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curly maple
- Thread starter doc623
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It comes from this tree... :crackup:
Actually, I believe it is caused by the growth patterns the tree takes during it's life, not by any specific species of maple of cutting patterns... (like fiddleback)
Most maple trees are straight grained, but some are spectacularly not so
Actually, I believe it is caused by the growth patterns the tree takes during it's life, not by any specific species of maple of cutting patterns... (like fiddleback)
Most maple trees are straight grained, but some are spectacularly not so
Guest
:crackup:Musketman, that is good :crackup:
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
There are several types of curly that come from different type trees in different areas. I know a guy that makes guitars out of Cherry. He takes the prime hunk and saws the rest us for fire wood.
hello doc623 you are asking about my favorite wood. musketman is right curl can and does exist in any type of wood and most trees have some right at the base of the tree its called butt curl and this usually disapears after a few inches now if you peel the bark off a tree the wood will be smooth but on a tree with curl it will be like little waves going across the lengh of the tree and birdseye looks like you shot the tree with birdshot little indentions. now im a logger by trade and when i cut down a maple tree after i cut the notch out i crack it apart and thats how i check for curl if it looks promicing i will peel bark off further up the tree to see if it has more than but curl if it does then i cut the log a few inches longer than usual and the wood buyer will cut a 4 inch cookie off the log split it with an axe and check the consistancy and vividness of the curl and pay acordingly usualy 5 to 20 times as much than straight grain wood. curly maple is most common in soft or red maple birdseye is most common in hard maplebut even then very rare i can cut all year and may be find 5 to 10 logs i have tried to figure out where to find curly maple but there seems to be nothing consistant where i find them.
musketman seems to have found leaves from a curly maple tree but i think this is fake becouse all the curly maple in the fine origanal rifles came before the 3 stooges :crackup:
curly maple
musketman seems to have found leaves from a curly maple tree but i think this is fake becouse all the curly maple in the fine origanal rifles came before the 3 stooges :crackup:
curly maple
A sketch I made some time ago shows the grain pattern and how it forms waves.
When these waves get to the surface, they present their end grain. When they run parallel with the surface, they act just like un-curled wood.
Because the end grain absorbs the stain much better than the parallel grain does, the end grain becomes much darker.
The neat thing about Curly Maple is the stripes change depending on how the light hits the surface.
That's why you can easily tell that ole Fred painted his stripes on.
When these waves get to the surface, they present their end grain. When they run parallel with the surface, they act just like un-curled wood.
Because the end grain absorbs the stain much better than the parallel grain does, the end grain becomes much darker.
The neat thing about Curly Maple is the stripes change depending on how the light hits the surface.
That's why you can easily tell that ole Fred painted his stripes on.
Guest
Right on, Zonie. I tried using regular stains on my curly maple but then I stipped her down(again) and tried Plum Brown which acts like a form of aqua fortis and WOW it was like magic. the stripes appear and disappear as you move the stock about. I wonder just how that does that. :hmm:
Guest
I don't know, but I bet that would put a real dark finish on it! Kind of a charcoal browning method.
Guest
No, you would use that fire to heat oil to make curley fries :crackup: Bill
George Holton
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Ok Stooges; contact the wood tech or forestry people at Mich State university or Cornell, UofM dont know much. or the same at your state university. they always have said you cant tell till you cut it. But what do I know ? just a grad forester from MSU Bob
IMO, "Curly Maple" as I use the term is the same as Stripped Maple, Fiddleback Maple, and Tiger Stripe Maple".
It all has a wavy grain pattern to it which when planed, cut or sanded parallel with the grain has 'end grain' like stripes showing on the surface. These produce the typical stripped patterns found on the objects made from it and they show whether the wood is stained or left in it's natural color.
zonie
It all has a wavy grain pattern to it which when planed, cut or sanded parallel with the grain has 'end grain' like stripes showing on the surface. These produce the typical stripped patterns found on the objects made from it and they show whether the wood is stained or left in it's natural color.
zonie
OK, I was sure of that, but I wanted to set a benchmark anyhow :winking:.
Freddie Harrison, from over in west Tennessee...he's one of the leading suppliers of stock blanks along with Wayne Dunlap... and I are pretty good friends since we have so much in common ie making our living in the woods, sawmilling, messing around with different woods,etc. I've asked Freddie how to tell if a tree has curl before it's opened up on a head saw,and basically he says: With a hatchet strip a chunk of the bark off above the root coller maybe a foot above the ground line cutting just into the white sap wood. Look this cut area over carefully from different angles getting a different light pattern on the wood, and if there is curl it will be seen though it is VERY SUBTLE. I don't know if this works or not since I've not tried it, but I'm betting that Freddie is right about it!
Now the question has been asked on another Thread what causes curl to form in some trees and not others.Many,many years ago when I had the required wood tech course in forestry school, I remember clearly what our wood tech Prof said about stripe and curl in maple, ash, walnut and other species. This may have changed with more advanced research in the past 45 years,but in a nutshell here's what old Dr.Hamilton told us in class:
Wood is made up of cells,naturally,and different cells have different functions. Most of a tree's woody cells are stacked end to end running up and down the stem and transport moisture and nutrients up the tree,and photosyntate or food material from the leaves to the roots.This food material is stored in the root cells to be used to fuel tree growth. As a tree ages a point is reached where the leaves produce more photosyntate than the tree uses in growing and living. The excess food material is stored in the roots until these fill up then starting low on the trunk the excess is transported from the very narrow one-eighth inch or so of tissue just under the bark to the center of the trunk by a specially developed cell structure called STORRIED RAY CELLS. These cells run at 90 degree angles from those going up and down the tree, and are full of photosyntate food material which is nothing more than one of the sugars like we use in our coffee! It is this stored sugar food material which produces the different color variation expressed as stripe or curl or fiddleback or whatever we want to call it :thumbsup:.
That's what I remember....sorry to be such a :yakyak: :yakyak: but thought someone might be interested.
Freddie Harrison, from over in west Tennessee...he's one of the leading suppliers of stock blanks along with Wayne Dunlap... and I are pretty good friends since we have so much in common ie making our living in the woods, sawmilling, messing around with different woods,etc. I've asked Freddie how to tell if a tree has curl before it's opened up on a head saw,and basically he says: With a hatchet strip a chunk of the bark off above the root coller maybe a foot above the ground line cutting just into the white sap wood. Look this cut area over carefully from different angles getting a different light pattern on the wood, and if there is curl it will be seen though it is VERY SUBTLE. I don't know if this works or not since I've not tried it, but I'm betting that Freddie is right about it!
Now the question has been asked on another Thread what causes curl to form in some trees and not others.Many,many years ago when I had the required wood tech course in forestry school, I remember clearly what our wood tech Prof said about stripe and curl in maple, ash, walnut and other species. This may have changed with more advanced research in the past 45 years,but in a nutshell here's what old Dr.Hamilton told us in class:
Wood is made up of cells,naturally,and different cells have different functions. Most of a tree's woody cells are stacked end to end running up and down the stem and transport moisture and nutrients up the tree,and photosyntate or food material from the leaves to the roots.This food material is stored in the root cells to be used to fuel tree growth. As a tree ages a point is reached where the leaves produce more photosyntate than the tree uses in growing and living. The excess food material is stored in the roots until these fill up then starting low on the trunk the excess is transported from the very narrow one-eighth inch or so of tissue just under the bark to the center of the trunk by a specially developed cell structure called STORRIED RAY CELLS. These cells run at 90 degree angles from those going up and down the tree, and are full of photosyntate food material which is nothing more than one of the sugars like we use in our coffee! It is this stored sugar food material which produces the different color variation expressed as stripe or curl or fiddleback or whatever we want to call it :thumbsup:.
That's what I remember....sorry to be such a :yakyak: :yakyak: but thought someone might be interested.
Very interesting der Forster.
I am having a difficult time trying to figure out how excess photosyntate can cause a observable sine wave shaped bending of the linear grain columns.
zonie
I am having a difficult time trying to figure out how excess photosyntate can cause a observable sine wave shaped bending of the linear grain columns.
zonie
I think we are mixing up rays with curl here. Curl is actual grain layed down in a sine wave as stated above. I do not think we know why some maple is curly and some is not. I do not subscribe to the idea that it is due to weight or pressure or bending in the wind because curly maple tends to be curly thoughout, not on one side or the other, it varies in prevalence between species of maple, and one tree in a stand will be curly while others are not. That's why it's necessary to take a whack at the bark and look at the wood underneath.
I don't care to know why curly maple is curly. I just like it.
I don't care to know why curly maple is curly. I just like it.
flintriflesmith
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Rich,
When I was in VA Tech forestry school in the late 60s I did a research paper on curly maple. The best research had been done by some German scientists and the concluded that curly maple was hereditary.
They cross pollinated curly trees and found that 60 or 70% of the offspring were curly. I'll poke around in my files and see if I kept a copy of the paper.
From personal experience, I know that when you find one curly tree in the woods you should examine those nearby. They are found in clusters. Also these groups of trees tend to have curl of similar patterns.
I believe the science. Heredity is a far more believable reason than the folk tales we have all heard.
Gary
When I was in VA Tech forestry school in the late 60s I did a research paper on curly maple. The best research had been done by some German scientists and the concluded that curly maple was hereditary.
They cross pollinated curly trees and found that 60 or 70% of the offspring were curly. I'll poke around in my files and see if I kept a copy of the paper.
From personal experience, I know that when you find one curly tree in the woods you should examine those nearby. They are found in clusters. Also these groups of trees tend to have curl of similar patterns.
I believe the science. Heredity is a far more believable reason than the folk tales we have all heard.
Gary
FRS: I agree.
zonie
zonie
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