Exotic Wood elm

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ELM

Ulmus spp.
Ulmus spp. of the family Ulmaceae

Various species of the genus Ulmus occur in Europe, western Asia, North America and Japan and depending on what report you read, there are somewhere between 50 and 200 different species.

Some of these are:

soft elms:
American elm (U. americana)
gray elm = soft elm = slippery elm (U. rubra)

hard elms:
water elm (U. alata)
rock elm (U. thomassi)

In a vivid demonstration of why it is that belivers in botanical names versus common names are sometimes so vehement in their condemnation of common names, elm names are all over the map. In particular, both of the names "red elm" and "rock elm" each are used to refer to numerous different Ulmus species, even though in both cases the species that they refer to have characteristics that are different enough that they should NOT be give the same name.

A common domestic in the USA, it often has interlocked grain and frequently has excellent bending properties.

my samples: the colors are quite accurate (except as specifically noted).

red elm planks and closeup

red elm sample plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

English elm sample plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

the second pic is the end grain of the first piece so you can clearly see that this is flat cut. Contrast this raw, rough end grain with what it looks like after sanding (but no finishing agent) in the bowl at the bottom of this page. The bowl pieces are from the same plank as this sample.

these samples are from a couple of sections of a different plank. It is rift sawn and is considerably darker and duller than the first plank and has a much more uniform grain pattern. The samples below are from a different lot and show a much more lively elm, not just because they are flat cut rather than quartersawn but also because the wood is more colorful than this plank.

closeup and end grain of the 2nd piece directly above

cut from the same long plank as the one directly above, this one is shown dry and then moistened with water

small piece and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

two sides of a piece cut from a nicely figured red elm plank --- the color is exact

the first pic is the same as the one directly above it except that the wood has been sprayed with water just to show how nice the grain pattern is with a finishing agent. The second pic is to show the end and side grain of the same piece.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

a set of thins cut from a plank from the same lot as the one that yielded those samples directly above --- the color has been overcorrected and shows too much red; these pieces should have the exact same color as the previous samples

sample plank and end grain. This sample plank, although not advertised as such, is clearly of a crotch area and thus is not representative of how the lumber looks --- this lack of representativeness is fairly common in the samples available from the IWCS

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

two pieces of the same long spalted elm plank and a closeup of one section

small plank cut from the larger one above and sanded for the pic, and an end grain shot. NOTE: this image is TERRIBLE at showing the grain, but if you click on it, the enlargements are good.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

front (sanded) and back (rough) of a piece sent to me for identification --- red elm, I believe

a couple of flat cut red elm veneer sheets (first pic) and some closeups from them

quartersawn red elm veneer

quartersawn red elm veneer with small ray flakes that didn't show up well in the direct shot so I've added an angled shot that shows them somewhat better

quartersawn red elm veneer with ray flakes, and a closeup --- the color is too light; should be the darker brown of the piece directly above.

gray elm veneer long sheet and closeup --- the yellow color in the distance view is not correct --- the closeup has the correct color

one side of an American white elm plank and a closeup

the other side of the plank directly above, and a closeup

American white elm plank and end grain --- this was cut from the larger plank above

end grain closeup of the plank directly above

web pics

planks just listed as "elm" with no further designation

both sides of a bowl blank just listed as "elm"

plank and closeup, just listed as elm and with a demonstration of how the same camera and lighting can give widely different color results depending on how close the camera is to the wood (although there may have been some color manipulation on one of the pics)

red elm planks

red elm log

red elm planks and a closeup

red elm flat cut and quartersawn planks; then grain shows better in the enlargements

red elm plank with wet and dry sections

listed as American red elm plank

pippy elm plank

crotch plank

American elm crotch, cut by Jeff M. who posted these pics

a whole slew of pics, also posted by Jeff M., of a large American elm tree that he is sawing up

pen blanks made from an elm crotch

crotch turning block

red elm veneer --- I believe this piece must have been watered or oiled

listed as quartersawn red elm veneer although the 2nd pic is clearly NOT of quartesawn, but rift cut --- vendors tend to not use the term rift cut, perhaps believing that it is not widely understood, so on something like this that is rift cut but for the most part appears very close to quartersawn, they just list it as quartersawn.

red elm veneer

elm veneer, "American" elm veneer, and "American" elm plank

white elm planks --- the upright planks in the 2nd pic have been moistened for the pic

Siberian elm planks

three views of a set of 4 Siberian elm planks in 2 book-matched pairs. The first pic is the raw wood and the other two pics show the planks from the other side and moistened with mineral spirits

a set of siberian elm planks with one side shown wet and then the other side shown dry

Siberian elm turning stock all from the same vendor, and she does put too much red into her pics so I assume that's the case here

Japanese elm veneer

pippy English elm that has been moistened (upper right corner is still dry for comparison)

European veneer

gray elm plank

gray elm veneer

Chinese elm planks

Chinese elm pen blanks

planks listed as southern chinese elm (left) and norther chinese elm (right)

Japanese elm

planks listed as "rock" elm

plank listed as slippery elm

two sections from a large plank of birdseye elm

burls

burls (the middle shot is a closeup of the left pic

Oregon elm burls

English elm burl

English elm pin burl

burl veneer

listed as just elm burl veneer, I believe is to be what is normally sold as carpathian burl veneer, which I show on a separate page

gray elm burl veneer

spalted elm

spalted red elm

three views of a spalted red elm plank

an almost unbelievable piece of spalted elm that is reportedly solid throughout even though the spalting is obviously quite advanced.

red elm bowl blank and red elm bowl

bowl listed as red/slippery elm and one just listed as red elm

red elm vase --- although the color is conceivable, I think it's likely just poor photography

elm bowls --- the first was just listed as elm and the second as red elm

elm burl bowl

Elm end grain matched pair as highlights on a turned bowl. Well, it was INTENDED to be elm highlights, with narra highlights at 90 degrees from this, but the narra and the elm ended up swamping out the body due to poor planning on my part. The body is guarea and the base is segments of red oak and both are alligned so I was always turning with the grain, not across it. I was, of course, turning across the grain on the narra and the elm which made the whole job rather tedious and required a lot of final turning with sandpaper. In the first picture, the bowl is unfinished except for 120-, then 220-, then 320-grit sandpaper and is fresh off the lathe. In the 2nd picture, a couple of coats of polyurethane have been applied. While the rest of the woods present clearly improve in appearance after the finishing agent is applied, it seems to me that the elm end grain suffers significantly in appearance.

This bowl is 5.5" in diameter and 4" high. The wood is from the same plank as my 3rd sample at the top of the page (the one with the 6" scale above it)

a different type of red elm as a highlight on a turned bowl. In reality the wood doesn't even look as good as it does in this picture and I regret having used in on the bowl, but I tend to try out every wood I get just to see how it will turn out. I was not pleased with the result this time. At the time of this picture, the bowl had received one coat of polyurethane. The wood is from the same plank as my 2nd sample at the top of the page (the one with the 8" scale above it).

laminated bowl with red elm section in front. The left pic is just off the lathe and the right pic is after a coat of natural stain. To the left of the elm is cocobolo and to the right is bubinga. The base is red aromatic cedar. This piece of elm is from on of my heavily grained samples at the top of this page.