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Sawing Sweet Gum
Question
Forum Responses
From contributor V: I sawed roughly 2,300 bf of gum about a month ago, and the stuff was very stable, without any major warping. One tree had issues with a rotten core and I believe it had a bacterial infection. The heartwood on this one tree, once cut past the rot had a heavily marbleized heartwood with odd lines looking something like zircote. This white wood should not sit long in the summer heat if you wish to preserve the natural white sapwood color. Here in NJ most log ends of gum will average 1/3 heartwood and 2/3 sapwood, so if you have more heartwood and are specifically sawing for that, the heat in your area may not be such an issue because the heartwood takes longer to discolor. I have not seen this wood spalt before and I imagine it will more likely discolor into ugly muddy forms, as this is not the time of year to start spalting for nice black lines. Proper sawing and centering the grain as contributor A stated should help.
From the original questioner: Thanks for the tips. I was afraid to let them lay very long as in our area with the temp and humidity, it doesn't take gum long to deteriorate. We'll try to get the rest off the ground and give them some time. Thanks again. From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor: The stresses in the tree with gum are well known to be very large from time to time. These stresses will be released when sawing, so it is best to turn the log frequently or to use a two saw cutting process, such as a Skrag mill or twin band, that cuts evenly off of both sides at the same time. Note that these stresses are more or less permanent, so log storage relaxes only a few of the stresses. (I agree that staining and spalting are a risk in warm weather.) These stresses will cause a great deal of warp in drying. 12" sticker spacing helps with top weights, but even then warp is common. Not all logs have these stresses, but the majority of sites do. From contributor A: For me this is the best time of year to get logs for spalting. I try to get all of my spalting stock in April and May if at all possible. For good sap gum boards I try to fell the logs in late fall and saw by February. They seem to dry out some and "relax" better. I try very hard not to saw heart gum in the heat of summer as checking is very bad.
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