For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to U. rubra <\/em>as Red Elm from here forward. U. rubra <\/em>is also commonly called “slippery elm.”<\/p>\n The heartwood of Red Elm is a light to medium reddish brown. The paler sapwood of Red Elm is usually well defined. The grain of Red Elm is typically interlocked which makes it very resistant to splitting. Red Elm features a somewhat coarse, uneven texture.<\/p>\n Red Elm is rated as non-durable and is susceptible to insect attack. Living Red Elm trees are susceptible to Dutch elm disease.<\/p>\n Red Elm can be a challenge to work because of interlocked grain, especially on quartersawn surfaces. Planing Red Elm can cause tearout and\/or fuzzy surfaces. Red Elm has poor dimensional stability which will make final turning of green turned items difficult. However, Red Elm glues, stains, and finishes well. Red Elm responds well to steam bending, and holds nails and screws well.<\/p>\n Red Elm usually has a strong, unpleasant smell when green however once dried it has very little odor.<\/p>\n Red Elm should be moderately priced, though availability from mature trees has been greatly diminished by Dutch elm disease.<\/p>\n In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n Got Wood is offering Red Elm platter blanks in 7″ x 2″ and 9″ x 2″ for $7.25 and $12.00 respectively.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Red Elm this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n Red Elm is most commonly used for boxes, baskets, furniture, hockey sticks, veneer, wood pulp, and papermaking.<\/p>\n Red Elm is NOT listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices<\/a> nor is it listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.<\/a><\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Red Elm.<\/p>\n I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Elm in the Ulmus genus<\/a> has been reported as a sensitizer<\/a>. Most common reactions simply include eye and skin irritation.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, I experienced no significant difficulties while working with Red Elm.<\/p>\n I’ve written about my experiences with Red Elm<\/a> in the past (this post serves to bring the article into standard format) and I continue to feel the same way as I did then. Red Elm requires a great deal of work and effort for a fairly plain wood and I don’t think it is worth the effort with all the other really excellent and beautiful turning woods available on the market, especially some of the exotic imports. I made these bowls because I had the wood and I hate to just throw decent wood away but I would much rather have spent my time working with something more attractive and reasonable.<\/p>\n Elm<\/p><\/div>\n The two bowls measure 5″ x 3″.<\/p>\n All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges<\/a> for light final passes before sanding. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck<\/a>, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Odie’s Wood Wax.<\/a><\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I made these bowls because I had the wood and I hate to just throw decent wood away but I would much rather have spent my time working with something more attractive and reasonable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,168,181,200,210,230,239,240,241],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
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