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Anyone ever use Elm?

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reddogge

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Elm stocked Swedish Mausers were always fascinating to me. Very striking pattern and color. Anyone ever use elm to stock a rifle? If so, please post pictures.
 
:shake: American Elm doesen't even make good potato crates! It never sleeps, wanders all over the place.and is a pure dee bear to finish. The Mauser elm was a totally different variety of Ulmus.
 
Thanks. I guess that's why I don't see any American Elm stocks. The European elm is spectacular though.
 
Someone posted on here a few months ago that he had seen a red elm stocked rifle at the Contemporary Longrifle Show this year.
"Chinese" elm makes a very good cabinet wood. Correct common name is Siberian elm, Ulmus parvifolia, if I remember right. Chinese elm can make a very good stock wood. Here is one I built for a cabinet maker, who did not want it stained.
Pict0155.jpg
Oh, I also built the other two.
 
I read an article in either Muzzleloader or the Backwoodsman that reported quarter sawn Elm to be an excellent and unappreciated stock wood. I would only use it if I were recreating an original that was stocked in Elm and I could find some.
 
I agree with Lonesomebob, I've sawn a few Chinese elm logs and everyone of them were so twisted and gnarled the boards came off the saw warping. The figure and coloration found in our local elm is beautiful but other than small projects I would be leary of of the wood remaining stable with seasonal ambient moisture fluctuations.
 
In the article I read, the guy was cutting all his stock blanks out using a chainsaw from at or below groung level wood.
 
Siberian elm and American elm are two different animals in characteristics. American elm is quite stable when properly dried. It reminds me alot of ash actually. There are few American elms left that are big enough for saw logs. The largest American Elm I've ever seen just died about five years ago. I doubt 4 people could grasp hands around it's trunk. It must have been a couple hundred years old. It's slowly rotting away just on the other side of the fence behind our back pasture.
 
Herb,
That is an interesting pattern on a stock. Too bad the customer wouldn't go for some stain. It could make a difference.
 
:rotf: Hi John!!!!!I condemmed more than my share back during the Dutch elm days. Ford attempted to use Elm on the woodies, it was a mess and sycamore isn't any better.
 
I asked a wood worker one time, what was elm used for. He said it made excellent hubs for wooden wagon wheels. Said there were none better and that is almost all you see as hubs. Don't know if it is true or not, just passing on what I was told. Mike is right though about it being similiar to ash. It is also an excellent place to look for spring mushrooms around the dead elm that are starting peel their bark, same as dead ash.
 
Where there was good figure, it was very nice and hard. Couldn't use a scraper on it, for it would dig into the dark stripes, which I guess are spring growth with open pores. Had to use a sanding block. But I liked working with it, and I tried various stains on a slab and liked the way it looked. The hard grain could almost look like marble.
Pict0143.jpg
 
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