Box elder in cues ?

[DaveK]

Howdy,

This weekend we went to an artist tour in nearby lake country. At one place we saw an interesting wood table with lovely reddish/pinkish streaking. It was made from what I know as Manitoba maple, apparently better known as Box elder (Acer negundo). At another gentleman's place there were some lovely turnings, had to buy a wine stopper to have sample of this wood.

Has anyone used this in a cue ? Any examples / pictures ? This might be an Eric Crisp thing as the wood is not typically available commercially from what I know (it grows locally here in the Canadian prairies).

Box Elder | The Wood Database (Hardwood)

www.wood-database.com

Thanks,

Dave

 

[muskyed]

The red will turn to brown. No amount or type of finish will stop it. Some finishes will slow down the transformation, but will never stop it. If you were to put your cue in a case after use, the red will probably last a long time. The more its kept out of the light, the longer the color will last.
Keep in mind box elder is soft and somewhat porus, somewhat like yellow birch.
The vase in this picture was box elder and I turned it apx 10 years ago, and the color went away a couple years after that, but it was openly displayed. It's about 12" tall and a wall thickness of about 1/16".
It has always been a pet pieve of mine to see woodturners sell pretty box elder pieces without disclosing the fact that if displayed the pretty red color will turn to brown. I avoid box elder in my turnings for the most part now.