I had a couple of sassafras that had been dead for 5-7 years before the power company came through and cleaned the lines and dropped the trees. They were already getting torn up by woodpeckers and some rot, so I tossed the limbs off to the side and only planned to keep the trunks. Fast forward 2 years and I was cutting the limbs to size for the burn pile, I was surprised at how good most of the wood was. The sapwood was punk, but after maybe 1/4-1/2" the rest was completely solid. I decided to split a bunch and will mix into the regular stacks. I have heard on here and read that sassy is pretty rot resistant, but I have not heard why. Most wood that is resistant usually has a tight grain and is heavy. But this and cedar are neither. Is there something chemical with it? Here are some of the splits and a piece of the trunk cutoff.
Sassafras is good enough we used to use them a lot for fence posts. As for what makes them that way, I don't know but suspect something in the sap but who cares? It can be good stuff and smells super sweet. That sweet is no doubt connected to the rot resistance.
Y Yes it is very rot resistant. I have some milled boards to build some planters for Ms. buZZsaw's daughter. It came from a sassy in their yard. You can buy decking made from it. Id like to make some outdoor furniture from some in the future. Black walnut, black locust, mulberry and white oak are some other excellent outdoor woods
It's weird it's rot resistant because the damm woodpeckers sure love it. It burns surprisingly well for how light it is dry.
Sassafras is an interesting tree. I ran into sassafras when researching Oregon Myrtle while camping this fall. Oregon myrtle is actually California Laurel whose nearest relative is Sassafras. Oregon Myrtle is not a "myrtle" but is instead a laurel as is sassafras. True myrtles and laurels are warmer climate plant families and so sassafras+California laurel/Oregon "myrtle" are a little out of their ordinary range. In addition to the two trees, there are some native laurel shrubs. I can remember digging up sassafras roots to make sassafras tea as a boy (and not poison myself, fortunately). I walked a lot in the woods as a kid and even pulled a screech owl out of a low tree hole while wearing leather gloves I always carried. The owl actually stepped on to my gloves and took flight immediately outside the hole, i.e. in my face! Woodpeckers, they "hear" bug larva+ants in the tree and peck accordingly. Bug larva+ants vary a lot among tree types and so do the woodpecker holes. It is amazing to see a HARD hickory tree with woodpecker holes but big horn beetle larva bore into hickory to be chased by the woodpecker. Hickory is odd, so hard and so little rot resistance. Though rot resistance in standing trees can vary a lot just on chance, some low rot resistant trees just dry quick enough when the bark falls off to avoid rot (or not).
