Sweet Gums - Worth?

[dirtworksequip]

Here's a round tray my wife's uncle made years ago out of Sweet Gum. Sort of pretty.

 

[ToadHill]

I don't know if the species you have is the right one or not, Gum trees have several species and are also known as Tupelo. Wood carvers use Tupelo to carve birds especially. It is light white wood and it holds detail well. Bird carvers work with power carvers and tupelo seems to be their wood of choice.

 

[Farmerford]

Dirtworks, that is a beautiful tray. I see why andrewj was impressed by sweetgum furniture.

I have an ample supply here in west Georgia and was going to dig them up with the backhoe next spring and burn them. Now I may get some one with a portable sawmill to mill some lumber for me. I wonder how much they twist when drying.

 

[dirtworksequip]

FarmerFord, don't know how it dries or what care is needed after it is cut. That piece actually came from Maysville,GA area.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[hobie]

What a great place this is! I didn't know what a Sweet Gum was, but I looked up a tree we have a few years back. It is a Tupelo. We don't have many on our place, but they grow pretty thick near the beaches. I can see how they'd be a pain to clear. Wish I'd known about the carving. One brother took down a smalll one last year. Another bros' father in law is a terrific bird carver. Would have been nice to give him some.

 

[Soundguy]

Not a tree guy. Looking to start to clean out some woods in front of the new place. I would venture to guess that about 1/2 of the trees in there are sweet gums. I (and my wife) am/are not fans of the sweet gum. Color isn't great in fall, those **** little spikey balls, and well, we just don't like them.

Once down, are they good for anything? Mulch? Firewood? I, as mentioned, don't know anything about hardwood, softwood, etc so not sure what burns well, what doesn't.

Bottomline - would there be anyone that "deals" with trees that might be interested in these OR do I just need to take them down and dispose of them?

Thanks guys!!

Sweet gum is like a weed here in central florida... if you cut it down.. it springs right back up unless you rip out every root.

soundguy