What am I seeing here?.......photo

[Odie]

The bowl blank was sold to me as "claro walnut".
I'm seeing two distinct shades of brown here. Is this a graft?
(not speaking of the sap wood....look for two distinct shades of brown)

ko

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.....

 

[Charlie Knighton]

i think you should keep that one Odie.....well done.....give thanks......where did you get the blank, was there any hint just looking at the blank???????????

 

[Owen Lowe]

I’m not sure it is a graft; grafts I’ve seen are more clearly delineated. Below is a very clear graft in a piece of cherry. With that said, your piece certainly appears to have suffered some sort of trauma or marked change in conditions. As far as I know, Claro walnuts are not usually grafted — though I could certainly be wrong about that.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

was the wood punky?????

 

[Odie]

i think you should keep that one Odie.....well done.....give thanks......where did you get the blank, was there any hint just looking at the blank???????????

Hi Charlie......thanks.......I think this blank came out of Oregon. At least that's where it was when I purchased it. Sorry, no pics of the original block of wood. but there was definitely indication that something different was going on with it.

I’m not sure it is a graft; grafts I’ve seen are more clearly delineated. Below is a very clear graft in a piece of cherry. With that said, your piece certainly appears to have suffered some sort of trauma or marked change in conditions. As far as I know, Claro walnuts are not usually grafted — though I could certainly be wrong about that.

You're right, Owen......that one is showing the difference plainly.

was the wood punky?????

No spalting, or punkyness that was noticeable, but it was a bit difficult not to break off some of the very delicate surrounding wood next to the worm holes. The only way to cut cleanly across worm holes like this, is to have fresh sharpened tool, and go very slowly/carefully......

ko

 

[Owen Lowe]

Hi Charlie......thanks.......I think this blank came out of Oregon. At least that's where it was when I purchased it. Sorry, no pics of the original block of wood. but there was definitely indication that something different was going on with it.

No spalting, or punkyness that was noticeable, but it was a bit difficult not to break off some of the surrounding wood next to the worm holes. The only way to cut cleanly across worm holes like this, is to have fresh sharpened tool, and go very slowly/carefully......

ko

Walnut is pretty susceptible to bugs and rot in the sapwood; the heartwood isn’t usually affected. Your piece’s characteristics aren’t surprising other than the odd change in grain coloration. Do you have any idea where in the tree this piece originated?

 

[Odie]

Do you have any idea where in the tree this piece originated?

None, whatsoever, Owen........
ko

 

[hockenbery]

The darker part could be water stain. I see that lot when an opening in a tree collects rain water.
The surrounding would often gets a dark stain that follows the grain lines as the water move through the trees transport system..
Similar stains occurred from imbedded iron.

Having a whole tree makes detective work easier.

 

[Michael Nathal]

could be burly

Reminds me of a piece of black cherry I harvested not long ago. The trunk had some modest burl-like bumps on it. After turning, the burl-like areas were a darker shade of reddish orange than the main part of the tree. The boundary between the normal and darker cherry was similar to your piece.

 

[John Torchick]

I'm far from a wood expert but that is a beautiful piece of wood. My complements on the outstanding bowl!

 

[Odie]

Reminds me of a piece of black cherry I harvested not long ago. The trunk had some modest burl-like bumps on it. After turning, the burl-like areas were a darker shade of reddish orange than the main part of the tree. The boundary between the normal and darker cherry was similar to your piece.

That could be an important point, Michael......

In my opinion, the darker brown definitely has burl characteristics, whereas the lighter brown does not.

I'm far from a wood expert but that is a beautiful piece of wood. My complements on the outstanding bowl!

Thank you very much, John......but really......the compliments go to Mother Nature on this one. From my perspective, what I did, isn't any more significant than what I always do.......

That could be a whole new discussion in itself......the differences between how a turner sees his own work, as compared to how others see it......

ko

 

[Hu Lowery]

one interesting possibility

Mt St Helens erupted in 1980. The wood from that area might be showing indications of that.

Hu

 

[robo hippy]

I have seen a couple of pieces of walnut, and other trees at the graft line, and this piece could be from the graft area. I am guessing that at least half of the walnut that is called 'Claro' isn't actually that, but is given that name for marketing purposes. As near as I can tell, Claro is a separate species, and is not native to out area, though there are a lot of walnut orchards here, and the older ones do have a lot of grafted trees in them. I have seen some black walnut trees in the 30 plus inch diameter range. Nice coloring in the piece for sure. I avoid walnut now, I get kind of itchy and stuffy from it.

robo hippy

 

[Bill Boehme]

Northern California walnut is called claro walnut by the lumber industry according to this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_hindsii

Also, here is some additional information from the wood database that says that native species is frequently used as rootstock for orchard trees: http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/claro-walnut/

 

[Raul McCai]

Graft? Dunno. Lovely bowl~!! Nice hunk of lumber too~!

 

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

looks like some of the walnut graft bowl blanks that North Woods was selling at SWAT this year.