# Is sweet gum any good?



## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Hi,

Today I came to work to find out that they are cutting some decent seize sweet gum trees outside my office. In the near future we want to put a bench outside the office. Is this wood any good to build a timber bench? 

Any hints?


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

It would have to be sealed VERY well...sweetgum turns black/ugly with just a little outside/rain exposure. It is decent wood, hard as heck to get to dry flat though it's very prone to cup/twist/warp/bow one of the worst I mill. I have a few spalting right now that should look fantastic when I mill them, and hopefully stay flat.

Sawn thick like for a slab type bench it should not move quite as much (still saw oversized though) and a good Spar marine varnish would work.


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## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Thanks Daren,

I was thinking about using the entire trunk split in half (long ways) one half would be the seat the other half the back rest. I would have to think about the design. What is a good recomended sealer sine I could do that tomorrow ( they are cutting the trees as we speak). I will try to take pictures of it in a little bit.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

We've also been given a bunch of nice standing sweet gum that's got to go. But there's a lot of more valuable trees we've got to get first. Our only incentive to mill some of it is we don't have any in stock. I guess the dozers will get the rest.

Sweet gum makes two kinds of lumber: _sap gum_ and _red gum._ The red gum takes its name from the red heart wood and it's the most prized of the two. You can also get red streaks in the sapwood that some find worth extra coin. Trim, furniture and flooring are the main uses of red gum. There's a considerable amount of sapwood in sweet gum so you don't end up getting a lot of red gum from smaller logs. 

It has interlocking grain and is hard to dry flat. Typically it is flat sawn, cut a bit oversized, stickerd closer than normal, and heavily weighted to help tame it.


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## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

Thanks a lot for your advise,

The tree guy that is cutting them down keeps trying to talk me out if it. He says that is a pain in the axe to split sweetgum. Instead he asked me if I could use a wild cherry that he is taking down today or tomorrow (that was not flagged but now it is:shifty.

What kind of sealer do you guys recomend? I will try to buy it ASAP so I can seal the log as son as they take it down.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

ecologito said:


> He says that is a pain in the axe to split sweetgum.
> 
> Instead he asked me if I could use a wild cherry that he is taking down today or tomorrow (that was not flagged but now it is:shifty.
> 
> What kind of sealer do you guys recomend? I will try to buy it ASAP so I can seal the log as son as they take it down.


He ain't fooling, like dirtclod mentioned the interlocking grain, it's hard to split green.

Wild cherry...SCORE :thumbsup:

A product like anchorseal would be best. But it sounds like you are in a pinch, 2-3 coats of exterior latex house paint will suffice for awhile. You may have to cut a little of the ends off later and reseal with the proper stuff.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I would take both. The cherry would hold up better outdoors than sweetgum. Mill the sweetgum and keep it for a rainy day.


Splitting is iffy even on straight-grained species - you could have a hidden knot that leaves an unsightly bulge or worse - a dip. If it's small enough split it on the mill. Remove one flitch from the center that contains the pith. That will isolate most of the reaction wood. You can cut the pith out of the flitch then use the rest of the flitch for legs, back, etc.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Here's some sweetgum. I like it even with all it's PITA qualities.


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## Rick C. (Dec 17, 2008)

Hey T.T.,'at shore is some purty stuff.Ecologito,I'm with dirtclod, get em both:yes:.


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## pianoman (Jan 16, 2008)

I think I`ve seen him someware!


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