Flame Box Elder (Kinda long)

[53Jim]

Hi gang,
Last weekend I picked up some wood that came down in a wind storm last fall. I had been told that the tree it came from was a box elder. As I was putting some of the rotted, outer skin pieces in my truck, I noticed some very pretty pink streaks in the wood.

My question is...does the flame-ing only occur in a particular part of the tree, or is it spread throughout all the wood?

I'm hoping it's evenly (kinda) distributed throughout, cuz there is still some wood on the ground that I could get.

Thanks for your time,
Jim

 

[Ryan]

The tree that I got was solid red at the base of the tree and got lighter as it went up. It eventually was just normal box elder. It all depends on the tree.

Ryan

 

[Doghouse]

From what I have been told, that is a byproduct of the bacteria that is left behind by the Box Elder beetle at some time of its life. I have not seen it in any other tree. The wood turns best green, and any cracks tend to just close back up when drying.

 

[thewishman]

We split box elder frequently and the flame is not uniform throughout the wood. Veins of color can be very thin (though sometimes up to 1 1/2" thick) but make the wood dramatic.