Shopsmith Forums

Greetings fellow sawdust makers,

I was doing some tree cutting last week. I have a typical mix for my northern Minnesota area of oak, birch, maple and basswood that the electric company dropped near my wires. Not a whole lot of wood here, but enough to make it quite a project for me. They leave the trees on the ground for the homeowner to dispose of. I plan to make firewood out of most of it but I was thinking perhaps the basswood could have a higher calling? Because it's relatively light I've bucked the logs into 4-6 foot lengths and stacked them. Should I put forth an effort to find someone who might appreciate the basswood or just burn it up in the camp fire? Thanks for your thoughts.

Best,
Tom

Basswood is nice if you do any wood carving. It carves easier than most other woods. But, it is plain looking and not very strong like the hardwoods, so it isn't of much use in furniture type builds.
If you don't carve, save the oak and maple for projects and send the basswood to the woodstove.

I hear you Gary. It's probably all going into the campfire. I might try to turn a chunk of it green, I've heard that's a lot of fun.