# whats this marvelous wood?



## jimmyjames (May 9, 2013)

Local tree service is cutting a bunch of trees for the city, this tree is a flowering tree with purple flowers, i spotted it laying next to the road, so i stopped and took a picture, the bark is really red, wood is almost green color?

http://i178.Rule #2/albums/w249/jimmyjames1981/IMG_20130509_103339_666_zps5d1bd034.jpg

http://i178.Rule #2/albums/w249/jimmyjames1981/IMG_20130509_103351_716_zpscfcbc9e5.jpg


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## healeydays (May 9, 2013)

And you didn't grab a piece? I don't think you're over that flu after all...


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## Kevin (May 9, 2013)

Eastern Redbud maybe. Never seen one that big but sure looks like it to me. Were the leaves heart shaped? If it's a redbud, man you're in for some heartache trying to dry it. The wood is so beautiful but I have been unable to get anything sizable out of the large ones I have taken down. No amount of wax will keep it from wrecking. Boiling seens to help for large pieces but they still crack and check badly. Send Daren a PM and ask him to look at it (make sure to give a link) he's the redbud guru. I bet he could say yes or no to redbud and I bet this is a tree he could ID if it isn't.


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## jimmyjames (May 9, 2013)

I didn't take any of the wood but if it dries badly I won't bother with it, no sense in wasting energy on hauling and milling it if it just turns into a pile of firewood in the end :)


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## Kevin (May 9, 2013)

I'm not 100% sure on it being RB. that's why I think you need to get other opinions. What about the leaves, were they heart shaped?


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## jimmyjames (May 9, 2013)

I just googlez eastern redbud, that's exactly what it is, same flowers and leaves with the heart shape


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## Kevin (May 9, 2013)

If it were me I'd pass. But maybe Daren has some secret trick to drying it. He's built furniture out of it *I think* so if he has, he knows how to dry it.


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## Daren (May 9, 2013)

Kevin said:


> Eastern Redbud maybe.



:yes: definitely 

And yes it is a little *finicky* to dry, but don't let that scare you away from milling it Jimmy. Even smaller pieces of redbud will find a use (or market), 'specially when you are the only kid on the block who has it. 


.


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## jimmyjames (May 9, 2013)

Daren said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > Eastern Redbud maybe.
> ...



Well in that case I may go snatch it up tomorrow, thanks for the info Darren :)


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## Kevin (May 9, 2013)

I think my problem is the extreme heat down here, and this winter when I dried the last one was unusually dry. I probably need to throw some in the kiln and try that.


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## jimmyjames (May 9, 2013)

Up here in the summer it gets pretty warm but is pretty humid, our winters are ridiculously dry, especially last winter, the humidity on my weather gauge was too low to read for a long time


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## DKMD (May 9, 2013)

I've never dried anything bigger than a pen blank or bottle stopper without checking and cracking... Gorgeous stuff, but it hates me.


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## Vector (May 9, 2013)

I love the stuff. Turns and sands wonderfully. I've had a friend that has given me a few chunks the last couple years. Here's a deer grunter made out of it. I love the grain.

Vince


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## J.L. Erb (Jun 2, 2013)

That wood makes GREAT, friction call strikers. I will take some, had a fella ask for some just the other day, for strikers for friction calls.


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## Jason Needham (Jun 5, 2013)

That's a big Redbud. In the wild they don't get that big. Usually you see the big ones in people's yards where it doesn't compete with other trees. It reminds me a lot like mulberry the way it cracks, splits, and warps.


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