 American Elm (Ulmus americana)
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Common Name(s): American Elm, Soft Elm, Water Elm Scientific Name: Ulmus americana Distribution: Eastern to Midwest United States Tree Size: 100 ft (30 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) trunk diameter Average Dried Weight: 38 lbs/ft3 (605 kg/m3) Hardness: 830 lbf (3,690 N) Rupture Strength: 11,800 lbf/in2 (81,380 kPa) Elastic Strength: 1,340,000 lbf/in2 (9,240 MPa) Crushing Strength: 5,520 lbf/in2 (38.1 MPa) Shrinkage: Radial: 4.2%, Tangential: 9.5%, Volumetric: 14.6%, T/R Ratio: 2.3 |
Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light to medium brown, sometimes with a hint of red. Sapwood is a pale white or cream color.
Grain/Pore: Has a medium texture and moderate-sized pores. Grain is sometimes straight, but commonly interlocked.
Endgrain: Ring-porous; medium to large earlywood pores in a continuous row one or two pores wide, small latewood pores in wavy bands; tyloses occasionally present in earlywood; growth rings distinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma vasicentric and confluent.
Durability: Rated as moderately durable to non-durable in regard to heartwood decay, but is susceptible to insect attack, and living trees are very commonly destroyed by Dutch elm disease.
Workability: Can be a challenge to work because of interlocked grain, especially on quartersawn surfaces. Planing can cause tearout and/or fuzzy surfaces. Glues, stains, and finishes well.
Scent: Elm usually has a strong, unpleasant smell when green; though once dried has very little odor.
Safety: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Elm in the Ulmus genus has been reported as a sensitizer. Usually most common reactions simply include eye and skin irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Price/Availability: Should be moderately priced, though availability from mature trees has been greatly diminished by Dutch elm disease.
Comments: Elm trees are commonly infected with Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease spread by elm bark beetles. D.E.D. has wiped out millions of Elm trees worldwide.
Common uses for elm include: boxes, baskets, furniture, hockey sticks, veneer, wood pulp, and papermaking.
Scans/Pictures: Shown below is a piece of lumber from a small tree that was killed by Dutch elm disease. Being so young, there was very little heartwood formed yet, (the darker brown wood on the right half), with the majority of the wood being sapwood (light area on the left half of the scans).
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American Elm (sanded) |
 American Elm (sealed) |
 American Elm (endgrain) |
 American Elm (endgrain 10x) |
February 20th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
very distinctive odor. as does basswood. are you only refering to just putting your nose to the board? of course the smell won’t be as strong as when cutting but you can still get a whiff !!!!!!!! nice website, thanks
February 21st, 2011 at 1:43 pm
I agree that this wood is very smelly when wet, but dry boards don’t seem to have much of a smell. Maybe it varies.
September 28th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
I have several good sized (60′) American Elms in my yard ready to cut, been dying and dead past 3 years… Thinking about having them Quartered and cut into wide planks.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Justin, Wide boards would be great for making tool chests! Elm is an especially good wood for making tools chests because of the low acidity, which will lessen tool corrosion.
Allen