Lines in Walnut

Brad_bb · January 07, 2019, 01:41:50 AM

I've seen this on multiple occasions sawing Walnut. These lines that appear like Ray lines in oak, but there doesn't appear to be solid fleck like in oak. You can see there is a pattern or change of direction of the grain. Are these rays or perhaps curl in the grain?

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doc henderson · January 07, 2019, 03:29:14 AM

I see it, but not sure what to call it. Maybe Gene Wengert could chime in. I have a finished slab of walnut along side some maple with lots of "rays". It really adds to the interest of an already beautiful wood.

The wood is smooth and finished with poly.

bkaimwood · January 07, 2019, 06:29:49 AM

I see it. Doc's pic is definitely curl, so doc has curly walnut. Have seen and had quite a bit of it. It brings more $$ than plain walnut without much trouble to the right buyer. Brad's pic is a bit harder to see, but it also looks to be curl, just not as tight and more isolated. A splash of water on there may show it a bit better...

Magicman · January 07, 2019, 07:58:09 AM

There will be a sorta purple line (layer) between the dark heartwood and white sapwood. Sometime it will be very distinct and sometime not, but it will be there.

WDH · January 07, 2019, 07:59:16 AM

Yes, curl. Not rays. The rays in walnut are very small.

YellowHammer · January 07, 2019, 08:04:57 AM

Yes, it appears to be curly walnut to me, as well.

moodnacreek · January 07, 2019, 08:20:27 AM

In my experience curly walnut is rare and only a few poor examples have I sawn.

samandothers · January 07, 2019, 12:49:25 PM

Is there something in particular that causes curl?

moodnacreek · January 07, 2019, 01:22:05 PM

If the bole of the tree in the woods, is suddenly exposed to sun light is can sucker. As the forest heals and blocks the sun light , the suckers die but this has changed the grain pattern. Not all trees do this . This is called epicormick branching or burling. Common in maples. [pitch pine does this also]

Brad_bb · January 07, 2019, 06:04:21 PM

I could be curl. My boards are rough sawn on the bandsaw. Once planed, it would be easy to tell if it's just curl. I've had a lot of walnut with mild curl, that is, it's faint, and then walnut with curl in specific areas. It is sweet though when you come across one that is heavily curled. I've got some brace stock pieces with heavy curl.

doc henderson · January 07, 2019, 06:13:32 PM

Well. lets go Brad, get it planed and lets see it!!! 8)

WDH · January 08, 2019, 08:36:53 AM

I believe curl is a distortion of the cambium. What causes it? Who knows.

Sixacresand · January 08, 2019, 09:17:11 AM

I found two words in @moodnacreek 's post interesting: "bole" and "notches". I learn something every day. Thanks for the post.

moodnacreek · January 08, 2019, 01:21:23 PM

Sixacresand, My post about the figuring of walnut is what I think causes it, not 100 percent sure. Sawing buy the notches is a yankee term because the lane [and other new England sawmills] had an indexing system notched in the setworks wheel. When I got a Lane the oldtimers would say: now your sawen by the notches! Lane once made a Dixie special sawmill that had belt feed and side operating dogs as opposed to the friction feed and screw dogs wanted in the northeast. Thanks for the complement, Doug

BenTN · January 08, 2019, 07:44:21 PM

I've always thought curl was a result of compression. Whatever causes it, it is for sure pretty

WDH · January 08, 2019, 09:53:50 PM

The cambium makes wood on the inside and bark on the outside. Curl is where the cambium puts down wood on the inside where the longitudinal alignment of the cells is squirrely. This change in longitudinal alignment of the wood cells is what your eye sees as curl.

FLPINERAT · January 08, 2019, 11:08:11 PM

Sure makes pretty turkey pot calls

Not that rare in walnut, find a good bit of it.

Straight from a mill, wetted.

moodnacreek · January 09, 2019, 01:05:22 PM

Getting fiqured wood from the stump or crotch is normal and great for small stuff. Getting full length [8' +] is what is wanted and rare. Bird's eye walnut trees exist somewhere.

busenitzcww · February 08, 2019, 08:25:33 PM

Quote from: moodnacreek on January 07, 2019, 08:20:27 AM
In my experience curly walnut is rare and only a few poor examples have I sawn.

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Client brought their own wood from their farm for a dinning table. Would love to get my hands on some more of it.

dbroswoods · February 08, 2019, 09:01:01 PM

That is a beautiful piece of Walnut would like to have a truck load of that.

Mark

OffGrid973 · February 09, 2019, 12:08:52 AM

Based on the grain pattern and what looks to be stress gaps, I would say nothing you can do.

Appreciate the distance between, dial it in to be consistent and enjoy those marks. Kind of like the worm holes that make us giddy when we get down to that layer !

PA_Walnut · February 09, 2019, 05:13:20 AM

Looks like curly to me. It's MUCH more rare in walnut, than maple, but can be similar.
The figure is usually broad and wide, like cherry.

Fiddleback, or tight curl is super-rare. Many many thousands of BF of walnut and I only ever had this once.
It's in my private-reserve stash. Some have asked and I reply, "You can not afford it." ;D :D

5/4 wide stock with spectacular curl and color.