Beautiful wood

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Painfullyslow

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I am not sure if there is something like this here already but I was unable to find anything with a quick search so here goes:

I wanted to have a thread where people can post up various pieces of wood, whether that is in something that is made or just in raw material. The point being to showcase the many different species out there so those like me who are new can broaden our list of wood to keep an eye out for. Please be sure to include the species name with the picture so that we can use it for reference.

Plus I just like looking at beautiful wood.

If there is a story behind a particular piece, feel free to share.


For me, I am relatively new to wood in general other than construction lumber. What started my interest in fine quality wood was that I was very fortunate to run the day to day operations of a high end rifle company about a decade back. We used all sorts of exotic species and I really enjoyed learning what little I did about the various types.

This is what started my love affair with amboyna. This picture does not do proper justice but the piece which yielded two stocks was north of $5k. Finding exhibition grade burl in that size is pretty rare.

The top is amboyna, the bottom is claro (California black) walnut

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Another claro walnut
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and my personal rifle, also claro walnut

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MedWoodWorx

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Creating a wood thread is a very good idea in my opinion also. At the end of the day a wooden piece will immortalise the tree from which it was taken; if you take in consideration that we value the burls, the strange grain and so on its actually a celebration of the tree's troubles when it was alive. Ok maybe i am overreacting but you get the point. Cheers
 
egnald

egnald

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Those are gorgeous gun stocks.

Last week I found a very nice piece of Bocote at our local WoodCraft.

The heartwood is tobacco colored to reddish brown with irregular dark brown, nearly black streaks and variegations. I fell in love with the "eyes" and other figuring, though unlike knots, they do not present any special challenges in machining.

It has a Janka hardness of around 2000 lbs. which is similar to that of Hard Maple, however, Bocote is much heavier.

I haven't decided yet what to do with this piece. It is about 5+ feet long, about 4+ inches wide, and about 1-inch thick. I will likely use it for cutting boards, cheese slicers, and some pens.

Regards,
Dave

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leehljp

leehljp

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Beautiful wood is the right name for this thread!

Some facts/trivia on black walnut:
1. Fresh cut black walnut is even more beautiful - when green / fresh cut, it has different purple hues that change with different angles to the sun light. BEAUTIFUL colors that can't be kept. As it dries, it changes to a beautiful brown, but the different purple hues go away.

2. For a long time I had a different view of walnut than the rest of the world. I thought it was dense, heavy and strong. I was surprised on another wood forum when several said that walnut was porous, and lighter than oak. Then I received a couple of black walnut pen blanks in a variety pack and they were very light weight, quite different from my experiences with walnut.
. . . I grew up on a farm that had a large walnut tree in a bayou bottom just two feet above the water table, and always with a water source 10 lateral feet away. When Dad sold the farm in the late '60s, he had the tree cut down and cut into usable lumber. That wood was dense and as heavy as oak to me.
. . . So after the wood forum's reality discussion on black walnut, I remained somewhat confused on walnut between my experience and the world's concepts. Then in 2019, I was at a grade school reunion for a small community that I was a part of in the mid to 'late '50s. There was a guy there about 10 years younger than me that had a cap on with a sawmill logo on it. We started talking wood. He was a logger - hauled logs to saw mills. When we got to "walnut" he mentioned that he loved walnut but he would not buy 95% of the walnut log lumber. If he were to buy, he said he would go to specific saw mills in a certain hill region of Tennessee and get river bottom walnut that grew within a few feet of the water table. He said that kind of walnut was very dense and heavy as compared to walnut trees that grew where the water table was 10 feet or so/more below ground. All the difference in the world. I told him my experience and concept was quite different from the rest of the world. He replied that I was correct, there is a difference in the quality of walnut depending on the water table location of where it grew. Most walnut is 10 feet or more above the water table and much lighter weight than river bottom walnut, which is dense and heavier.
 
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Painfullyslow

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MedWoodWorx

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Joebobber said:
I always thought Claro walnut was a different species of walnut. Like Turkish, English, American, Black, ect. I believe bastagone is claro and black walnut mated together.
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Dunno whats bastagone, claro means sure in english. Maybe it has the meaning real, official etc.
 
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Painfullyslow

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Dieseldoc said:
Great looking timber on those fire arms, for sure they are safe queens as one surly won't drag ithem around the woods hunting.
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There were many collectors who bought our stuff but I can assure you that mine made many treks through the woods. What good is owning a Ferrari if you don't drive it?
 
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