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Pecan

I’m not arguing the nomenclature. Just struck by how similar they are. In fact I think they are often used, or at least named interchangeably.
Edit: I found all the blanks I cut from this tree to be harder on my tool edges than almost anything else I’ve turned. I’m assuming that the wood was laden with minerals that took the edge off.
 
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Pecan and hickory ARE in the same genus, but different species. Botanically speaking, everything in the genus Carya is a “hickory”. I’ve found a pretty wide variation in the wood of these species. I have turned a good amount of shagbark hickory that is fairly light cream colored throughout, with a lot of spotting, but I also have a bunch of large chunks of mockernut hickory (I think) that have rich orange heartwood. And, I’ve turned a good amount of pecan that was dark orange/brown (the calabash I posted to the gallery, for example), instead of the characteristic creamy light brown color as in Rusty’s nice second bowl he posted.
 
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All those black spots make me thing of the wood starting to degrade, so not quite rotting. I would fill them all with CA glue and dust. Nice colors and form.

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
All those black spots make me thing of the wood starting to degrade, so not quite rotting. I would fill them all with CA glue and dust. Nice colors and form.

robo hippy
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Reed, I think those spots might be bird pecks. They tend to get repaired with something that looks like heartwood.
The bird peck wood is quite solid.



Sapsuckers make a lot of them then come back to eat the trapped insects. They tend to be around a growth ring for the year or so the birds were working the tree.
 
hockenbery said:
Reed, I think those spots might be bird pecks. They tend to get repaired with something that looks like heartwood.
The bird peck wood is quite solid.



Sapsuckers make a lot of them then come back to eat the trapped insects. They tend to be around a growth ring for the year or so the birds were working the tree.
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I have seen similar marks in white oak and am fairly positive that wood peckers had penetrated the bark in their search for insects and yes they don't degrade the wood.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
I’m not arguing the nomenclature. Just struck by how similar they are. In fact I think they are often used, or at least named interchangeably.
Edit: I found all the blanks I cut from this tree to be harder on my tool edges than almost anything else I’ve turned. I’m assuming that the wood was laden with minerals that took the edge off.
Click to expand...
I've never turned pecan. But some well known woodturner(s) refer(s) to the dry wood as Pecan-crete!!!
 
Well, I don't think those came from the sapsuckers. Those types of holes, from sapsuckers, are all around the outsides of the tree. These are in heart wood, and run down or along the grain. I have turned a piece or two, but not hickory/pecan, that had the sapsucker holes in it. They were only on the surface, and vanished if I took off more than about 1/4 inch. I know the pileated woodpeckers will cut large holes in tree trunks go give the bugs a good start, but again, I don't think this is what happened here.

robo hippy
 
Pecan is really beautiful wood.
The heartwood/sapwood transition can be amazing from buttery to walnut dark.
Lots of bark inclusions and colorations make every piece interesting.
I do like it a lot

But it seems to like a sharp tool and the tools that touch it don't seem to stay sharp long.
Don't bother turning off your grinder when you're turning a dried pecan rough out.

Its hard to get a nice finish surface without sandpaper.
 
robo hippy said:
Well, I don't think those came from the sapsuckers. Those types of holes, from sapsuckers, are all around the outsides of the tree. These are in heart wood, and run down or along the grain. I have turned a piece or two, but not hickory/pecan, that had the sapsucker holes in it. They were only on the surface, and vanished if I took off more than about 1/4 inch. I know the pileated woodpeckers will cut large holes in tree trunks go give the bugs a good start, but again, I don't think this is what happened here.

robo hippy
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Hockenberry is correct.

Hickory/Sphyrapicus varius - Bugwoodwiki

wiki.bugwood.org wiki.bugwood.org
 
robo hippy said:
Well, I don't think those came from the sapsuckers. Those types of holes, from sapsuckers, are all around the outsides of the tree. These are in heart wood, and run down or along the grain. I have turned a piece or two, but not hickory/pecan, that had the sapsucker holes in it. They were only on the surface, and vanished if I took off more than about 1/4 inch. I know the pileated woodpeckers will cut large holes in tree trunks go give the bugs a good start, but again, I don't think this is what happened here.

robo hippy
Click to expand...
Isn't it possible that the damage one year was minimal and the tree survived then added a new annual ring etc.
 
I am still going to hold out for the tree having rot and/or degrading problems. The black spots run up and down the tree, and mirrored from one side to the other of the bowl. Yes, the early holes might have been made and grown over, but I think the sap suckers and wood peckers will continue to drill out the same holes over time to allow the bugs to get into the tree, and they come back for seconds. Maybe yes on tree defect, maybe yes on bird damage, maybe yes on both...

robo hippy
 
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