I enjoyed your article on Walnut, in Woodwork magazine. I would never have guessed that Hickory was in any way related to Walnut.
I prefer air-dried stock myself, even if the highlights fade, it’s nice enough when they are there.
I once came across a dream stash of NY Walnut, but like an idiot, I didn’t buy nearly enough. Here’s a couple items from it.
Edit: the jpgs here don’t work, so go to this link;
http://home.hvc.rr.com/underthesun
Edited 7/26/2004 6:28 am ET by DAVE HEINLEIN
Edited 7/26/2004 6:30 am ET by DAVE HEINLEIN
Replies
Dave, I'm glad you liked the article. It leans pretty heavily into the botanical wherefores of the topic. But with so many strange new walnut cabinetwoods now trickling into the market from nut growing operations I tried to make it more of a survey on species variation as opposed to a strictly woodworking article.
I'd comment on the attachments in your post, but I was unable to open them. For some reason they're being blocked by my virus screen.
Hi Jon,
My only subscription is only to Fine Woodworking ( as if there's any other kind of woodworking). Strange new variations of walnut!? It's been quite a few years since I've worked with walnut, will I like these newer subspecies?
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
>> ... Fine Woodworking (as if there's any other kind of woodworking).
Oh dude. Yes, there are other kinds. Do a search for "shabby chic" on eBay.
Uncle Dunc,
I did like you said and what I saw ain't that shabby, I'd say it's excellent! I'd like to buy some, but being we are woodworkers I'd rather build some of those myself! Thanks for the heads up!
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
>>"... Strange new variations of walnut!? It's been quite a few years since I've worked with walnut, will I like these newer subspecies? "<<
F4, the wanut genus; Juglans, is a veritable smorgasbord of delight. There are upwards of 15 species worldwide and every one of them is a winner.
Hey Jon,
Being that today's Sunday I'll call a couple of distributors tomorrow and find out about them. I tried going to WoodFinder but the only ones they had listed were the ones I'm familiar with. These being:
Claro
English aka Persian, European, Circassian
Black
White aka Butternut
All fine woods in their own.
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
Jon,
Some clarification would be highly appreciated! I know Claro is a graft of Black or California walnut. There is confusion about Claro in that the lumber trade uses it to describe ordinary California walnut, which is more like Black walnut, rather than the marbled variety from orchard trees. What's up with that! I've gotten into my fair share of friendly arguements with the guys at the lumber yard.
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
F4, the name claro is Spanish, meaning "clear" with connotations of "lighter" or "brighter", in the same way it is used to describe lighter colored, natural leaf cigars. The normal Spanish word for walnut is nogal.
The first recorded use of the term "claro" with respect to walnut wood that I have been able to find dates to some trees cut in California in the early 1930s. These trees were said to have germinated from European walnuts (Juglans regia) that had been imported from Spain some time in the mid 19th century. In other words, the trees were not European walnut grafted on to one of our native species, but simply Juglans regia (AKA: "English" walnut, "Persian" walnut) that were grown from the nut in California.
What I suspect is that the original Spanish settlers in California used to use the term claro to distinguish the lighter colored wood of the Old World species from the darker native species they found in California...which would have been California walnut; J. californica, in the southern part of the state and Hinds walnut; J. hindsii, native to northern California...So, claro, in its original useage, would technically be just a synonym for English walnut.
However, the modern use of the term has become thoroughly confused. I think most woodworkers today associate it with the highly marbled (variegated) walnut cut from the lower trunk of grafted orchard trees...where English walnut is grafted on to one of our native species of walnuts, typically either Hinds walnut or our eastern black walnut (althought there are now also some special hybrids used as rootstock).
Unfortunately, it has become common practice by some of the mills out west to use the term claro to distinguish the woods of their native species (mostly Hinds walnut) from eastern black walnut. It's a shame in that these native western species (Hinds walnut, California walnut and even Arizona walnut) are all actually very close kin to eastern black walnut.
Personally, I would like to see the term claro standardized as the common name for only the stock with variegated figure (which incidentally is sometimes produced by English walnut even when it has not been grafted)...But I doubt if this confusing nomenclature is going to get straightened out any time soon.
Edited 7/25/2004 11:08 pm ET by Jon Arno
Hey Jon,
I totally agree that the term claro should be standardized as the common name for stock with a marbled figure. For me, as for you and others claro walnut is marbled with dark tan & brown swirls in the figure of the grain. I've done some projects with claro and I truely love it! So did the customers! I got the 2 photos from Woodfinder's library.
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
Me too! Time to work the wood is too precious to read more than FW! Also my budget is small for subscriptions. Can somebody give me the facts so that I can check out the article at the library? I have at the least 750 bd. ft. of Hickory drying in the dairy barn. So I need to know what is waiting for me!
Hatchet
Hi Hatchet,
I subscribe to FWW & FHB, my other subscriptions are to aviation publications, so I've got more than enough magazines lying around the house! As for Jon's article on walnut you'll have to ask him which issue it is. 750 bd ft of hickory, what do you plan on building with it?
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
Edited 7/26/2004 12:00 am ET by f4phanatic
>>"Can somebody give me the facts so that I can check out the article at the library?"<<
Hatchet, this Walnut article begins on page 55 of the October 2004 issue of Woodwork magazine. I just recieved my subscription copy last week, so if your library subscribes to Woodwork, they should also have it by now.
Hmmm, that is wierd, never had a problem before. Maybe it will work better this way;
Nope, html code didn't come through. Oh well, check out the walnut pics at;
http://home.hvc.rr.com/underthesun
They are down the list at the bottom
Edited 7/25/2004 10:16 am ET by DAVE HEINLEIN
Dave, the website you posted did the trick...and that's beautiful work! I like the boldness of your design, especially in the mantle. Simple lines, but variation in stock thickness and the sculpture of it show a lot of character. I know the topic is walnut, but your design would still look good even if you'd used some other species.
Thanks, Jon. I prefer simple lines compared to gaudy, over molded stuff, but that could be because of my lack of imagination. Guys like Nakashima and Krenov really knew what they were doing,IMO. I mean, after all, if you're making it out of beautiful wood, why distract from it?
Hi Dave,
Would love to see your work, but, like Jon I keep getting a message from Windows XP that that it refuses to open the file! Something's up as I have no problem with other pictures on this forum.
Those daring young men in their flying machines!
Three of the four files won't open because the extension is "jpg_". The one that opens is the top one in the right column ... a very beautiful walnut mantel.
John
Check my later posting with a link to my homepage. Thanks for the compliment, though.
The mantel picture was the only one that would open. Great job! Beautiful piece of work!!
Hatchet
If you check my other post to Jon, you'll find a link to my homepage which has a couple mor shots.
i liked the article, too. had i somehow known ahead of time i could have scared up some shots of absolutely mind blowing walnut on super high grade rifles and shotguns for you.
m
Thanks Mitch. I sure could use some help with photos for my articles. I have zero skills when it comes to photography and the shots in the walnut article were scrounged up by the editor. I think he did a pretty good job in that the pieces illustrated are truly works of art by craftsmen far more talented than me.
ya know- an article on the woodworking aspects of fine custom gunmaking would really be something worth doing. the wood, shaping, inletting, carving, finishing, etc- it's all very specialized. i know a bunch of guys in the highest echelon of the trade (i used to make my living as an engraver of that sort of stuff). let me know next time you or one of your colleagues are looking for an interesting subject.
m
Mitch, although I'm a gun owner and was an avid hunter in my youth, I'm not your author for an article on gunstocks. I could probably meet muster drafting a sidebar for it on the topic of species selection, both with respect to what woods are functionally appropriate for this purpose...and, historically, what woods have traditionally been used in Europe, the Orient and here in North America...
...But as for the guts of an article on the topic of making gunstocks, there are a number of Knotheads on this forum with better expertise and I'm sure that includes yourself. Have you considered doing some writing on this subject?
Edited 7/27/2004 12:48 pm ET by Jon Arno
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