Dan wrote:

"I
know that some galoots like to make planes out of beech, but
I was wondering what else it's good for? "

Beech makes quite nice stock for green woodturning. I was able to get quite a
lot of beech (American Beech, Fagus Grandifolia) myself  from a windfall last
November. So far I've tuned about two dozen bowl and platters from it. These
were all turned green to rough form,  were waxed,  and have been drying indoors
at 55-60F for three months now. Despite the large shrinkage characteristics of
Beech, I haven't lost a one to checking or cracking. With soft maple, I've been
losing 10-20% of the rough turnings to checking.

I cut my sections with a chainsaw and was able to get quite a nice feather
figure pair from a large crotch. Other beech I've found has spalted quickly and
,
as a result, had some spectacular figure but as Sandy pointed out, the spalting
can rapidly proceed to a "punky" state where it just crumbles rather that cuts
or shaves.

Good luck - you have some nice wood.

Ed Balko
Middletown, NJ
Spring is in the air here now.