is red elm good for lumber?

my first time posting in this section. Is red elm good for boards/furniture making? I posted a thread in the "wood pile" section recently about a red elm and a couple of FHC member questioned me about this. Is it prone to warping and checking once dried?

 

You don't see red elm used for furniture much,I think because it is little ornery to work. Few years back I repaired and refinished two church pews that were red elm. Elm is strong and when it dries it is light. Elm was used for beams under hay wagons it wasn't as brittle as oak and other hardwoods and when the wagon found a ground hog hole elm beams usually didn't break.

 

tree service customer used it for flooring in new home looked great.

 

Might take a little extra planing as the (tendency) spiral grain might tend to warp and cup a little more than some other woods.
A little care drying it and it should be a nice wood to work with.

 

Red Elm bench hook,made from scraps of lumber I milled in Nov. 1993 from HUGE dead tree out in the woods that a neighboring farmer owned next to parent's property.Tree was so big (30" diameter,100ft tall) that it towered over everything else on top of that ridge.I watched it for 3-4 yrs prior,Dutch Elm Disease finally claimed it a couple years later.Ended up with over 200 board feet of planks,1" & 2" thick just from main trunk before it branched out.Plus another 50 ft+ of short thick blocks/rounds for woodturning,sculpture,small boxes etc.Not to mention almost 5 pickup loads of excellent firewood from smaller limbs,branches & the upper tops.This stuff burns like coal - very slow burning,short flames & intense heat,its quite dense- similar to White Oak or
Honey Locust.

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some beautiful stock thistle Thanks for sharing.

 

Looks like it would be gorgeous!

 

I have had a number of red elm trees in my stacks and I found them to be excellent firewood..

I had one that was a huge old tree, it was heavy and solid with tight growth rings, growing in the middle of my woods.

I always thought that tree's firewood burned longer and hotter than the oak....

Here a bowl turned out of that tree's crotch wood. My buddy had no issues with the turning or warping etc... Should make good lumber if you can find a big enough one.

 

Beauty!

 

That's some pretty wood. I have never seen red elm before.