Hello,

Elm, as we call it here, is even more common throughout Asia, widely used and highly valued in Japanese building construction as well as furniture. Some years back, down there at the Amsterdam lumber yard they were selling stacks and stacks of old doors imported from China, (no doubt some village or villages, were demolished to make way for a factory complex or hydro electricity damn), most of these were also made of Elm wood - Iep or Ulm as they call it here. I have noticed it is common in the landscapes of Central Asia and have seen it growing widely in Western China.

I think in Europe you would find it growing no further north than probably the southern halve of Sweden. Here in Holland there is a ban on transporting freshly cut Elm with the bark still on it in connection with this mould there which leads to the tree's dying. It seems this sickness is gaining strength from out of the south as the temperate zone expands along with the warming of the Earth.

There is a section of the barn here where the walls are planked with Elm wood and they show a great deal more worm damage throughout, spint and heart wood, than the pine planks next to them.

I have used Elm wood in making furniture and it is a fine and easy wood to work with hand tools in both wet and dry states so I can guess that hewing in it would pose no particular problems.

Here is some Elm wood I've had out back leaning up against a Willow drying now for two or three years. Nice thick planks.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Last edited by Cecile en Don Wa; 01/09/12 08:30 AM.