Is American Elm A Hardwood

A wooden hand plane made of american elm.

Is american elm a hardwood.

The wood of american elm is very hard and was a. Jim cadwell wikimedia commons cc by sa 3 0. American elm is growing 4 7 million m 3 per year while the harvest is 2 5 million m 3 per year. The color of the heartwood ranges from light tan to warm brown with creamy light sapwood.

Because the tree is fast growing and bears seeds at a young age it has been able to continue in areas where older trees have died though the newer elms also succumb to the disease at a relatively. The wood of the hard elms sometimes referred to as rock elm generally range from 41 to 47 lbs ft 3 while soft elms typically have a density from 35 to 38 lbs ft 3. The net volume after harvest is increasing 2 18 million m 3 each year. The most basic division of elm species is between hard and soft elm.

Elm growth exceeds harvest in most significant producing states with. Hardwoods make the best wooden toys. It has an attractive grain that resembles ash. Red elm has a grayish white to light brown narrow sapwood with heartwood that is reddish brown to dark brown in color.

Elm growing stock is 258 million m 3 1 9 of total u s. American elm was once a dominant component of bottomland hardwood forest of the upper great lakes region. This was due in part to its rather high shade tolerance relative to many of its bottomland associates and its ability to persist in flooded conditions for long periods of time. According to the fact sheet on american elm usda forest service once a very popular and long lived 300 years shade and street tree american elm suffered a dramatic decline with the introduction of dutch elm disease a fungus spread by a bark beetle.

The bendability moe is 1 4 million psi for american and 1 54 million psi for rock. American hardwood information center. Fia data shows u s. American elm is a tough and durable hardwood.

Hardness is 830. American elm is especially susceptible to dutch elm disease and was ravaged by the fungal disease in the second half of the twentieth century.