# Golden Rain Tree



## Mr. Peet (Nov 10, 2017)

Last Saturday I had wife and daughter out for lunch. After a chilly outdoor seat at the Roadside Bistro, we headed off to take down a small tree, 'Golden Rain Tree',_ Koelreuteria paniculata_. The twin stem was under 30' feet and over hanging a garage a bit. DBH, under 7" inches, aged 19 years. While we were there we took down the similar sized single stem 'Chinese chestnut' that was stumped within inches of the first mentioned. When we sectioned it, the first showed a cross section similar to a flamed box elder. Upon closer inspection, the starburst had micro fractures. Had a friend mill it on Monday, picked it up Tuesday and had some time to day to look at it.

Reactions: Like 8 | EyeCandy! 4 | Way Cool 1


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## barry richardson (Nov 11, 2017)

That golden rain tree looks pretty cool, I took a small one down last year, it was plain, not worth keeping....


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 11, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> That golden rain tree looks pretty cool, I took a small one down last year, it was plain, not worth keeping....


I wish I knew. I asked on here in March about the tree and had a single response. When did you take it down? Do you still have any? Which species was it? I lack _K. elegans _and _K. bipinnata_. Almost all of the _K. paniculata_ I've seen has some curl. Did you turn anything from it? Let me know Barry, I'd really like to be able to better understand this genus. Thanks.

Mark...


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## barry richardson (Nov 11, 2017)

It was over a year ago; last summer. Had to remove it to build a deck at my wife's former house in Sacramento CA. I identified it by the distinctive lantern like flowers it had, golden rain tree, that's all I know..... I had hoped it would be interesting wood that I might make something from, was only about 6" at the base, the cross cut looked pale and boring, it all went straight into the dumpster, one man's trash is another man's treasure lol....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (Nov 19, 2017)

Mark (@Mr. Peet) dropped the pieces off w/ me yesterday and since his pic of the longer piece is WAY off in color, I thought I'd post a more accurate one. I also note that in the two weeks since he took the pics, the colors on the smaller piece have changed to nothing but white and brown. All of the purplish color and the orangish tints have gone away.

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## Mr. Peet (Nov 19, 2017)

phinds said:


> Mark (@Mr. Peet) dropped the pieces off w/ me yesterday and since his pic of the longer piece is WAY off in color, I thought I'd post a more accurate one. I also note that in the two weeks since he took the pics, the colors on the smaller piece have changed to nothing but white and brown. All of the purplish color and the orangish tints have gone away.



The colors I posted were accurate at that time. The wood was freshly cut, and carried heavy orange coloring. The short piece Paul showed was a boxed slab with pith from the center of the two shorts above from Nov. 10th.

I would assume this wood is like many woods, the orange and yellow tinges often disappear when fully dried and finished milled.


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## phinds (Nov 19, 2017)

Mr. Peet said:


> The colors I posted were accurate at that time. The wood was freshly cut, and carried heavy orange coloring. The long piece I posted above from Nov. 10th was from a different bolt than the slab I dropped off with Paul. It had more spalt lines and character, but the short piece Paul showed was a boxed slab with pith from the center of the two shorts above from Nov. 10th.
> 
> I would assume this wood is like many woods, the orange and yellow tinges often disappear when fully dried and finished milled.


But your pics of the long piece show it as heavily green, which I doubt was ever correct.


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 19, 2017)

phinds said:


> But your pics of the long piece show it as heavily green, which I doubt was ever correct.


Ok, they are orangish on my PC and match the wife's camera. The girls don't see ant green either, at least not in the pictures we see. Thanks for taking those new photos, since it does show how things can change.


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## phinds (Nov 19, 2017)

Mr. Peet said:


> Ok, they are orangish on my PC and match the wife's camera. The girls don't see ant green either, at least not in the pictures we see. Thanks for taking those new photos, since it does show how things can change.


Weird. Maybe my eyes are acting up. Who else sees this pic as greenish?





Here is yours then mine:



I see yours as yellow-green and mine as brown

Reactions: Agree 4


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## gman2431 (Nov 20, 2017)

Looks green to me.


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 20, 2017)

phinds said:


> Weird. Maybe my eyes are acting up. Who else sees this pic as greenish?
> 
> View attachment 137402
> 
> ...



Wow, seeing them side by side really shows off how much the color can change as they dry.


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## phinds (Nov 20, 2017)

Mr. Peet said:


> Wow, seeing them side by side really shows off how much the color can change as they dry.


So they were really that green when freshly cut? I still think some of that must have been your camera.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Mike1950 (Nov 20, 2017)

its green


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 20, 2017)

This is what they looked like in a garage 4 hours after cutting. This is one bolt, front and back view. Second from the right I think is the one Paul showed above. My 'green' photo was 4 full days later in the kitchen. The white color will live again when seasoned and finished.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (Nov 20, 2017)

You still haven't answered my question. Was the green color really in the wood or was it an artifact of the photography. I would find it exceedingly odd if it went from the color directly above to GREEN and then back to the color directly above (which is what it is now)

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 21, 2017)

phinds said:


> You still haven't answered my question. Was the green color really in the wood or was it an artifact of the photography. I would find it exceedingly odd if it went from the color directly above to GREEN and then back to the color directly above (which is what it is now)



Have to assume camera shenanigans. We don't see the green like you make it sound, but could only guess it is there. The light brown table cloth in the background looks the same in the reposted photo from you on Sunday as it does in the forth picture down, Nov. 10th at 17:14pm photo from me. The Nov. 10th, 5th photo down shows the piece again next to one showing very little staining associated with the fracturing heartwood / center-wood. That picture was to show the high contrast in color within the tree. As it dries it is very clear to me that the color in fact morphs quite a bit.


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## rocky1 (Nov 24, 2017)

Ambient lighting and camera shenanigans gentlemen... With the greenish tint, picture taken in the kitchen, I'd guess Mr. Peet has a fluorescent light fixture in his kitchen. Fluorescent is notorious for green wave length, they make a filter to correct it on higher end camera lenses, on the opposite end of the spectrum, incandescent can give things a reddish or orangish tint. 

I'd guess the wood fibers are for some reason reflecting the green color wave given the extent seen there, but it may all be camera. At any rate, the Camera didn't flash; the light was borderline sufficient or you manually shut the flash down, so it slowed aperture speed and F stop, and the slower shutter speed and depth of field is compounding/exaggerating the green effect from the fluorescent lighting.


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## Mr. Peet (Nov 24, 2017)

rocky1 said:


> Ambient lighting and camera shenanigans gentlemen... With the greenish tint, picture taken in the kitchen, I'd guess Mr. Peet has a fluorescent light fixture in his kitchen. Fluorescent is notorious for green wave length, they make a filter to correct it on higher end camera lenses, on the opposite end of the spectrum, incandescent can give things a reddish or orangish tint.
> 
> I'd guess the wood fibers are for some reason reflecting the green color wave given the extent seen there, but it may all be camera. At any rate, the Camera didn't flash; the light was borderline sufficient or you manually shut the flash down, so it slowed aperture speed and F stop, and the slower shutter speed and depth of field is compounding/exaggerating the green effect from the fluorescent lighting.



Sounds good to me...


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## phinds (Apr 1, 2018)

As an addendum to this thread, Mark loaned me a couple of the pieces featured above and I show them here cleaned up, just FYI

First, the two pieces as they were when I got them, then the cleaned up shots. LOTS of surface stuff removed, obviously. Then a shot of the ends of each and then a closeup of the end grain of the heartwood, showing the "infected" (or whatever is going on) rays that cause all the busyness in the face grain.

Reactions: Like 2 | Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Byron Barker (May 22, 2018)

Got that stuff growing like weeds all over Taiwan. I've never cut it since I am a bower and it doesn't seem strong enough for a bow, but you can see it all over the mountainside even from great distances when the seasons change. Beautiful tree, beautiful wood too I guess!


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