{"id":1089,"date":"2015-10-18T04:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2015-10-18T04:00:19","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T08:00:19","slug":"red-gum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/red-gum\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Gum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The wood most commonly marketed as Red Gum is scientifically known as Liquidambar styraciflua<\/em>. L. styraciflua<\/em>, is also referenced by a variety of common names including but not limited to: American sweetgum, sweetgum, sweet gum, hazel pine, American-storax, bilsted, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, and alligator-wood.<\/p>\n A. styraciflua<\/em> is native to a wide range of the south-eastern United States from Connecticut southward to central Florida and eastern Texas. It is found as far west as Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma and north to southern Illinois. Oddly, it also grows in scattered locations in northwestern and central Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. However, L. styraciflua<\/em> is most commonly thought of as a uniquely American wood and the commercial harvest of the species almost exclusively occurs in the United States.<\/p>\n A. styraciflua<\/em> is widely planted outside of its native range as a fast growing, tall, and wide shade and ornamental tree. It is hardy and tolerant of climates throughout most of the mainland United States, excepting only the far northern reaches of the Midwestern states due to extreme winter temperatures as well as extreme southern Florida.<\/p>\n The term “Red Gum” is mostly restricted to the lumber trade and refers only to the heartwood of the L. styraciflua <\/em>tree. Most commonly the tree itself is referred to by one of the other common names listed, and amongst those, “Sweetgum” is the most widely used.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to L. styraciflua<\/em> as Red Gum from this point forward.<\/p>\n