American Beech, troubled mind.

[Poindexter]

Please, please please, those of you back east, keep an eye on what your sellers are offering.

I do hereby commit to taking a woodworking class in the Cincinnati/ Covington area summer 2024. I will rent a pickup truck and drag my gains back to Seattle where they can be shipped by ship to Anchorage, and then by rail on to Fairbanks.

The Ash that made it up here after the emerald borer is crap. I hate that, but I am not letting this beech go by. The trick about beech is it is tricky to season without checking, warping, and cupping. I am looking really for experienced lumber kiln operators.

Beech is not an especially desirable material for content creators on youtube addicted to pocket screws, but with old fashioned dovetail joints the fact that beech "moves seasonally even more than" eastern white oak is not really a concern. The interior of my sawtill is finished with I think hemp oil and Johnson's floor wax, directly off the plane iron with no sand paper to speak of used. The exterior is in milk paint and I don't care about the seasonal cracking in the milk paint finish.

The French Cleat at the top of my till is "flame grain," as are the drawer fronts. The plain grain has, I think, a lovely luster with just an oil and wax finish, no polyurethane required.

 

[KDubU]

Beech is a gorgeous wood if one knows how to work with it.

 

[SpaceBus]

I have some nice beech wood products at home. Definitely not as interesting as deep figured maple or mahogany, but nice if you like lighter color wold. I wish I knew what you were taking about in regards to the till, looks like I'll be learning new things

 

[Poindexter]

I have some nice beech wood products at home. Definitely not as interesting as deep figured maple or mahogany, but nice if you like lighter color wold. I wish I knew what you were taking about in regards to the till, looks like I'll be learning new things

Pic of saw till.

I like beech because the face grain is fairly subdued, comforting, relaxing to be around. But the flame grain, and the quartersawn edge grain, both offer a great deal of visual interest if you are into that sort of thing.

 

[Poindexter]

This one is edge grain of flat sawn stock, ie quarter sawn surface of American Beech. I know all y'all are going to burn lots of this and I am over it, but I want to do at least one room of furniture out of this wood before it goes away forever.

 

[SpaceBus]

Pic of saw till.

I like beech because the face grain is fairly subdued, comforting, relaxing to be around. But the flame grain, and the quartersawn edge grain, both offer a great deal of visual interest if you are into that sort of thing.

View attachment 313497

Oh, it's like a rifle rack for nice saws. I love light colored wood, so it looks great to me! I have an air rifle waring a quarter sawn Beech stock, and at the right angle it looks really nice.

 

[peakbagger]

I have sawn up a few large beech trees and have them in my air drying stacks mixed in with other woods. No matter how straight the grain, even with a 2 foot high stack of other wood on top of it, it still likes to twist.

It used to be very popular for drawer sides on furniture, but rarely was it used for face wood. I think the tight grain is good for holding dovetails.

 

[EbS-P]

Even tulip poplar can have some nice grain. But I think it’s more random. If I were to go all in on wood working I would seek out a band saw mill. I think if you like wood having the ability to saw up a lot and then choose the best 10% would be what would set my projects apart. That and really paying attention to final surface condition.

 

[mcdougy]