ML96

This is the ML96 turned out for me in elm. This was Uncle's practice piece as I had found him a bit of seasoned oak which unfortunately he recently discovered had a split up the middle and couldn't use. The prototype looks good to me.

 

It looks very smart Jean, but in my opinion the foot of the stand needs to be wider, Jeff.

 

Very nice piece of handcraft Jean.
Nice material, Elm-Wood and very nice woodstructure, looks warm and cozy and fits the lamp beautifully. The large Elms, they all died here in DK 13 years ago app.

Claus C

 

Same here in the UK - Dutch Elm Disease. Seems longer than 13 years ago, though...

 

Claus, the wood came from an elm tree in the garden - we lost three in all.

Jeff, well spotted! The vase was more or less 100% finished when my Uncle decided to do just a little bit more and a chip flew out from the base. Because this was a test piece it was finished as is and I'm very happy with it. Some day he may manage to make one in oak and will make the base to the correct diameter as my cousin worked out the measurements with, I think, a 3D imaging programme.

 

Unfortunately I can remember it from around 1967 in my neck of the woods. Dutch Elm Disease that is.

 

The elms are almost all dead here. Most are regrettably too small to use as saw/logs, but they are excellent firewood if you get to them before they begin to rot.

 

In the UK Dutch Elm Disease caught on strongly in the late 1960's, and in the following decade and some we lost 20 million of 30 million trees. Seems we had it back in the 1920's too:

Woodlands - Brighton.

Forestry Commission.

Beautiful piece of wood. Elm was the usual choice for the bottoms of canal narrow boats, as when kept wet it lasted a very long time.

 

In the 19th and early 20th C. in the US, elm was used for wagon wheel hubs because of it's toughness. I've talked with older blacksmiths and an elm stump was often used as an anvil stand. A tree of sufficient size was cut flush with the ground. The stump was inverted, and the root flair served as a tool rest.

The elms began dying in New Jersey in the late 50s. When I lived in Vermont in the 70s, there were still live elms in rural and isolated areas. Most are dead now, with a few sprouts from the roots of former giants. Their wine glass shape was distinctive and you could pick them out from a distance.

The elms were not the only loss. At one time it was estimated that 10% of the US forest cover east of the Mississippi was Chestnut, perhaps a billion trees. We have lost a lot to "alien species", and the forests are different than they were in the past.

Paul