Black Walnut???

[herbie d]

Cool! I wish I could see the front.

[Terry Allan Hall]

 

(Guaiacum officinale)...might be interesting to work with. Pete Seeger's longneck banjo's original neck was, I've read, made of that stuff. Ah... I miss those wood working days. When people get tired of seeing an old fart pound a guitar, I guess I'll go back. I can't afford to loose any fingers at this time in the game though, ha,ha.

 

 

Yup...protect those fingers!

[herbie d]

Hear in VA we have trees called Iorn Wood, They are the 1st trees to bloom in the spring. Very hard wood. All I ever used it for was tool handles. I have a few carving mallets made from Linum Vitae. I have to keep a heavy coat of wax on them or they'll split. I was told that very old motor boats used Lignum Vitae for the propeler shaft bearing. (where the shaft exits the boat.) A peace of that wood doen't even float in water.

I have some persimmon in my storage building. I've actually made wood cabinet, pin hinges from that stuff, but usually turned drawer pulls from it. Really hard stuff. Persimmon is what they made made Pool Que Balls from at one time. (for those who couldn't afford ivory) Would make the ultimate El-Kabong guitar.

 

Yup...protect those fingers!

 

[walking3rds]

I have about 15 various sized Black Walnut trees that are very healthy. It is one of the most expensive woods around, i.e. mostly because of cabinet making. Every spring I get 'Lumber Prospectors' that come around and give me offers on the trees and occasionally they are almost a 'yes' but haven't yet. The last guy that showed up left a business card that was made of wood. True story and one that Patrick Bateman would be burning hookers over.....I was very interested in the guitar that was made by the Black Walnut tree.

 

To the other guy that likes to eat the walnuts ,which are delicious, come pick them up lols. I hate that black that gets left on your hands.

[guitarcapo]

Walnut oil is also a great finish additive in French polishing. It's almost as good as linseed oil as a "drying" oil.

 

Lots of different species of tree get that name "ironwood". Down here in Florida it's used mainly to describe Lignum Vitae.

Here's a list of most of the species:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

[FretFiend.]

I have about 15 various sized Black Walnut trees that are very healthy. It is one of the most expensive woods around, i.e. mostly because of cabinet making. Every spring I get 'Lumber Prospectors' that come around and give me offers on the trees and occasionally they are almost a 'yes' but haven't yet. The last guy that showed up left a business card that was made of wood. True story and one that Patrick Bateman would be burning hookers over.....I was very interested in the guitar that was made by the Black Walnut tree. To the other guy that likes to eat the walnuts ,which are delicious, come pick them up lols. I hate that black that gets left on your hands.

 

If you have black walnut trees on a lower section of your property or a good distance from most all other shrubs and garden areas, they will be fine. They poison pretty much everything around them though. These that I cut were right above the only place on my lot where I can plant a garden. I hated to cut them, but I had to.

[majortackle]

 

I don't know anything about wood, but a quick peak through Google reveals that black walnut is some beautiful stuff: http://www.loghomemusic.com/id38.htm It'd be one hell of a thing to make a guitar so "from scratch" that you actually take the tree down yourself. I believe Bjorn, a super-talented pro luthier who used to frequent this forum, does this. Not sure, though.

 

Yup, looks cool stuff.

[guitarcapo]

Ikea offers up some awesome guitar building wood:

 

 

http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm

 

[herbie d]

Ha! It doesn't do a thing for me. Looks like a pine guitar to me. I think it'd be ok if you were sitting on a pc of Crate furniture. Sorry, I don't mean to offend. Just my take. If it sounds good, I'd paint it.

[Chicken Monkey]

To the other guy that likes to eat the walnuts ,which are delicious, come pick them up lols. I hate that black that gets left on your hands.

 

Yep, there's a week at the end of September/start of October where my hands are a rich milk chocolate color. I look like an auto mechanic.

[Demented Avenger]

Fender made some walnut electrics in the early 80's.

I have never played one, but they look beautiful.

 

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Fender made some walnut electrics in the early 80's. I have never played one, but they look beautiful.

 

Those looik pretty snazzy!

[Demented Avenger]

Those looik pretty snazzy!

 

It's amazing how they got that bass to float in mid air like that.

[thredlok]

I have used black walnut for electric guitars (chambered), but not acoustics. It's a wonderfully resonant wood and you can find some real nice figure in it too. And I think it would be totally worth it.

[thredlok]

 

It's amazing how they got that bass to float in mid air like that.

 

 

it's probably the lawn gnomes doing

[guitarcapo]

Here's a back for a guitar yet to be built. Black walnut:

 

[Tony Burns]

Nice ideas -after you have it sawn , then it must be stacked and dried for a couple of years - typically most woods take about a year per inch if you air dry them .( walnut might take longer -depends on where you live,Seasons , humidity etc. )If you kiln dry them of course its alot shorter, but kiln dryed wood is not as beautiful -it sucks the life out of it -color wise, etc..properly air dryed wood is more valuable and has a certain radiance to it -- who you have saw it is as important as how you dry it .The wrong person will give you a pile of Firewood -the right person ( who knows from years of experience and patience ) will give you stellar wood . Their is alot more to it than this - but anything good takes time and patience . I was once told ny an old timer that wood is an alive material and air dried wood is always the best wood for a skilled Craftsman to use -but everyone is in a hurry to have something now so most is typically rushed and Kiln dried .

 

I have some beautiful air dried walnut Ive been saving for a furniture piece -its over 75 years from the tree - its black color takes that long to develop -naturally .i also have in my treasure trove a beautifl pile of African Mahogany .A old friend gave me -seems an old door company was closed and someone was cleaning the place out and was throwing the stuff out -

[guitarcapo]

I've built a few violins and I've found that you just can't duplicate the sound of old wood by any method of carving or glue or varnish.

I've given up trying to build a new violin that sounds as good as an old one and now have resigned myself to either building new violins that sound really good and will improve over time to great sounding....or just building new violins from the parts of old violins.

Even cheap old student violins built in the early 1900's that are basically considered junk have salvagable wood that can make a great sound that's hard to achieve with new kiln dried wood.

[Tony Burns]

 

I've built a few violins and I've found that you just can't duplicate the sound of old wood by any method of carving or glue or varnish. I've given up trying to build a new violin that sounds as good as an old one and now have resigned myself to either building new violins that sound really good and will improve over time to great sounding....or just building new violins from the parts of old violins. Even cheap old student violins built in the early 1900's that are basically considered junk have salvagable wood that can make a great sound that's hard to achieve with new kiln dried wood.

 

 

im betting alot of that has to do with the fact that wood back then was air dried -stored for years before a builder would use it -they only used hand tools ( something about more control of the material -plus the shock a power tool does to the wood) varnishes have nothing added to them to prolong their life ( they had a short life duration ) they had other types of adhesives -have heard the term fish glue ? a few times have no idea what that means -might of been used as a joke ( im not sure ) plus the fact some of these are hundreds of years old -gives them a little bit in their favor . I got a book about 30+ years ago by Ed. Heron-Allen on violin-Making as it was, and is-- thats really interesting--- its a reprint from 1884 -- you can probably get from your library on inter library loan. GOOD BOOK ON VIOLIN MAKING

[thredlok]

 

I've built a few violins and I've found that you just can't duplicate the sound of old wood by any method of carving or glue or varnish. I've given up trying to build a new violin that sounds as good as an old one and now have resigned myself to either building new violins that sound really good and will improve over time to great sounding....or just building new violins from the parts of old violins. Even cheap old student violins built in the early 1900's that are basically considered junk have salvagable wood that can make a great sound that's hard to achieve with new kiln dried wood.

 

 

Old growth wood had tighter ring structure, and slower growth rates as they competed for light under the canopies of mature trees. You can old growth wood like maple from Timeless Timbers and other lumber reclamation companies.