Sara's Chest

Beautiful cronk. A real heirloom. I have a thing for walnut so this chest especially appeals to me.

Question though. I have read quite a few articles that say that branches of trees are never good to use as woodworking lumber. They said they torque much more then the trunk because of more built of tension. Have you ever used the branches before and, if so, did you notice any problems?

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

Very nice… and what a find with that Walnut tree.

I hope to see more projects with that.

I’ve read the same things too Chip. I have some stacked firewood for the lathe (from my neighbors tree) all the branch wood had cracked, twisted or otherwise changed shape. Small pieces might be good for turning, but I’d be afraid to make boards out of them – Incidentally the highway dept came by in recent weeks and took down some storm damaged trees and branches that were endanger of falling on the road behind me (My back 40, a steep hill, borders a state highway) I’ve seen a couple people scrounging for firewood. I’d have snagged some of (MY) wood, but the remaining peices are huge (for me and my car) and seem to be branch material, which is probably not worth the trouble (of either hauling back up the hill – very, very steep – or stopping on a very busy road and try manhandling them into the car) Fortunately my FIL does some treework, and I have access to his huge woodpile.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh

Yes, I have used “branch wood” before. Yes, it does have a few more stability problems but if you dry it good and be particular how you saw it up it is totally usable – in my opinion – and you can get some very interesting patterns from the limbs. I’ll run across a piece once in awhile and just looking at – the piece just doesn’t look stable so the shop needs some warmth into the wood stove
I appreciate your comments

-- cronk, oregon

Very nice. I like the book matching of the front and sides.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Nice job Cronk. And a wonderful history to go with the wood as well.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

That Walnut is almost purple. Nice job.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Beautiful… Interesting that you can put a title like “Sara’s Chest” in here and this is the one forum where no one would think any naughty thoughts…

Drew

-- Drew, Pleasant Grove, Utah

Brilliant! Very nice piece, you may want to send her something else and keep this for yourself!

-- Branden - Sacramento, California - www.ShopDogUSA.com

very nice! great work!

-- "What one can make with good tools is limited only by one's talent" (lucius-hill@comcast.net)

Great looking chest. That extra space up there could have been use for an interior shot, your holding out on us!

It looks like you have a great shop to work out of too.

The limbs are notorious for having a lot of tension in them, of course they have been fighting gravity for their whole life. Just be carefull about using it. You can make veneer out of it and override the tension with a stable core plus get more sf. out of it too.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I’m curious—what exactly might happen if using branch wood?

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Beautiful chest! I love stories of pieces that can be traced all the way back to the tree they came from.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Debbie,

Branch wood can be highly unstable because of the way it grows. It isn’t a trunk, growing straight up into the sky; it is coming off the trunk and more subject to gravitational pull and constant motion from wind. This can cause unstable growth paterns and, as a result, unstable wood.

Most saw mills won’t even touch it.

But it does make great firewood. :)

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

Hi Cronk;
In my experience of using branch wood, which is in my estimation quite good, the use of the wood, stable vs. unstable all comes down to understanding the wood I am working with, plus what are the joinery practices I am going to use and proper drying of the wood. This drying time can be over an extended period of time, hence a lot of the mis-information we get about using branch wood comes from woodworkers who just cannot wait for the wood to dry out. You will never get good branch wood from out of the firewood pile and neither will it be dried in under a years time.

Then there also remains the need to understand that there is a proper time to pop the bark off (debarking) and a proper time to saw and then comes the ‘sticking’ of the wood….all in all a time of process as the year or years roll on. And then comes the question of who wants to wait that long, since I can go on down to my ‘isles of lumber’ and buy what is already done.

Branch wood in my experience can make nice table and bench legs and as you have stated Cronk with good drying procedures and proper sawing can produce pieces of lumber that are full of beautiful character.

In reply to what you Ethan have said, the reason that most sawmills won’t touch branch wood is that they do not have the time to process the drying of the wood before it is ready to saw. Sawmills saw green wood which is then stickered and dried some what before continuing on it’s journey, while branch wood needs to be dried out somewhat before going through the sawing process. And then there also remains the issue of size and board feet to branch wood compared with logs. The money for sawmills is in the demand of what the public wants and is willing to buy and pay for according to board feet, hence they are going to work with logs, never yet saw a lumber truck pull into a sawmill loaded with branch wood.

Branch wood is used and will continue to be used by the makers of rustic furniture and these are those, who for a big part will also continue to mill the wood themselves according to their tradition of working the wood.

Actually I might just add that right now I have branch wood that is drying out in various stages, from 1-6 years, some with the bark on and some with the bark off, some outside and some inside….see what i mean; how many workers of wood are willing to wait and go through this process? I also know rustic furniture makers who never touch the wood till they have a use in mind and so the wood just abides it’s time, sitting outside.

GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

I have trouble waiting a week let alone a year or 6!!

I keep learning more and more each day. Some of it I understand and some I just go: Huh?

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Deb, I don’t think anyone in here has branched out (sorry, couldn’t resist) in there woodworking as much as you have ;-)

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

haha good one but pretty SAPpy hehee

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I have also found that branch wood can quite often have internal splits.

You might have noticed when you are outside and a howling wind is blowing and you hear branches crack. Some of that is internal cracking. If the wood is cut into lumber you do not have long pieces of straight wood but maybe pieces for aprons, legs etc. But I’ve also found that there is sometimes curl figure because of the stress placed on the wood while it is growing.

Cronk Very nice blanket chest.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I appreciate all of your comments on the blanket chest. It was a good project for me.

Since I have been a member of Lumber jocks it seems that many of you have wood questions. May I offer a suggestion – order a copy of Dr. R. Bruce Hoadleys book – “Understanding Wood- A Craftsmanship guide to wood technology. This is by far the best book I have run across in my 55 years of dealing with wood. It is written for you and I and not for the professor type. It will give you a great deal of useful information for a relatively reasonable price. You can get it from the Taunton Press, 63 South Main St., PO box 5500, Newtown, Conn. 06470-5500.
In Dr. Hoadleys introduction he quotes this -
“The properties and characteristic qualities of the timber available are so numerous and important, and yet so little understood generally, that I am induce to give in these pages, information respecting them.
A handy-book on timber is, in the opinion of many, much required. The botanical treatises in their form and treatment to interest the general reader, and they lack that practical application of knowledge to the wants of the shipwright and carpenter, which is the one aim of this book.”

These words were first written in London in the year 1875 by Thomas Laslett, Timber Inspector to the Admiralty of the British Empire in his book, “Timber and Timber Trees”

This is the same basis that Dr. Hoadley wrote his book for us. If you enjoy wood learn about it.

-- cronk, oregon

Very nice!

-- Jesus is Lord!

This is beautiful, I love the color. I never saw Black Walnut wood before, is it this dark naturally or did you add some color to the wood?

Diane

-- http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/DMarcella/

thanks for the comments Diane. The color is real and only added to by Mother Nature. Walnut has an amazing range of color. It can range from light brown to almost black and also has many glories purple shades mixed in sometimes. Based on the many trees we have harvested over the years you can predicted – a little bit – some of its color by where the tree is growing. I’m sure the soil compositions and mineral contents available to the tree influence this.

-- cronk, oregon