I have recently cut down several trees for clearing and firewood, but some of it was Elm and I am not going to use it for firewood. I did cut a nice chopping block out of the stump, for the porch. I figured as hard as elm is to split it ought to hold up as a splitting stump, and so far it's held up great. However, I have a project in mind for a back room I build on where I enclosed a porch and needed some shelves built up, actually it will be more like a long table, really. I built a similar out of regular lumber, last year, for my utility room, but since lumber has went up, a lot, I am considering making some boards off of the farm for this back room. My house is pretty rustic anyway, and was thinking about some Elm, that I already have cut down. I could use Oak, and I might, but I don't want to wait on the boards to season, and wondered if I built it out of Elm, would it twist and split badly, etc., if cut and build while still green? I guess my other options are Red Cedar, or Black Locust, and I know where there is one Cherry that is down, but I don't know it's condition, as I have not cut into it. I was figuring it for probably firewood, however, It might be the ticket. Anyway, I just got to thinking that maybe Elm would be Ok, or not, what do you think?
I’m sure it would make fine boards. My question is if you are willing to use elm unseasoned/green, why not use oak green? Either way, if you build it using unseasoned, your wood will shrink. Any gaps will grow (on the ends and against the wall). My experience with milling boards, if you use a nice limb-free log, it will have much less tendency to twist and go crazy. The oak I have is staying nice and flat. The apple I milled, which was/is full of limb, went crazy! After you mill that type of log, you need severe top weight and or ratchet straps to keep it flat.
Well, that was kind of what I was fishing for. I was wondering if Elm would warp and shrink as much as Oak does. Another reason for the Elm is I have it down, and I don't cut good Oaks down, usually.
That elm is probably pretty far along on being dry, unless it was living recently. Most people don't like to split elm to make it into firewood, so making lumber out of it is a great idea.
I actually have a pile of elm to mill for a customer , smaller logs 10-14 inch he wants them milled live edge for shelving I will get a couple of pictures I hope to mill them this weekend he has used elm before for projects I will ask him about it for you JB
It is raining here today I will try to get a picture of the log pile today Kinda a before and after JB
I remember Dad always telling me that Elm was used for planks in horse barns as it stood up better than any other hardwoods.
I've built a lot of furniture out of elm. It looks nice, but is kinda a PITA to work with. There is a LOT of tension in the wood and moves around a lot when you cut it. There's a very good chance a straight board will no longer be straight after you rip it to width. Here are some bathroom cabinets I made out of red elm.
Ok here they are before and after I was kind of in a hurry to get done so not a lot of pictures hope this helps your decision JB
Grain looks nice. I was also wondering how elm would be for boards/lumber and did some reading. Saw a lot of what lukem said, that it's not that easy to work. I have access to a good size one that came down in the ice storm. lukem, have you ever used thicker elm planks/slabs...in the say 1.5-2 inch range? Wondering how stable the thicker slab would be from warpage/twist....
Local to me fella use a big old slab of elm for his shop workbench. It was against a wall and went around a 90 degree corner. After a while the gaps opened up on him. It was milled at a gtg 2 years ago.
Do you know if it ended up twisting, warping or cupping on him? I have 2 cabinets that im going to put together, will be about 60" long and 20 " deep and was thinking of putting a nice grained wide board/slab on top. Also, I assume he put it on workbench green if you say it was a slab and milled 2 years ago (unless kiln dried...)?
