You guys in the US are spoiled by you wood supply. I am an old Arky-(that's Arkansaw) living in England. The wood you take for granted is just not available over here. Good tooling means you have to take out a new mortage. I'd have a shit fit if I afford the prices for good Cedar-Walnut- Cherry Etc. I'd trade the wife for an 18 inch cypress knee. Lucky devils you are.
And somewhat here in Canada too! :-)
Perhaps we can sail a wooden boat over. White Oak ok?
Same everywhere I think. It's just the size of the mortgage that is a=20 debate...
I just saw the wood prices for ebony etc -- $55 to $75 USD per bf.=20 Shudder.... Probably cheaper there...
have a look... A & M Wood Specialty Inc. July-August 2005 Inventory Update You are receiving this =93Update=94 because you subscribed to our E-Updat= es=20 list. The new items are listed below OR you will find an easier to read=20 version at
Post picture -- will discuss if suitable. (Does she know?)
Enjoy yourself over there.
--=20 Will R. Jewel Boxes and Wood Art
Aww, now that's just not true... See, I have to pay $1.81 a bf for butternut- $2.30 for hard maple, cherry is insane- $4.25 a bf! And Black walnut, well, that's $4.75. So you see, it's nothing for you to be jealous of- and at any rate, that wood in the UK is said to be far more refined than our Yankee timber... :)
Joking aside, that's too bad- I can barely afford our prices; if I were there, I'd have to give up the hobby entirely.
I feel your pain. Here in Okinawa, they want $8/bf for walnut, 6.25 for maple, 5.75 for white Oak. Can't wait to get back to the States and just go nuts!
So don't use them ! Use oak, or something else that we grow locally.
English walnut is more expensive because it's a different species and inherently a more valuable timber. It's cheaper to buy it in the UK than it is in the USA.
I don;t think overall pricing is that much different from the USA. It's not the timber that costs the money, it's the retail shop. Go to a real timberyard and the prices and quality are far better.
I was in Okinawa, '62 to '64. Loved it. You military? What base? Scuba diving was great.
Air Force - same period... Kadena, MACE "B", 874TMS
bob
So what wood is available locally?
My local wood is about the same for cherry, maple, and walnut; but butternut is $5 and only available one place. Reportedly there is not much demand for it and the saw mill has to reset their equipment because it is so much softer than the other wood; so it is expensive.
If it wasn't my favorite wood I wouldn't care. $1.81! Wow
Once again, Andy, it's grafted on good black walnut roots over here, and grows the same. Only in your imagination is the homegrown stuff "superior."
So why does it look so awful ? It's dull stripey stuff, with uneven colour and negligible attractive figure.
I see this stuff in FWW or even in Krenov, and I see the timber itself as turning blanks. I admit I don't get to see US imported walnut as boards, because I don't buy high-end timber from the place that does imports. The imported walnut I do see is European - French (cheap) or South Eastern European (the really good stuff). Both of those look like the English walnut, not the American.
AIUI, our stuff is J. regia and the US stuff in J. nigra. They don't look the same, and no-one else claims they're the same species. Even the guy in Oxford with the huge experimental plots of collected worldwide walnuts is pushing J. regia as the fine cabinetry wood, rather than J. nigra.
Of course English walnut isn't "superior". It's barely adequate, because the _really_ good stuff is the Turkish or Armenian. But it's still better than the American black walnut.
I also know a couple of American gunsmiths who do stocking work. Both will use US black walnut for stocking, but regard the best stuff as being European. Now being firearms (especially shotgun) related, this is probably tradition talking as much as anything, but clearly there's a visible difference between the two timbers. It's obviously subjective to claim that one is "better", but at the same time they're distinctive enough to be told apart.
The regia is grafted onto the more hardy nigra roots for nut production. Turkish and English should be the same species, with the original from the Caucasus.
Psssssst, got pic of bride you want to trade???? But can she cook??????
Wow is what I said, too. Turned into my second favorite wood (after maple) wood pretty quickly after I found that out. Almost as cheap as pine, and looks really nice. I like the others as well, of course, but I'm just a poor boy, and would rather work than wait!
I don't doubt you.
There are (at least) three grades of walnut that I can visually distinguish. These are the American, English and Eastern European walnuts. Now I don't know what species they are for sure, but I can pick them out in a pile or a finished piece and they have prices to match.
Now every reference to US walnut timber that I've seen describes it as back walnut. Maybe a grafted J. regia is grown for the nuts, but AFAIK the timber is coming from J. nigra instead. I don't know if these are nut trees, separate stands of trees, or where the nut wood goes to.
The Turkish walnut is also a different sub-species to the English walnuts. Walnut has a lot of variation here between sub-species, if not entirely distinct species. As I said, there's a large project going on near Oxford to study this, and to select the best cultivars for UK timber production.
So what are you claiming here ? That there is no difference and I'm hallucinating it, or that I'm mistaken over my species altogether? US and UK walnut timber just isn't the same stuff to look at, or to pay for.
Andy Dingley wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
The 'nut wood', for the most part, is of insufficient size for woodworking purposes. The growers aren't looking for large trunks, or great height from their trees - just the nuts, and consistent access to the producing stock.
All of the 'english walnut' I've seen in smallish branch wood, here in California. My experience is not exhaustive, however. Much older orchards may have used different methods.
Patriarch
Neglected ones make big wood. Check up toward Marysville.
The smaller tree is more easily shaken, however, and much more vigorous.
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