Grafted Walnut Burl???

YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Brad Vietje

>

Re: Grafted Walnut Burl???

Gary Evans, Tallassee, TN

>George,

I'll wager that it will be some of the prettiest wood you've seen. Also, walnut is one of my favorite woods to turn.

Be sure and post pics.

Gary

Re: Grafted Walnut Burl???

Ron in Drums PA

>If you can get a section where the two woods meet. . . THAT would be something!

Of course, the burls would be nice also.

YES!!! In a heart beat!!!

Paul Porter in Phoenix, AZ

>

Re: YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Rubberhook

>Leave it to a Bonner boy to make a find like that!!!

Re: Grafted Walnut Burl???

Rubberhook

>Leave it to A Bonner boy to make a find like that!

Re: YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Doug Trembath

>I had a few opportunities to turn trees and burls like this while I was in Southern California, George, and it was some of the prettiest wood I have used, bar none. It ranks up there with Camphor burl, in my mind.

Here's an idea, since I'm in PA now too, get him to tell you where it is, and we'll....

Oh, well, I guess that just wouldn't be right, would it? ;>)

I hope you get some substantial pieces, especially around the graft. The two woods swirl around one another, and create some wonderful grain and color patterns.

Good on ya!

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Mike L in Trabuco Canyon, CA

>Hi Doug, George, et al.

For some reason walnut isn't the first wood that comes to mind when I think of SoCal. Am I missing out on something here?

Regards,

Mike - who remembers walnut trees back home in OH but didn't think there'd be any inside the Orange Curtain

Re: Grafted Walnut Burl??? *LINK*

Don Henthorn

>I had a lumber mill in Lake County California and lived on a place where there was about twenty-five acres of abandoned walnut orchards. I cut and milled a lot of that wood after a wild fire went through and damaged most of the trees. The grafts can be at ground level or fifteen feet in the air or any place in between. The black walnut under the English is usually prettier than the usual walnut and is referred to by many as claro black walnut, especially prized for gun stocks. I sold many large burls to The Roberts saw mill in Chico which specialized for many years in gun stock blanks. The graft union itself is interesting but can be very common place or very pretty. At any rate you will find that if the wood has been air dried, it is hard to find a prettier wood. Good luck.


http://users2.ev1.net/~henthorn

Re: Grafted Walnut Burl???

Wood Spinner

>Each of the woods are a different color. Try to get a piece where the graft can be used on the bottom of a platter. Turn so the graft line runs across the middle.

Good turning and be safe

Bill in Casa Grande, AZ.

Re: YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Doug Trembath

>Outside the Fresno area, near the Sequoias, they have large walnut orchards. They graft American Walnut onto Black Walnut trees because the Black variety is resistant to root borers. They remove trees after a number of years and replant to keep nut production optimized.

We used to get the wood from a guy who travels the coast trading, buying and selling wood for a living. That's how I got it. There are very few tree species that won't, and don't grow somewhere in California, with it's widely varying climate and weather conditions.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Yep, gun stocks

Ellis Walentine

>Hi George,

It sounds like you may get some pretty amazing wood. I would tell your friend, though, that prize gunstock blanks regularly fetch in excess of $2500 among trap shooting enthusiasts. Usually it is the highly marbled varieties of European walnut that command the highest prices, but claro is regarded equally well in many circles, especially if it combines a varied color with rich figure and uniformity of appearance from one side of the blank to the other.

It might be very much worth your friend's while to investigate a little before hacking the tree into bowl blanks.

Best of luck,

Ellis

Re: YO, MAMMA, YES !!! You're kidding, right ?

Mike L in Trabuco Canyon, CA

>Very true Doug. CA certainly is a big state with a wide range of climates. The trees in SoCal all look foreign to me but I'm sure there's some good turning stock being cut down everyday so I hope to get better at finding the gems in the rough.

Regards,

Mike

p.s. How desirable is sycamore or liquidamber? Lots of those in my neighborhood.