# Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) seasoning



## slabmaster (Mar 30, 2008)

Has anyone had any expierence drying this wood. I know these trees don't grow very big, but they grow in my woodlot and i was thinking on useing it for small pieces on the guitars i build. Is it easy or hard to season? The one tree i cut down last fall has not not cracked on the butt end yet and i did not seal it with anything. That suprizes me. This wood is as hard as a rock as well. I plan on resawing it with my bandsaw as the pieces i need are only 19" long 3" wide and 3/8" thick to be used as fretboards and bridges. I've been told that this white colored wood doesn't yellow with age.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Well just to see some action in the milling section, I'll guess I be the first to say I know nothing about Hornbeam. But I'd like to know how it turns out.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

TexasTimbers said:


> I'll guess I be the first to say I know nothing about Hornbeam.


I will be the second :blush:






.


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

A quick scan of the data I have available shows only that it is prone to severe warping during kiln drying but I saw no comments on air drying. I don't dry any wood myself, so have no direct knowledge.

I bought a few planks of hophornbeam which has (to me at least so far) a confusing relationship with hornbeam. They share many common names so although the botanical names show them in differerent genera, it's hard to know for sure just what you've got when you buy one or the other. Their characteristics are quite similar except that hophornbeam is supposedly even harder than hornbeam.

I buy as many differnt woods as I can to take pics of for my web site and where possible I then use them in segmented bowls but hophornbeam is so tough that I rarely use it and still have most of what I bought a couple of years ago. Not only is it tough to cut and tough to turn, if I put it next to a softer wood (and most woods are softer) that can cause prooblems. Also, it's mostly a rather bland wood. If it were a lot prettier I might put up with the hardness but on this stuff I don't see any point.

Let's see some pics of whatever you end up making with the stuff you have.

Paul


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