# Drying American Elm



## Mike1950 (Nov 12, 2015)

Can anybody give me insights into drying american elm? have a few figured slabs and a few burl slabs. I have some 3" that I bought dry and it seems to have dried stable. Any insights???

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## barry richardson (Nov 12, 2015)

I love elm burl, one of my favorites. Based on my very limited experience of turning it a couple of times, it dries very well and didn't crack at all...

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## Nature Man (Nov 12, 2015)

That wood has phenomenal character. Never worked with elm, but am impressed with it. Chuck

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## woodtickgreg (Nov 12, 2015)

I have air dried with great success Siberian elm. I know thats not the same as american elm but i would think it to be similar. Sticker and stack as usual and weight the top of the stack and you should be fine. I have found it to be very stable, it looses a lot of weight in the drying process. I find slow and steady worked well. I think elm is one of the easier woods to dry in my experiences. I never pass on an elm tree if someone offers it to me.
That burl is beautiful Mike!

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## manbuckwal (Nov 12, 2015)

Its burl, you better seal it up good ! I have only had one slab of it and it had a lot of eye checks in it . I do not know how it was dried tho.

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## Mike1950 (Nov 12, 2015)

woodtickgreg said:


> I have air dried with great success Siberian elm. I know thats not the same as american elm but i would think it to be similar. Sticker and stack as usual and weight the top of the stack and you should be fine. I have found it to be very stable, it looses a lot of weight in the drying process. I find slow and steady worked well. I think elm is one of the easier woods to dry in my experiences. I never pass on an elm tree if someone offers it to me.
> That burl is beautiful Mike!



Thanks Greg- I wish I could have purchased all of it- Not cheap!! This guy specializes in big slabs- Had a stack of 4" x 5' x 18' black walnut slabs. No I did not buy one 5K each. I will take camera next time- I had no clue there were this many big slabs near me....

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## Mike1950 (Nov 12, 2015)

manbuckwal said:


> Its burl, you better seal it up good ! I have only had one slab of it and it had a lot of eye checks in it . I do not know how it was dried tho.



One thing I have going for it right now- Nothing will dry fast here this time of year. 31 degrees at 7 AM

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## woodtickgreg (Nov 12, 2015)

@manbuckwal is probably right, seal the burl, why chance it.

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## Dennis Ford (Nov 12, 2015)

I love elm for turning, it warps but does not split. My experience with elm lumber is about the same; many of the boards warped and/or twisted. It needs to have stickers placed fairly close and lots of weight on the stack until it is dry. If you have enough thickness to straighten the warping, you should not have too much trouble with the burl.

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## Kevin (Nov 12, 2015)

Elm is one of my favorite burls. I really love the eye patterns and colors it produces. You lucky duck.

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## Mike1950 (Nov 12, 2015)

Kevin said:


> Elm is one of my favorite burls. I really love the eye patterns and colors it produces. You lucky duck.



It just became mine also- Just unloaded truck 



 



 



 

Coffee table slab

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## Sidecar (Nov 12, 2015)

Neat stuff !

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## TMAC (Nov 12, 2015)

I think you should share some of that stuff Mike.

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## Kevin (Nov 12, 2015)

Mike that is just BEAUTIFUL. I kid you not, that really tight elm burl cleans up as well as nearly any other burl you can get - amboyna included. Make on of your signature boxes using a book-matched top from the best of you haul - it will be a treasure.

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## Mike1950 (Nov 12, 2015)

TMAC said:


> I think you should share some of that stuff Mike.



I will butttt- it won't be cheap. Got it stickered in shop in my cool dry/not to dry dryin spot- curly cherry out elm in. I got some scrap burl- maple apple and elm. Will cut into call thickness slabs and see how they dry in kiln along with the coffee table slabs. Then I will know what I am up against with burl slabs.


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## jmurray (Nov 12, 2015)

That looks like great stuff! Elm is one of the few species I really don't like the smell of, but for figure like that I would make an exception

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## DKMD (Nov 13, 2015)

I'd expect a fair bit of warping, but it looks like there's a little spalting... My experiences have been more favorable with spalted stuff. 

The eyes in local elm burl seem to open up creating very small voids, but it's not too crack prone otherwise. The slab at the end of the list has a lot of plain elm, and I would seal the end grain there to avoid checking and cracking if it isn't dry.

Pretty stuff!

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## Mike1950 (Nov 13, 2015)

DKMD said:


> I'd expect a fair bit of warping, but it looks like there's a little spalting... My experiences have been more favorable with spalted stuff.
> 
> The eyes in local elm burl seem to open up creating very small voids, but it's not too crack prone otherwise. The slab at the end of the list has a lot of plain elm, and I would seal the end grain there to avoid checking and cracking if it isn't dry.
> 
> Pretty stuff!



if this was any greener- it would have leaves on it.........

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