Species data
Red Elm
Ulmus rubra - a hardwood from eastern and Midwestern North America. Also sold as slippery elm, soft elm.
Properties at a glance
| Janka hardness | 860 lbf |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 1,490,000 psi |
| Specific gravity | 0.60 |
| Density | 37.4 lb/ft3 (600 kg/m3) |
| Weight per board foot | 3.12 lb |
| Shrinkage, green to oven-dry | 8.9% tangential / 4.9% radial |
| Indicative price | $4.50 per board foot (estimated) |
Values are at about 12% moisture content. Density is specific gravity times 62.4; a board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot, so weight per board foot is that density divided by twelve. Anything marked estimated is our own figure, not a measured one.
How Red Elm compares
Measured against the 113 solid woods in this database: it is harder than 41% of them, heavier than 46%, and stiffer than 37%.
What that means in the shop
A 4/4 board 8 inches wide and 8 feet long is 5.33 board feet, so in Red Elm it weighs about 16.6 lb. A stack of ten is 166 lb - worth knowing before you load a rack or a car.
Against red oak, the trade's usual yardstick at 1,220 lbf, Red Elm is about 70% as hard and 86% as heavy.
Its shrinkage is 8.9% tangential against 4.9% radial, a ratio of 1.8 to 1. The wider that ratio, the more unevenly a flatsawn board moves across its width as humidity changes, and the more it wants to cup; anything near or above 2 to 1 is worth quartersawing or restraining for panels and wide tops. This one moves comparatively evenly.
Woods of similar hardness
Closest to Red Elm on hardness in this database: African Mahogany (850 lbf), Bigleaf Maple (850 lbf), Black Ash (850 lbf), Longleaf Pine (870 lbf). Similar hardness does not mean similar behaviour - check density and movement before substituting one for another.
Working with it
Workability. Interlocked grain causes tearout that complicates working; glues, stains, finishes and steam-bends well
Durability. Non-durable, with susceptibility to insect attack
Typical uses. furniture, boxes, baskets, hockey sticks, veneer.
Related calculators
Sources
MOE, SG (12% MC), Janka and shrinkage from The Wood Database (cites USDA FPL Wood Handbook). Uses, region, durability and workability summarized from The Wood Database. Red Elm is not listed in the FPL/Hoadley dimensional change coefficient table, so CT/CR are omitted. Price indicative.
These calculators are for planning and estimation. Engineering results (shelf sag, wood movement) use published average material properties; real boards vary by grade, grain, moisture and defects. Verify load-bearing designs with a professional.