Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
That redbud wood is very pretty. If I were handier, I might see if I could make that into a vase or a bowl or a cutting board. Alas, I’m not that talented!
It never occurred to me that eastern redbud would be a good wood for projects, but it is. The pieces we have that aren’t rotten are too small for bowls, etc. The larger trunk pieces are mostly full of rot as you can see in the pictures. I hate to cut them down because they still bloom on some live branches, but that is early spring only & for the rest of the year, they have really become unsightly overall.
Interesting info on eastern redbud wood:
https://easternredbudtrees.finuvol.com/eastern-redbud-wood/
The link mentioned tools, among other things. (The bowl that is shown is beautiful!)
A few years ago we went to a Mennonite farm market in SE Tennessee. I bought a food sized mallet from there. Hubby balked at first, but he LOVES it now. He uses it to pound meats to thin them. Usually chicken, but sometimes beef and pork. It’s his go to tool before he gets them on the grill.
I bet a piece of redbud would make a great food mallet.
Ok, so a couple of weeks ago, after we had gotten our dangerous 180 year old hickory tree down, we had a landscaping contractor come out to talk about helping us with flagstone installation and possibly making a water feature from said tree. Well, we got his bid today. It’s WAY more than twice was I was thinking. Either I’m a terrible estimator (quite possible), a total cheapskate (also possible) or the company wants to take advantage of how much income he assumes we make (also a possibility).
Nevertheless, using them is now a hard NO. Maybe down the road, but it would be the last part of the project that we might award. Maybe next Spring.
In the meantime, I’ll be working in the meditation garden a little bit every day. Weeding, leveling the ground, and making plans. I expect that a bit of sweat equity will help me stay on budget out there, as usual.
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