woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
Al, I'm not saying they buy Chinese Walnut, but that the Chinese are importing it from the states in large quantity.
Are these logs worth anything?
- Thread starter stehansen
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squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
So what Jay is saying is that yes the best black walnut in the world comes from the US of A. And just like everything else in the world, China is buying it up.
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klimbinfool
Guest
Crap ! I hate when I loose my post.
Al, midwest might be the larger supplier of Juglans Nigra, which is your traditional Black Walnut but, Juglans Hindisii is high dollor Walnut for its color and figure. Reds, purple, browns, swirling, fiddlling etc. which central to Northern Cali is loaded with from all the Walnut orchards.Although not indiginous to our area they have been growing here for 150 years.
The Black walnut (Hindisii) grafting to varieties of English was less disease resistant, hardy, and didnt rot like English which made a prefered root stock.
I've cut these trees upwards of 7' in dia and seen them close to 8 and 10' and heights of 90' +. I've seen stumps go for as much as 20gs. You can imagin what the actual stump retails for after the Japnese are done with it.Not only is soght out for high valued vaneer but, high dallor gun stocks as well. 5 gs for a green blank.
Did you know that Russia has much Black Walnut and very valuble.I guess they just dont have the means or it's not cost effetive for them to harvest, so they dont.
Anyway, looking at the stumps in this thred, I'm glad you got some money for them. From what I saw,the only value is what someone was willing to pay for them and thier own tinkering. Alot of walnut isnt worth anything. It's just that over the years people have really hyped it up as being so valuble. I get bored with Walnut even though some is beautiful, I will take a nice Bastone or spalding Maple log any day.
Sorry for the rambling. to many interuptions and I lost my first post.
Al, midwest might be the larger supplier of Juglans Nigra, which is your traditional Black Walnut but, Juglans Hindisii is high dollor Walnut for its color and figure. Reds, purple, browns, swirling, fiddlling etc. which central to Northern Cali is loaded with from all the Walnut orchards.Although not indiginous to our area they have been growing here for 150 years.
The Black walnut (Hindisii) grafting to varieties of English was less disease resistant, hardy, and didnt rot like English which made a prefered root stock.
I've cut these trees upwards of 7' in dia and seen them close to 8 and 10' and heights of 90' +. I've seen stumps go for as much as 20gs. You can imagin what the actual stump retails for after the Japnese are done with it.Not only is soght out for high valued vaneer but, high dallor gun stocks as well. 5 gs for a green blank.
Did you know that Russia has much Black Walnut and very valuble.I guess they just dont have the means or it's not cost effetive for them to harvest, so they dont.
Anyway, looking at the stumps in this thred, I'm glad you got some money for them. From what I saw,the only value is what someone was willing to pay for them and thier own tinkering. Alot of walnut isnt worth anything. It's just that over the years people have really hyped it up as being so valuble. I get bored with Walnut even though some is beautiful, I will take a nice Bastone or spalding Maple log any day.
Sorry for the rambling. to many interuptions and I lost my first post.
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klimbinfool
Guest
squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
Always highlight and save a big post before trying to actually post it. Then if you lose it you can just back up and paste it back in.
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klimbinfool
Guest
Thanks Squisher.I'll remember that
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
Everybody is sure entitled to their opinions about which wood they like, but from my perspective, both the eastern black and the Claro growing around the valley, are two of the primo furniture grade hardwoods in the world, especially when air dried so not to lose the color. Workability, whether with with hand tools or by machine, and ease of drying, are also contained in my praise. Lots of subtleties make for variation in the wood, from tree to tree.
It's a little hard to say what thickness to mill logs to without knowing what the end user has in mind for it, but 2" or 9/4 is a good thickness that will usually dry with good stability, and generally allows both chairs and tables to be made from it, plus whatever.
It's a little hard to say what thickness to mill logs to without knowing what the end user has in mind for it, but 2" or 9/4 is a good thickness that will usually dry with good stability, and generally allows both chairs and tables to be made from it, plus whatever.
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klimbinfool
Guest
Did you build those Jay ?
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
No, that particular set was made by a good friend of mine. I put it up because it's made from the Eastern Black Walnut the Juglans Nigra, and that's what most of the guys in the treehouse run into.
Below are some pics of a table and one chair out of the set, that I made for a client out of the west coat variety, the Hindisii, the same as Steve just sold. Not the usual style that I like to work in, but the guy had a magnificent house, and his tastes go more towards the ornate.....and he likes to pay in cash. Customers don't come much better, I've built like forty pieces of furniture for him, all out of the Hindisii. He gave me ten grand to buy the wood before starting the work, and I located some incredible material, trees from a big old estate out in Palo Alto, that were removed for some reason.
It might be easier to see here what you pointed out, Dave, looking at the table top, that the west coast species tends to be more figured. One thing, a Claro Walnut that is growing outside of an orchard, say as an ornamental tree, they tend to be more highly figured that the orchard variety like Steve showed. I'm not really sure why, other than they tend to be cut at an older age than the orchard ones, and possibly that the soil and wind conditions can be more conducive to figured grain, outside an orchard. It might be something to consider when figuring your potential profits from a job. Those big ones with the super figured grain, can really fetch a fortune.
Sorry about the photos orientation on the page, this new scanner has me befuddled.
Below are some pics of a table and one chair out of the set, that I made for a client out of the west coat variety, the Hindisii, the same as Steve just sold. Not the usual style that I like to work in, but the guy had a magnificent house, and his tastes go more towards the ornate.....and he likes to pay in cash
. Customers don't come much better, I've built like forty pieces of furniture for him, all out of the Hindisii. He gave me ten grand to buy the wood before starting the work, and I located some incredible material, trees from a big old estate out in Palo Alto, that were removed for some reason.It might be easier to see here what you pointed out, Dave, looking at the table top, that the west coast species tends to be more figured. One thing, a Claro Walnut that is growing outside of an orchard, say as an ornamental tree, they tend to be more highly figured that the orchard variety like Steve showed. I'm not really sure why, other than they tend to be cut at an older age than the orchard ones, and possibly that the soil and wind conditions can be more conducive to figured grain, outside an orchard. It might be something to consider when figuring your potential profits from a job. Those big ones with the super figured grain, can really fetch a fortune.
Sorry about the photos orientation on the page, this new scanner has me befuddled.
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Those two logs weren't that special and that is why I suggested, he find a woodturner.
Woodturners can utilize bits and pieces of wood that almost nobody else can find a use for.
Everytime I have something interesting to turners, I advertise it in the Danish woodturners netforum and people come from all over the country to pick it up.
Of course, being a turner myself, I know exactly what turns them on.
Woodturners can utilize bits and pieces of wood that almost nobody else can find a use for.
Everytime I have something interesting to turners, I advertise it in the Danish woodturners netforum and people come from all over the country to pick it up.
Of course, being a turner myself, I know exactly what turns them on.
lumberjack
Young man on the go
Control + A highlights everything, control + C copies it.
Fine looking furniture there, Jay. Props to your friend.
Fine looking furniture there, Jay. Props to your friend.
darkstar
Rockclimber/ treeclimber
Very fine looking funiture... freaking amazing.
How do you the top so perfectly smooth with that total glass shine?
How do you the top so perfectly smooth with that total glass shine?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #39
Jay I have a theory about why the orchard trees don't live so long like the wild trees. The orchard trees are very high yielding and the trees just burn themselves out in 40 years or so. Even less with the newer varieties. The older varieties weren't so bad but they are almost all gone. The newer trees have mostly been grafted really low so there is very little black walnut in the trunk, the older ones were usually grafted or budded 6' high or so.
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klimbinfool
Guest
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
I thought I knew all the hardwoods on the west coast, but that's a tough one..... it has some of the characteristics of Cherry, but the real pink color in it...I dunno... Yeah, guess I'll say Cherry, but it's probably wrong.
Kind offer on the Claro, Dave, I'll sure keep it in mind.
Interesting theory, Steve, about the longevity shortened by "burn out" Frequent pruning, and also pesticides a factor? I don't know about Walnut, but the apple growers in these parts spray heavily and frequently, such that it's become a sort of warfare between them and the creeping in development people, who are always pissing and moaning about the pesticides blowing over and contaminating their laundry on the line. They built their houses years after the orchards were put in, and then they want to complain. :roll: I haven't heard mention of it shortening the life of trees, but some pretty potent chemicals in use, for sure.
I think that wind may be a factor in grain figure, so perhaps the orchard trees are more shielded in that regard, compared to the wild ones?
Thanks a lot for the kudos on the woodwork. I think the bottom line to doing good work, getting things flat with the best possible surface, is knowing how to hand plane. Working up through the coarser to finer grits with a sander, or even by hand, just doesn't cut it compared to a well done hand planed surface, with no tear out or irregularities, no scratches left from sanding, it's about as perfect a surface as you can achieve, That's where knowing how to sharpen really comes into play, and the wood seems pleased to show it's depths of beauty....I'm sounding like a salesman
Cobleskill
Treehouser
They use herbicides in the orchards and vineyards around here. Makes you wonder how humans survived without. Consumers are used to blemish free, beautiful produce, so producers don't have much choice.
It is the same in turning, Jay.
Once you learn to cut and scrape a surface so you can start sanding with maybe 230-300 grit, things start to look good.
That bowl look like a piece of slightly discoloured pecan to me, but hard to tell from a picture.
Once you learn to cut and scrape a surface so you can start sanding with maybe 230-300 grit, things start to look good.
That bowl look like a piece of slightly discoloured pecan to me, but hard to tell from a picture.
rumination
Migratory Hippie Arbolist
Monkeypuzzle?
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klimbinfool
Guest
Jay, my name is Greg...lol....I guess you were refering to me as Dave...no biggy.
Jay, you probably do know what this wood is. When I can, I'll leave it on the stump after being removed for about a 6 months to a year. This is what gives it's color. It still looks nice even when green but, awsome when decaying starts and extreamly hard wood.
Chinese Pistache
Jay, you probably do know what this wood is. When I can, I'll leave it on the stump after being removed for about a 6 months to a year. This is what gives it's color. It still looks nice even when green but, awsome when decaying starts and extreamly hard wood.
Chinese Pistache
rumination
Migratory Hippie Arbolist
sotc
Dormant hero!!
We do have some up here, there are lots down by Steve
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Knotahippie
Guest
Cool pics Leon. I'd like to see that place in the fall.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
Greg, sorry about the name screw up :roll:
Right, that is a new wood for me. Thanks.
