rd_ab_penman
Member
Small boxes I turned a while back.
Caragana can have some great looking coloring.
Finished with tungoil.
Les
Caragana can have some great looking coloring.
Finished with tungoil.
Les
Common laburnum or golden chain tree are the common English names . Caragana arborescens , or Siberian peashrub , is also in the Fabaceae family , but a different genus . Softer wood , but those colours and their apparent random patterning are very typical . By far , my favourite turning wood .I had never heard of Caragana. It looks a lot like Laburnum anagyroides. Sorry i do not know the normal name of that tree in english.
I grew up in Northern Montana. It's very dry there and gets very, very cold. The settlers needed something that could provide a wind break around the homesteads. Almost every house of there ha at least one row of caraganas as a wind row. It's my understanding that they needed something that could withstand 35 below 0 (F) AND survive in near desert conditions. Enter siberian pea shrub. They brought it over from Siberia. This was a story passed down from my dad. I do know that the government provided caragana and ash saplings for us to plant as wind rows in our grain fields. The idea was to try and make a wind break that would catch snow so it wouldn't blow into North Dakota. Trying to do anything possible to retain moisture in the fields for the crops.Very neat looking wood. I will have to look it up and see where it grows.