Sweet Gum Tree Wood Grain

As a result the wood shrinks lengthwise as well as every direction during drying.

Sweet gum tree wood grain. That is it warps. The sapwood of sweetgum is white to pinkish. Further flatsawn red gum as well as flatsawn sap gum from smaller trees has a tendency to. I have used sycamore successfully as secondary wood like drawer sides.

I believe sweetgum would work very well as paneling where each board is free to move unconstrained. Go figure ive been meaning to try it but. That is what i intend to do with the beautiful sweet gum that i have. It s considered a valuable tree used for lumber and furniture production as well as for ornamental purposes.

Either that or make small boxes. On the other hand i know an old time carpenter that says sweet gum makes some of the best scaffolding around. Despite the world demand for liquidambar through the centuries little was done with the yield of the north american sweet gum tree. Annual rings are definite but incon spicuous.

I find the interlocked grain woods like sycamore and sweet gum do okay as long as they are not glued up in wide panels. Sweet gum wood though has been another story. American sweetgum liquidambar styraciflua also known as american storax hazel pine bilsted redgum satin walnut star leaved gum alligatorwood or simply sweetgum is a deciduous tree in the genus liquidambar native to warm temperate areas of eastern north america and tropical montane regions of mexico and central america. It easily takes on staining painting and is moderately easy to shape and bore.

Sweet gum trees are found throughout the eastern united states. Wide sapwood is whitish to light pink or tan color and is sometimes referred to as sapgum or sweetgum heartwood is gray to reddish brown and is commonly referred to as redgum heartwood with darker black streaks is called figured redgum quartersawn pieces have a ribbon stripe appearance. I will never try to use it in tables and. A faint to marked bluish tinge is the result of fungus infection.

The often beautifully figured stock can resemble walnut. Gluing them up in wide panels is asking for heartbreak. And when quartersawn it passes as the costly circassian walnut fancied for fine furniture and gunstocks. The heartwood varies through shades of red reddish brown and brown and may include a very attractive grain figure sometimes called figured red gum.

Sweet gum wood is valued for its attractive interlocked grain. It did serve as a curative for confederate soldiers dysentery and was harvested during the second world war when asian supplies were cut off.