I have been using Elm for smaller boxes, letter openers, and pencil boxes. The logs were salvaged from the Penn State University Park campus during the winter storms of 1995 and 1996. Many trees were removed after being severely damaged by the heavy snow.
Elm is one of the rare woods in which the pores are arranged in wavy bands, and often give the wood a feather-like appearance. Its color is usually a light brown to gray, but depending on the tree can have some dark brown areas and even a creamy brown color in the sap wood.
I make a variety of different sizes and designs from Elm. The specialty piece is the Elm pencil box with the Lion profile (as seen below). All other boxes have the traditional Shaker box “fingers” or swallow tails, while the fronts of the Elm pencil boxes show a Lion profile.
To see more information on current Elm Projects, please see The Elms section.
To see more locally salvaged trees, please view The Trees section.
