How hard is Box Elder wood?

Box Elder has a Janka side-hardness of 720 lbf (3,200 N), per USDA Forest Products Laboratory values at 12% moisture content. It is a soft wood that works easily under both hand and machine.

What is Box Elder used for?

It is commonly used for bowls, pen blanks, small ornaments, crates, charcoal, and pulp. It glues, turns, and finishes cleanly, though spalted boards can hide punky spots that should be stabilized before cutting.

Does the red color in Box Elder last?

The red flame in the heartwood comes from Fusarium fungus, and most of it fades on drying, so the flame at the saw is not the flame in the finished piece. Box Elder is also non-durable and not suited to outdoor use.

DomesticAcer negundo

Box Elder

The flame in this wood is a fungus the tree fought and lost.

Box Elder (Acer negundo) is a domestic hardwood with a Janka hardness of 720 lbf. It is a true maple despite its compound leaves, with pale sapwood and gray-brown heartwood that can show a red flame caused by Fusarium fungus.

Category: Domestic
Janka: 720 lbf
Botanical: Acer negundo
Shipped at: 6–8% MC

Acer negundo Widely distributed across the United States and southern Canada

Widely distributed across the United States and southern Canada.

True maple despite the name and the compound leaves. Pale sapwood, sometimes greenish-yellow like poplar.

Detail of Box Elder grain — figured wood texture, photographed at Raw Heartwood — A close read on the grain. Detail of this specimen

What you see.

Pale sapwood, sometimes greenish-yellow like poplar. Heartwood runs gray-brown until Fusarium gets in — that is where the red flame comes from. Most of it fades on drying. The flame at the saw is not the flame in the finished piece.

Heartwood color detail of Box Elder (Acer negundo)

Heartwood, this specimen

How the grain runs.

Straight to slightly irregular grain. Fine, even texture, low luster. Pores so small the rings barely show.

Closer in

On the bench.

Non-durable. The same vulnerability that lets fungus in is what gives you the figure. Soft. Easy under hand and machine. Glues, turns, finishes clean. Spalted boards hide punky spots — stabilize before you cut. Wet boards smell sour. Goes away with the moisture. Like other maples, dust can irritate skin and lungs in sensitized workers. Pollen is the more familiar problem, but that is the tree, not the timber.

The numbers, looked at directly.

Janka Hardness

0lbf

3,200 N. Side-hardness — force to embed a half-inch steel ball halfway into the wood.

Average Dried Weight

0lbs/ft³

485 kg/m³. At 12% MC.

Specific Gravity

0.42/ 0.49 at 12% MC

Basic over green volume; second number at 12% moisture content.

Hardness, in context

A side-hardness measurement. Higher number, harder wood.

Shrinkage — radial / tangential / volumetric

3.9%radial

7.4%tangential

14.8%volumetric

On sourcing

Where this wood comes from matters.

Not on CITES. Not on the IUCN Red List. Fast-growing, weedy, abundant.

What it's for.

Bowls
Pen blanks
Small ornaments
Crates
Charcoal
Pulp

Worth knowing.

True maple despite the name and the compound leaves. The only North American maple with pinnate foliage. The flame that sells the boards is the tree fighting fungus. Sick trees make the prettiest figure.

Sources & references.

Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-282) — USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (2021)
Silvics of North America: Acer negundo L. — Boxelder — Overton, Ronald P. (USDA Forest Service) (1990)
Acer negundo — IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — Crowley, D.; Barstow, M.; Rivers, M.C. (2017)
Acer negundo — Wikipedia contributors
Boxelder (Acer negundo) — The Wood Database
Acer negundo — Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) — Rosario, Lora C. (USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station) (1988)

Common questions.

How hard is Box Elder wood?: Box Elder has a Janka side-hardness of 720 lbf (3,200 N), per USDA Forest Products Laboratory values at 12% moisture content. It is a soft wood that works easily under both hand and machine.
What is Box Elder used for?: It is commonly used for bowls, pen blanks, small ornaments, crates, charcoal, and pulp. It glues, turns, and finishes cleanly, though spalted boards can hide punky spots that should be stabilized before cutting.
Does the red color in Box Elder last?: The red flame in the heartwood comes from Fusarium fungus, and most of it fades on drying, so the flame at the saw is not the flame in the finished piece. Box Elder is also non-durable and not suited to outdoor use.

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