# almond



## Mike Jones (Mar 18, 2013)

I have a new respect for Almond!

[attachment=20803]


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## BarbS (Mar 18, 2013)

Beautiful!


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## Kevin (Mar 18, 2013)

Mike Jones said:


> I have a new respect for Almond!



So do I. That's beeee-yootiful!


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## brown down (Mar 18, 2013)

ohhh i likey, love the contrast of the two colors. nice shape as well....


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## rdnkmedic (Mar 18, 2013)

Awesome work. Wood is so amazing. It's always a surprise when the wood releases it's inner beauty.


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## jimmyjames (Mar 18, 2013)

Another masterpiece by mike jones!


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## Molokai (Mar 18, 2013)

Thats a beautiful bowl made from beautiful wood.


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## phinds (Mar 18, 2013)

Nice work. So how is it to turn? Any problems with chip out? end grain crushing ? (I wouldn't expect that since it's pretty hard, I think) Any other issues?


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## Mike Jones (Mar 18, 2013)

phinds said:


> Nice work. So how is it to turn? Any problems with chip out? end grain crushing ? (I wouldn't expect that since it's pretty hard, I think) Any other issues?



I have lived right on the edge of the almond capital of the U.S. for most of my life and for the entirety of my turning life and never heard a good word about almond wood. Along the old highway about 30 minutes drive from my home, there is a wood lot and during the "season" you can see virtually acres of almond wood stacked in cords, split for firewood, that is trucked to San Francisco and other central California cities. This wood comes almost entirely from "blow downs" as almond trees continue to be productive well into their fifties and sixties.

I had been told that an almond round will split open before you can get it from the orchard floor to the bed of your pickup. My experience with it now 
is hugely different.

Green, it cuts cleanly and tight details can be achieved with sharp tools. I boiled the blanks, and was a bit surprised that they were so dense, that they sank to the bottom of the cooker. On account of the wood looking so pretty, I put a coat of anchor seal on the rims and on both inside and outside of the end-grain heartwood.

The amount of warp in drying was considerable, but did not cause so much as a hairline crack. Turning and sanding the dry blanks produced no particular difficulties, other than the differential between soft sap and hard heartwood that makes sanding nice and flat difficult.

I am glad that I have some more!


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## Kevin (Mar 18, 2013)

Does the wood also produce the almond fragrance, like olive wood smells like olives?


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## Dane Fuller (Mar 18, 2013)

Very nice, Mike! I love the wood and shape. I've wanted to get my hands on some olive for a while now.


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## DKMD (Mar 18, 2013)

Great looking bowls, Mike! I've never turned almond, but I've heard the same horror stories that you'd heard. I'm guessing that the boiling made a difference, but I don't know anything about almond first hand. I'm guessing you boiled the rough outs not the whole blocks… Is that right?


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## Mike Jones (Mar 18, 2013)

Kevin said:


> Does the wood also produce the almond fragrance, like olive wood smells like olives?



It just smelled like wood to me... :lolol:


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## Mike Jones (Mar 18, 2013)

DKMD said:


> Great looking bowls, Mike! I've never turned almond, but I've heard the same horror stories that you'd heard. I'm guessing that the boiling made a difference, but I don't know anything about almond first hand. I'm guessing you boiled the rough outs not the whole blocks… Is that right?


 Right! I left the rough-outs an inch thick and boiled for and hour and a half.


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## jimmyjames (Mar 19, 2013)

Mike Jones said:


> DKMD said:
> 
> 
> > Great looking bowls, Mike! I've never turned almond, but I've heard the same horror stories that you'd heard. I'm guessing that the boiling made a difference, but I don't know anything about almond first hand. I'm guessing you boiled the rough outs not the whole blocks… Is that right?
> ...



After boiling how long does it take for something that size to dry? Also when boiling im guessing if its going to move and warp it does so when you boil it? Is there much movement when drying after boiling?


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## Mike Jones (Mar 19, 2013)

jimmyjames said:


> Mike Jones said:
> 
> 
> > DKMD said:
> ...



How long it takes to dry is very specie specific. But, here is the deal: Moisture in wood comes in two basic flavors; free water and bound water. Free water flows through the tube-like fibers and comes out (comparatively) quickly. Bound water is held by the cell walls and the lignin sheath that protects and feeds them, and won't come out until the cell walls are somehow broken down.....time will do it and so will temperature.

The difference in elapsed time between free water loss and bound water loss creates a difference in shrinking rate and thus, the stresses that produce warp and splitting/cracking.

When you boil wood, you degrade the lignin and cell wall so that ALL the water is free water. Now, moisture loss differential will be dependent upon face grain vs. end grain orientation. Warping is not seen during the boil, but afterwards when the water starts leaving.....and the wood starts shrinking.

Drying time for all species is dramatically reduced by the boil, not entirely unlike the results of kiln drying. How much it moves is very specie specific.
To quote Forrest Gump, "wood is like a box of chocolates...you never know what your gonna get".

Hope something here helps!

Mike Jones


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## elnino (Mar 19, 2013)

yeah i think turning them thin also helps. that is a great way to turn green wood in a hurry! i like the one with the heartwood pattern on the outside. i call them B blanks but only because they are kinda upside down from normal.

great work!


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## Molokai (Mar 20, 2013)

Mike, 
i had some trouble boiling almond. 
Test piece was 2x2x5 inch, boiled for two hours, then covered with blanket. After 3 days all i get was lots of end grain checks.


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