# Walnut crotch find!



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Today it was time to cut my latest batch of Walnut I picked up a week ago to prepare for making B-52 tails and some other things and I discovered 3 nuggets!

Some gorgeous pieces of crotch Walnut. Two are exceptional and one is good. I'll resaw into four pieces and then do a four-piece bookmatch with each board and make small end tables, large jewelry boxes, serving trays, wall art, or something with these but they were too pretty not to share. 

I buy Walnut in the rough so some of this is hard to see until I do a little surfacing but these stood out even in the rough. These are lightly surfaced in the planer and then run through the drum sander with 100 grit for a few passes, then rubbed with paint thinner to make them pop.

Enjoy!


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Nice...makes me want to cut down my black walnut tree...


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Beautiful! Don't forget pictures.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

A lot of good pieces like those have ended up in a fire place or burn barrel because the person just doesn't see the value in that old knotty part of the board. That's why you and I just can throw out those small scraps and the reason you built your scrap bin that is too small for everything you save. The good thing about the scrap bin is having it organized you are more apt to use it because it is not hidden in a box or under a workbench. Then that makes more room in the bin for more scrap ...


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Small update - I decided to cut the lesser of the three pieces to see if I had the thickness right on the resaw. Since I had the pieces cut I figured a quick couple of passes through the drum sander and quick bookmatching would be in order (ended up with 5 pieces so I'll go slightly thicker by a few thousandths on the next two boards). Pretty nice even though it was the lesser of the three pieces! The size is roughly 17" x 28" x 0.135" thick. I used CA glue on the loose pieces of the knot so those will have be better secured and locked in before I do anything with this.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I still had the fence set up on the bandsaw and figured I'd cut the other two pieces before changing my setup. These are straight off the bandsaw, no sanding, no Naphtha -


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Awwwwwesoooome!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I spent a good part of the day yesterday out at the sawmill helping cut my next batch of Walnut, which is just cool in and of itself to be able to help mill your own lumber, but the best part is that this tree had a small crotch that he was able to salvage. It's not a huge piece and not even fully developed in the fork but it is pretty nonetheless, so I thought I'd show a photo of it straight off the saw. We have about 6 pieces like this and they're 5/4 in thickness, some are closer to 4/4. The board is about 4' long. He's going to let these air dry for a few weeks and then put them in his new solar kiln he's building, so in a few months I'll get one or two and see what I can cook up with these.


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