any one ever use flame elder ?
- Thread starter desi2960
- Start date
It's an incredibly lightweight, soft, weak, unstable wood. It's a step up from using cork, but far from worthy for cues. It's beautiful for sure and when stabilized with acrylic resin, is well worthy of a cue. The issue with flame box elder is that the red quickly fades to a pale brown. I have only seen it stay on wood that was cut at very high altitude, but I have no idea why. It's just an observation.
The red flame is the byproduct of bug infestation, BTW. It makes it colorful & sometimes causes figure where the tree heals over where the bugs bored. It can get really intense. The best stuff I have seen came from Texas, but box elder grows everywhere from Alaska to Florida, and flame can be present in any of it. The stuff I have is generally bright white & heavily burled, with a few pieces having some brown & red staining. There's another type of box elder I have found at elevations above 6,000ft that is very hard & heavy. The wood is very similar to hard maple, but usually caramel to chocolate brown & burly. Haven't found red flame in it. I call it mountain box elder because I have no idea of any scientific documentation for the sub-species.
The woods in this pic from left are: 1,2,3,4 are MBE, 5 is big tooth maple, 6,7,8,9,10 are typical box elder(all pieces from same tree), and 11 is MBE. You can see light flame in the box elder. All pieces are stabilized.
The red flame is the byproduct of bug infestation, BTW. It makes it colorful & sometimes causes figure where the tree heals over where the bugs bored. It can get really intense. The best stuff I have seen came from Texas, but box elder grows everywhere from Alaska to Florida, and flame can be present in any of it. The stuff I have is generally bright white & heavily burled, with a few pieces having some brown & red staining. There's another type of box elder I have found at elevations above 6,000ft that is very hard & heavy. The wood is very similar to hard maple, but usually caramel to chocolate brown & burly. Haven't found red flame in it. I call it mountain box elder because I have no idea of any scientific documentation for the sub-species.
The woods in this pic from left are: 1,2,3,4 are MBE, 5 is big tooth maple, 6,7,8,9,10 are typical box elder(all pieces from same tree), and 11 is MBE. You can see light flame in the box elder. All pieces are stabilized.
I used some for inlays. It looks great.
