Acres of burls

[Paul Atkins]

I don't know how I missed this before. There used to be a barn in this orchard where I got my first car in 1968. This week I went back and couldn't see the forest for the burls. All Claro stumps with english walnut tops. This shows only a portion of the orchard. Looks like it needs some heavy pruning, huh?

[gary butcher]

whoo man, those will be some very sweet chunks of wood when those trees come down .

[Harlan Coverdale]

Oh. My. Goodness.

That's some sweet looking stuff.

[alex carey]

wow, thats crazy, too bad you'd have to remove tree to get to them.

[Jeff Nicol]

Paul, Those trees are something else! The pictures alone make a guy drool with desire! Thanks for starting my New Year out right!


Keep on turning!

Jeff

[John Keeton]

Paul, tell you what, you get permission to harvest, and I will drive all the way out with my truck and chainsaw. I will do all the work, and you just tell me where to cut. We split the take. Sound like a deal!!

[charlie knighton]

that's a pretty good deal i think

[Matt Ranum]

Holy crap! I wonder if they realize the value in some of those trees?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow!!! A real life enchanted forest! Would be fun just to walk around in it for inspiration! Thanks for sharing!

[Baxter Smith]

Wen't to see the movie Avatar in 3D with my kids yesterday. It would have fit right in with that movie!

[John Cooper2]

Paul, not too far away from you, if you need help let me know

[robert triplett]

I just drove to Chico from Lassen Co. to get wood at Hughes. Then drove down to Sacramento to look at some Redwood burl. Luckily my son was driving as I looked at the Walnut trees. I have thought about always carrying my chainsaw!!
Robert

[Bernie Weishapl]

Holy cow I have to wipe up my keyboard.

[Roger Bullock]

Is this a corporate farm or is it owned by someone local? I think I would try to find out. As with all nut/fruit tree farms, I'm sure they lose a tree or two ever so often. Might ask the owner if this happens to him and offer to buy the dead trees. I've had more luck getting something for free if I first offer to pay for it. Try it, you might be rewarded and ......remember who planted the seed when you get that truck load of burl.

[lynn smith]

I dare say this will require a group effort..........
WOWZER!!!!!

[alex carey]

Can anyone explain why almost all of them have burls. Is this tree particularly prone to them? Is it the way they are trimmed? Disease? So on?

[Bill Blasic]

Alex,
I'm not positive but these may just be where the grafts are when they join the two different types of tree for optimal growing. At one of my clubs someone found an apple orchard that had this grafting and they looked like the greatest burls. Upon investing a bunch of money it was found that these graft type burls were worthless as they flew apart I believe upon turning. Perhaps this is the same?
Bill

[Paul Atkins]

The nurseries around here use Claro or Bastogne root stock for walnut. I would guess that the orchard was grafted from one batch of root stock, possibly from one tree which was pretty gnarly. There are orchards here too that have claro root stock that is very straight. Maybe a different variety. The gunstock guys like this area of the valley. Seems like 'all of the big trees are gone' but I know of some that are 6' in diameter. I'll try and get some pictures. My little walnut is 58" x 30" at the first crotch. It keeps the summer heat off the house, so it's not coming down. The nuts are a pain, both to crack and cleanup.

[Udo Goetze]

I am not a nut farmer but these trees are trimmed this way. You can see that only 3 to 4 side branches are allowed to grow to keep the trees from growing into the sky. Every once a while a branch is dying or cut and the next is allowed to grow. You can see the holes that are left from the old branches(notice the diameter).

I bet there is a lot of rot to be found due to the continuous injuries. It probably takes some good luck to get the right piece and someone who really knows his way around this kind of wood to turn it into something beautiful.

Great bird habitat.... How about bird houses? :D

Udo

[Philip Morris]

Paul,
I guess these are the grafted walnut trees I have heard about.

Taylor guitars offers this as an optional guitar wood. Below is a link to a Youtube video of Bob Taylor explaining the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrkURFcnGDs

Picture of grafted walnut guitar back (the horizontal change in grain across the back is the location of the grafting):

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/features/woods/WoodType.aspx?type=Grafted+Walnut

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Wow. I fear that living in utah there are really no huge orchards like that. I am sitting here looking out the window, dreaming of burls, and thinking that the scrub oak up on the mountain side in front of me just won't make for good turning. *sigh* It is a burden...

Anyone ever tried turning Quaking Aspen?

Joshua

[Paul Atkins]

That's cool about Taylor guitars using the graft. I have made wedding bowls out of the grafts -(two becoming one etc.) and have a few blanks drying now. My former shop mate made a desk with the graft going right through the top. There seems to be no strength or warping problems in that area as you might expect. I have a few pieces of pistachio graft too that are pretty interesting. Udo, yeah the orchard has seen better days, and is probably one of the oldest ones around here. There are thousands of acres of walnuts, almonds, prunes, peaches and apple trees within walking distance around here but sometimes I don't even notice. When they bloom about Washington's birthday it's spectacular. A few years ago a guy planted 20 or so acres of Claro walnut trees for an investment, but it is now a housing development with the people complaining about all the dirty walnuts. Seems like everyone has a story about a 'barn full of walnut slabs', with about half of them being true in some way or another. I'll have to say though, English walnut might be my favorite turning wood.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Quite a nice picture of the Walnut grove Paul, but I wonder why the Carpathian Walnut is called English Walnut, as the Walnut was never native to England.
Bringing Carpathian Walnut nuts over to America wouldn't make them American Walnut, so why then call them English Walnut, I just don't understand that :confused:.