in Plains, GA that was making chopsticks and exporting them to China a few years back.
But your projects turned out great!

 

[creasman]

The problem with drying sweet gum is that even if you do manage to get it dried w/o warping, it will likely warp or twist as soon as you rip it. That's just what it does. My father described how they used disks (cookies) cut from a sweet gum log as wagon wheels. They don't split. Of course, it's not rot resistant at all so you'd better park your wagon in a barn.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

It provides great entertainment when you have a friend that has never tried to split firewood from gum using a wedge!

 

[Chris C]

Unless it's quarter sawn.... At least that's my experience.

I bought some kiln dried quarter sawn from Scott Smith 5 years ago or so. I had him resaw it into 1/4" boards when I picked it up..... for guitar backs and sides. It was first stored in my unconditioned shop and now it's in my conditioned shop. It's as flat as the day I got it. Haven't had any problem with it warping when I use it...

This is a small sample but all I have looks exactly the same... Dead flat.

 

[creasman]

For the Working Wood in the 18th Century conference at Colonial Williamsburg, Megan Fitspatrick was tasked with recreating an 18th century blanket chest made in part from sweetgum. Even with wedged dovetails the original chest is pulling itself apart. You can read her blog post here. She sums up her experience by saying, "You know how we often say, “Wood hates you?” Well sweetgum loathes the very thought of your existence."

 

[Jim M.]

I've never built any projects using sweetgum, but craved many ducks and birds using it. It works well, smooth, easy to carve and very little fuzz if power carving.

 

[JRedding]

I’ve turned a fair amount of it and while it’s a bit of a pain to turn, each piece has been requested by someone who saw it because it does end up looking great when finished. This was before I was taking pictures of my work so don’t have any to post since all were given away.

EDIT: I can’t speak for lumber, having not used it that way, but the turnings warp and move a lot!

 

[scottryan]

Seems like some very split feelings about it here.. I’ve been curious too because there is a sawmill near me that has mixed hardwood packs for $240 and I was told it has a lot of sweet gum in it. I believe their material is not dried at that price.

 

[EisnerCraftsmen]

Unless it's quarter sawn.... At least that's my experience.

I bought some kiln dried quarter sawn from Scott Smith 5 years ago or so. I had him resaw it into 1/4" boards when I picked it up..... for guitar backs and sides. It was first stored in my unconditioned shop and now it's in my conditioned shop. It's as flat as the day I got it. Haven't had any problem with it warping when I use it...

This is a small sample but all I have looks exactly the same... Dead flat.

View attachment 235085

It is all about having Scott Smith saw it!

 

[Howie]

 

[jlwest]

I had two gums cut up and stacked to air dry. It all warped some but after resawing into 4 " strips it was stable and able to be used. Pretty wood and when glued back together, laminated strips, it worked fine for some furniture.

 

[Rwe2156]

What little I've ever done with sweet gum is burn it b/c I always thought it was too "twisty", kinda like live oak.

Many years ago one of my professors asked if I could come out to his property and split some wood. Not knowing anything, I picked up the axe, and with a mighty blow the axe bounced off the log. Strike one, two, three. I could not do anything. I've failed in my effort to make a good impression on my professor.

After admitting my inadequacy, he smiled and said, "same thing happened to me."

 

[Ed Fasano]

Anyone use sweet gum in their woodworking projects? I was sorting through my stash of kiln dried wood and came across a nice hoard of 4/4 sweet gum that I milled and dried more than a decade ago. It was from a tree that my 90+ yo friend Ed helped me cut down. It produced nice boards once I air dried them before going into the kiln. Not too much movement. Takes a clear finish real nice and has almost like a cherry look to it.

The last thing I made with it was the memorial box for Ed's ashes when passed a 1.5 years ago.

Interested in hearing your thoughts!

Joel

P.S. If anyone would like some of it give me a holler.View attachment 235079View attachment 235078View attachment 235077

I used some Gum for some antique plane wall displays. The color and character were perfect for the purpose. Not fun to work though. High waste factor. I was glad I had it for this project and I'll be happy to not use it again.