What's Ambrosia Maple?

Wood can have a variety of figured grain types, including the familiar birdseye, striped, curly, quilted, etc. These are all the result of anomalies or peculiarities in the physical structure of the tree's wood tissues. All are desirable to woodworkers, and trees that contain such figured wood are uncommon or rare when compared to the number of trees there are growing on the planet. Furniture and musical instrument makers especially seek out these prized figured woods, which can occur in many, if not all, tree species.

Tiger Striped Apple Wood Vase

The causes of these different figure types are not completely understood, but generally are the result of variations in the tree's vertically oriented tissue cells; that is, the cells that normally grow longitudinally in the tree have some shape or orientation other than what is typical. When the lumber is sawn, the figure is exposed, depending on the plane of the cut made through the log.

Saying Goodbye to a Good Friend

Bill Leclerc

Woodturners, like any other random group of Earth's denizens, are a varied lot. Some are sociable, gregarious types, who enjoy the company of like-minded folks. Others are more solitary curmudgeons, fussy and picky about who can share their space. I like to think I should be pigeon-holed into the first group, but recognize that at least at times, I fit more squarely into the latter.

I have a friend, Bill Leclerc, who could have been the poster boy for the fun-loving first group. I say "could have been", because Bill has just, as the (very) old folks used to say, "shuffled off his mortal coil", and has made his way to some better place. He left us in a very swift, totally unexpected way. No chance to prepare.

The Beginning

I don't remember the first time I met Bill, I'm sure it wasn't all that remarkable an event. I do know it was at a woodturning club meeting. Bill wasn't the type who made himself highly noticeable. Wasn't a puffed-up, self-serving kind of guy. He had been retired for a number of years at that point, and was more than happy to leave self-aggrandizement to the young roosters who seem to require it. No, Bill was just a guy who was good at what he did, and eagerly helped anyone else who had the desire to learn what he knew. He didn't demand too much from life, except to keep seeing more of it, to learn new things, and to have fun. And most of all, it seemed to me, to grow into a much more intimate relationship with this awe-inspiring land we occupy. 

Bill and I quickly became best buddies when a small group of us woodturners trekked out into the snow one bitter January day, at my suggestion, to go gawk at frozen trees in the woods. I ask you, what better time than that is there to study tree identification? 

Numb toes and fingers notwithstanding, Bill took a liking to that kind of camaraderie and abuse. I guess that day had all the essential elements for him... a mix of friends, forest, and field study. All those seemingly identical trees suddenly had identities and names of their own. And there was clowning around, and jokes. And BURLS! That's just treasure to a turner. We found quite a few that day. These dang things actually grow on trees!

I uttered a sheepish question at the end of that day's outing ... "um, does anyone want to do this again sometime"?  Bill's response was a quick "YES, this was great!". That did more than anything else could have done to relieve my feeling of guilt at having inflicted this icy march on these guys, who could easily have been in their cozy warm woodshops, spinning chunks of trees into works of art. Bill (and everyone else) actually enjoyed this! I mean, I know I did, but then, I'm a nut.

Barking Up the Right Tree

Each year, I look forward to those first days of autumn, when the bell curve of annual temperatures and humidity is decidedly on its downslope side. That's New England at its best. Having had a long interest in trees and woodturning, I like to be in the woods at any time of year, but especially in the fall.

Sugar Maple in Autumn

In the last couple years or so, I've been helping fellow wood turners learn to identify the trees whose wood we all work with. A core group of us has developed, and we've been enjoying day hikes in the woods almost weekly for some time now. As a result of having to answer innumerable questions such as "what makes that a Sugar Maple and not a Red Maple?", or "how do you know that's a White Oak?", I've had to hone my own identification skills, and review the characteristics of dozens of species to be able to explain them to others. And that's been a very good exercise for me.

White Oak in Autumn

As an extension of sharpening my own tree identification skills, I've lately been taking the time to examine tree trunks more closely, paying particular attention to little details in the bark. That's led me to spend more time noticing the patterns in it, as well as the surfaces of dead wood, and the structures of other organisms growing on and in trees (fungi, mosses, lichens, etc). I like to call the pastime "barking".

This fall, the weather has been superb in western Massachusetts, and it's been a great pleasure to poke around in a forest for hours on end, camera in hand. There's an enormous world of tiny things to be found on and around trees. I'm fascinated by dead and decaying wood, especially the patterns to be seen in the weathered, eroding structure of it. So far, I've found some of the most interesting grain patterns in dead oak limbs, those whose bark has fallen off. 

One day, while reviewing a close-up photo of the grain structure of a dead oak limb I had taken with my cell phone camera, I was delighted to notice an animal caricature in the grain's pattern. Take a look at photo-1 and maybe you'll see it too. It helps if you look at it from a distance; on the small screen of my cell phone, it was best seen at arm's length, so you may need to be farther away than that from your larger computer monitor.

1

Do you see an animal's face? I see a terrier, others see a bear. The terrier is looking slightly downward and to the right; his right ear and eye, and nose, are prominent, and his left eye is not visible.

That photo was a closeup of the swirling grain on a dead oak limb, and the next photo (#2) is of the same limb; different area, and not such a closeup. What do you see in this one?

2

Photo 3 is a rather bizarre one. I don't know what caused this beech tree to look like this, but when I think of the old assurance that "his bark is worse than his bite", I have some doubts!  Have I just found my first alien??

 3

Read on ...

The Big Butternut Bonanza

Woodturners have an inherent affliction. We're wood hoarders. I think it's a function of the same gene that makes us woodturners. Pity us, we can't help ourselves. Well, that's not exactly true; we do help ourselves--  to as much free wood as we can haul home!

So, even though I knew better, when wood hound and craigslist crawler Bob Labrecque called the other day asking if I was interested in picking the bones of a huge fallen Butternut tree, I said "of course!".  Another road trip! Breakfast out. Chain saws. Sawdust 'n' sweat. Male bonding. A sunny day outdoors. All that good stuff.

Butternuts

So how did it all pan out? Ok, so the breakfast was, um, awful. Next time Bob talks me into getting the waffle topped with mixed frozen berries, I'll do as he does and get eggs. (When the waitress asked how my waffle was, and saw the look on my face, she said "nobody gets the mixed frozen-berry waffle, but as a waitress I couldn't tell you that"). 
The road trip was only about 5 miles, and in local traffic. Bob's big-boy chainsaw threw the chain and chewed it up shortly after starting. The wood had to be hauled uphill.

But none of that stopped us. I survived the breakfast. We had other saws. And Matt Collins, in whose backyard the Butternut behemoth lay, turned out to be a great guy who brought the wood up the hill for us.

Matt and his family live on an attractive piece of land in western Massachusetts. The ample, grassy backyard slopes downhill to a relatively wet, lowland wooded area.

The fallen Butternut

The plentiful ground moisture helps grow a pleasing mixture of New England hardwoods, such as Black Cherry, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Catalpa, Red Oaks, and, until recently, a grand, double-trunk spreading Butternut.

A storm last October toppled the smaller, 3-foot diameter half of the duo, then April brought the demise of the larger twin, which measures in the 4-foot range at its base. That's the largest Butternut I've encountered, and I'd much rather have seen it standing proudly than lying prone. According to

Matt, topside, while Bob explains...uh .... something important, I'm sure!

Matt, it was the most prominent feature of his landscape, and his family is saddened by the loss of this familiar old friend. He now wants to see the tree's wood put to good use, and has offered it to any woodworkers who can create something with it. Matt would like to have a keepsake in memory of the cherished Butternut, so we'll see to it he gets a nice bowl or two.

Bob, excising a burl

Read on ...

New Wallhangings at Bowlwood

There's a new category of items now available at Bowlwood... wallhangings. Because of my interest in trees, most of these pieces are inspired by them, and take the shape of leaves or trees. They're all slabs of various beautiful burl woods. 

When I'm rummaging through the hundreds of burls available at my supplier, any whose shape is suggestive of trees or leaves generally have to come home with me. Other easily recognizable shapes might fall prey too.

The silhouettes of these display pieces are pretty much the actual, natural shapes of the burls from which they were sliced.  

Take a look:


The first is a burl of Australian Red Morrel, which is a Eucalyptus species (one of many found in the Land Down Under). 

Red Morrel Burl

The first reaction of some people, upon seeing this piece, might be "I see an arrowhead", I suppose. To my eye, it's a tree. In either case, it's burl figure is stunning.


The "spiky" bumps around the perimeter is the natural texture of the burl, as found when the bark was removed.

This wallhanging is 10 inches in width, 14 inches tall.

"Bigleaf Bonsai"

Second on the list, but just as pretty, is "Bigleaf Bonsai", a section slabbed off a Bigleaf Maple burl. The only modification to its silhouette was a minor cut to better define the tree's trunk at the base. The "boughs" of the tree are all composed of wonderful burl figure, and the lower trunk and limb are defined by wavy grain lines. 

17 inches wide, 24 inches tall.





Third is "Autumn Red Maple Leaf", a slice of Gummy Coolibah burl (another Australian Eucalyptus species).

The title describes what this piece reminds me of. Here in New England, autumn brings billions of these colorful leaves fluttering to the ground. 

This piece is 18 by 18 inches.

"Autumn Red Maple Leaf"

 







 Finally, there is the largest of the lot, a Red Mallee burl piece whose outline reminds me of a young Sequoia tree. It measures 351/2 inches tall, and 18 inches across at its widest point. The figure in the burl is quite pronounced, and the color is rich and deep.


These wallhangings are available at Bowlwood.com.

"Young Sequoia" Red Mallee Burl

The Tulip Tree

 

Tuliptree flower

Tulips are flowers, right? Yup. For us woodturners though, when someone says "tulip", we think "big tree". The mighty Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) has the reputation of being the tallest growing hardwood in the eastern North American forest. It's also known as the Tuliptree, or Yellow Poplar, but it's not really a poplar; it belongs to the Magnolia family. 

Tuliptree Leaf (underside)

Here in southern New England, Tuliptrees flower in June. They produce fairly large tulip-like flowers that are quite pretty, but most people are probably completely unaware of them, since they tend to appear on lofty branches and go unnoticed by the masses. Even the outline of the large leaves suggests a tulip.    

While these trees are not rare in this area, they're not exactly plentiful either, and it's not often that we wood hoarders, er, turners, get an opportunity to acquire sizable chunks of tulip wood. So when I recently saw a bucket truck crew lopping the very top limbs off a huge one on a busy road, I knew it was time to call Bob to tell him there would soon be (literally) tons of large-diameter tulip on the ground. We were both already familiar with this big tree, since it was located 5 minutes from Bob's home, and we've admired its stature before. 

Sadly and surprisingly though, someone somewhere had decided this monster was a threat to something somehow, and it had to be unceremoniously brought down. And down it came. 

Read on ....

Old Growth Forests in Massachusetts

While this blog is primarily about woodturning, and the latest projects in the shop, it seems appropriate to talk about some of the places where wood comes from, namely, forests.

There are plenty of trees coming down for various reasons to keep a wood consumer like me supplied for life, so there's no need (or desire) for me to go out and cut down living trees just to get my hands on some wood. No, I'd much rather appreciate trees in their glory days.

1 - Towering old White Pines

And, wanting to see trees in all their glory, there's simply no better place to do that than in an old growth forest. But that's not always an easy thing to pull off. So little old growth is left to be seen, since our forests have long ago been ravaged by insatiable lust for timber and developable land.

However, even here in Massachusetts, there are small tracts of gorgeous old forest; not necessarily virgin forest, but old nonetheless. The previous blog post talked about Bob Leverett, widely recognized as the "eastern old growth guru". This article is a continuation of that topic, with updates. If you haven't read the previous post, you might want to do that now before continuing. Otherwise, click on "Read more" below ....