China Berry

[John Hicks]

Has anyone turned much China Berry? I just rough turned a bunch; can't wait for it to dry, so I can finish turn it. The largest bowl I got out of it so far is 20 inches across. I'm keeping an eye out for more, but in Northern California, there doesn't seem to be much.

 

[Marvin Jones]

John, have you ever seen or turned Sugar Berry? Just looked up Chinaberry, wow! Sugarberry is one of the lightest colored woods I've turned and only turned it because I was helping an elderly retiree clear a monster tree from his yard and grabbed a couple of pieces to rough out as I usually do. Do not like white looking wood as it normally looks dirty when finishing, at least for me. After curing for a year I finished turning a bowl and though it did not have that dirty look, it was bland, no detail at all. I thought about repurposing it as heat but then on a hunch I rubbed on some black walnut oil stain...

 

[John Hicks]

John, have you ever seen or turned Sugar Berry?

No, I have not. Sounds tasty though!

 

[Marvin Jones]

Funny, I never thought to check how it got its name...didn't even take a bite to see, how thoughtless of me.

 

[John Hicks]

John, have you ever seen or turned Sugar Berry? Just looked up Chinaberry, wow! Sugarberry is one of the lightest colored woods I've turned and only turned it because I was helping an elderly retiree clear a monster tree from his yard and grabbed a couple of pieces to rough out as I usually do. Do not like white looking wood as it normally looks dirty when finishing, at least for me. After curing for a year I finished turning a bowl and though it did not have that dirty look, it was bland, no detail at all. I thought about repurposing it as heat but then on a hunch I rubbed on some black walnut oil stain...View attachment 42936

Almost has the grain of red oak. What type of stain did you use?

 

[hockenbery]

Sugar berry is a type of hackberry.
Chinaberry is a softer hardwood.

Haven’t turned much chinaberry. One of its features is a hard and soft parts in the growth rings. When sandblasted the grain shows nicely.

This is a snapshot of a chinaberry piece that shows the wonderful texture sandblasting can deliver
Sandblasted background airbrushed with some yellow and orange.

 

[Marvin Jones]

Went out to see if I could find the can of stain and I have used it up...it was an oil based stain, probably from Walmart. Black Walnut, really dark. The wood is so white, much whiter than it's cousin Hackberry that it is hard to see the grain pattern, whitest (probably not a word.) wood I've messed with. I rarely use stain unless I'm building flatwork or repairing furniture. It's even lighter in color than Ash. What a surprise when the stain went on. I lightly sanded and wiped on oil poly mixed with thinner, about 10 coats.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

As I looked at Marvin's picture it did look a lot like Elm wood, and when I then checked of what it was I found it to be in the Elm family, so no wonder the wood did look like Elm.

Nice Bowl Marvin, the stain brought out the grain very nicely

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Very nice looking piece of wood John, hope you will be able to get her done and dried without splitting, hope to see a picture from it when it's finished.

 

[Marvin Jones]

Thanks Leo. Yes, really pretty piece, John. I just looked up the wood and it's supposed to be a problem tree and found here in Arkansas. Maybe someone will call me to remove their's if it's that much of a spreader. Article says it spreads kind of like cane, shooting underground roots/ sprouts

 

[Steve Nix]

This is a Chinaberry crotch complements of hurricane Laura last year.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I just finished a chinaberry bowl and Ive used some on segmented bowls. It finished with a very nice looking grain, looks a bit like oak but contrastier grain.

 

[Richard Shelby]

Chinaberry is related to mahogany, but is MUCH softer. The color is nice though. It's kinda "stringy" to turn.