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What is Flame Box Elder anyway?
Flame Box Elder has many regional names such as Red River Maple (the one most common here in my area of Texas), Manitoba Maple (in Canada), and in Russia it is referred to as "American Maple" of all things.
Other names include Ash Maple, Sugar Ash, Ashleaf Maple, California Boxelder and even Western Maple. But whatever name you use for it, it is a Maple (hence Acer), and although it is a soft Maple, it is every bit as much a hardwood as it's harder sibling Acer Saccharum . . .or "Hard Maple/Black Maple".
But what makes the Negundo species of the Acer genus develop all those pretty flames? In a nutshell, borers. The red flames develop due to the non-specific host response to borer intrusion. Similar to the way a human's immune system reacts to foreign invasion by unfriendly antagonists, trees too are complex living organisms and respond to various attacks in various ways.
A Boxelder tree will not become "flamed" unless and until borer attacks such as the Ambrosia Beetle or Box Elder Bug are undertaken against the tree. No borers, no flames. Don't you just love those bugs?
Woodworking characteristics:
- Excellent for hand plane and scraping
- Excellent for sanding; hand or power
- Excellent turning characteristics; slight tear-out tendency where highly figured
- Slight tendency to burn when cut with power tools.
- Excellent screw and nail acceptance
- Takes any type of finish well
- Excellent glue qualities
- Moderate to weak MOE and shear
- Poor outdoor use
Overall, Flame Boxelder is one of the most under-utilized indoor furniture species in North America, and without question one of the most beautiful, and I will go as far to say it is second to none in terms of stunning, head-turning appeal. |
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