American Sassafras

American Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

Sassafras heartwood is pale brown to orange brown, resembling ash or chestnut. The narrow sapwood is yellowish white. The wood has a coarse texture and is generally straight grained. Sassafras is a ring-porous species, medium strength in all categories except stiffness which is low. It is suitable for steam bending. The wood is coarse-grained, straight, brittle and soft, with a spicy aromatic odor.

Sassafras is very resistant to heartwood decay, in exposed damp conditions however, the sapwood is liable to attack by powder post beetle.

Other Names

Black Ash, Golden Elm, Cinnamon Wood, Common Sassafras, File-Gumbo, Red Sassafras, Sassafrasso, Saxifrax, , Smelling-Stick, Wah-en-nah-kas, White Sassafras.

Distribution

Sassafras is native to North America from Maine through Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and Kansas, to Florida and Texas. Average tree height is 30′ to 60′.

Availability

Extremely Limited.

American Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

The wood of sassafras is used in the manufacture of furniture, interior and exterior joinery, windows, doors and door frames, kitchen cabinets and paneling. It is a preferred wood used in boat building and fence posts.

American Sassafras

Sassafras albidum.

Essential oil distilled from the root-bark or the fruit is used to make safrole, tea and as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps, food and for aromatherapy. The shoots are used to make root beer, which owes its characteristic odor to the sassafras extract. The leaves are used for thickening sauces and soups, and when dried and ground are known as filé powder, a spice used in Cajun, Creole, and other Louisiana cooking, such as the dish filé gumbo.

American Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

Sir Walter Raleigh took sassafras back to England from Virginia. In what were called the Great Sassafras Hunts from 1602-1603, ships were sent from England to collect the roots. Sassafras roots then were converted into a tonic that smelled like root beer and supposedly kept its drinkers youthful and healthy. Sassafras was also used as dye to give fabric an orange tint.

American Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

Sassafras is easily worked and readily accepts a finish. It glues well and holds screws better than it nails, where pre-boring may be necessary to avoid splitting. It requires care in drying as it has a tendency to check with small movement in performance.

Janka Rating: 630