Ulmus Parvifolia - Wood and Timber

Wood and Timber

Elms, hickory and ash all have remarkably hard, tough wood that has made them popular for things like tool handles, bows, and baseball bats. Chinese elm is considered the hardest of the elms. Due to its superior hardness, toughness, and resistance to splitting, Chinese elm is said to be the best of all woods for chisel handles and similar uses.

Chinese elm lumber is used most for furniture, cabinets, veneer, hardwood flooring, as well as specialty uses such as long bow construction and tool handles. Most of the commercially milled lumber goes directly to manufacturers rather than to retail lumber outlets.

Chinese elm heartwood ranges in tone from reddish brown to light tan or flesh colored, while the sapwood approaches off-white. The grain is often handsome and dramatic. Unlike other elms, freshly cut Chinese elm has a peppery or spicy odor. While it turns easily and will take a nice polish off the lathe without any finish, and it holds detail well, the fibrous wood is usually considered too tough for carving or hand tools. Chinese elm contains silica which is hard on planer knives and chainsaws, but it sands fairly easily. Like other woods with interlocking grain, planes should be kept extra sharp to prevent tearing at the grain margins. It steam-bends easily, holds screws well but pilot holes and countersinking are needed. It tends to be a "lively" wood, tending to warp and distort while drying. This water resistant wood easily takes most finishes and stains.

Donald J. Leopold (1980) raises concern that many experts including nurserymen and foresters mistakenly refer to Ulmus pumila, the rapidly growing, commonly urban-planted, disease-ridden, short-lived, brittle Siberian elm, as "Chinese elm." This has given the true "Chinese elm" a falsely deserved bad reputation. Fortunately, the two elms are very distinct and different trees. Among other obvious differences, with age the Siberian elm's bark becomes deeply ridged and furrowed, and possesses a very rough, grayish-black appearance, but the Chinese elm's smooth bark becomes flaky and blotchy, exposing very distinctive, light-colored mottling. Hence the appealing name, lace bark elm, as a common name for the real Chinese elm.