Bristlecone Pine

[Allen Neighbors]

Been four years since I've been here. Been busier than an old man should. Had some tragedies happen in my family, so I've been doing a lot of traveling... some of it necessary, some not. Finally back to my shed and the big lathe.
I acquired a log of Bristlecone Pine. This log came from a tree that burned high on a mountain in Colorado back in 1894 -- the tree was still standing, and the forest had grown back around it. 120 years of cold and snow...
I don't know how many annual rings burned away, but there are 181 rings at the 7" diameter level, which was about 20 feet up. (Which makes this particular log at least 301 years old). (died in 1894, 120 years ago).
Here's the curious thing about the rings (which I could only count after borrowing a 7 power Opti-visor from a mate who's a gunsmith): Counting from the center out, I placed a straight pin at each 25 years. The first 100 years (3 inches) the rings were in varied thickness, which would indicate dry/wet or shorter/longer growing seasons. But from that point out to the edge of the disc, the rings got closer together for each 25 years. The last inch (13/32" exactly) had 81 rings, which made a total of 181 annual rings. (There were 31 rings in the last 1/4".)

Please... if anyone on this forum is familiar with fire science concerning forest fires, tell me: Do trees shrink in diameter when the moisture departs during the heat of a forest fire? If not, can you explain the above anomaly for me? Otherwise, I'm clueless.

The wood has a beautiful patina from the weather carrying the char into the wood via the cracks, and it is quite a bit harder than normal after standing, dead, for that long. Also, you can still smell the pitch when turning it. I've got a few pieces turned from it, utilizing the beauty of the charred wood as accents (with a little turquoise). If I can find my camera I'll try to post a pic or two tomorrow.
Hope I haven't bored y'all to tears...

[hughie]

Welcome back stranger, good to hear your still kicking :2tsup:. My condolences to you for your loss, had heard you been traveling a lot.

Bristlecone pine sounds like a very good pick Al, we dont see Bristlecone down here so I look forward to what you make of it.



For those on the forum who are not familiar with the Bristlecone pine.A very long living tree 5000 years plus

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/34024/0

[artme]

Hey stranger. I must echo Hughie's thoughts!!

When we were in the States I did not manage to get out to see the Bristlecones. It is a tree I first heard about when I was 8 or 9. Always fascinated by the age and the way the dendrochronologists worked out the age of them.

You are very lucky to get yourself a piece!!

I can imagine it is very protected and only dead timber is allowed to be scavenged, so make good use of what you have!!

[Allen Neighbors]

Welcome back stranger, good to hear your still kicking :2tsup:. My condolences to you for your loss, had heard you been traveling a lot.

Bristlecone pine sounds like a very good pick Al, we dont see Bristlecone down here so I look forward to what you make of it.



For those on the forum who are not familiar with the Bristlecone pine.A very long living tree 5000 years plus

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/34024/0

Thanks for the condolences, Hughie... much appreciated. People aren't supposed to bury their youngsters -- it should be the other way around. Doesn't get any easier... but one gets a little more numb...
Your link is more about the Great Basin Bristlecone, Pinus longaeva, but there isn't much difference... Mine is the Rocky Mountain Bristlecone, Pinus Aristata. I'll try to locate a website where I found out the oldest Bristlecone ever known was a dead trunk they cut and analyzed in New Mexico which had over 6,400 rings,( if my ragged memory serves me right).
Anyway, I also found out this from Wikipedia:
There are three closely related species of bristlecone pine:


Rocky Mountains bristlecone pine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains_Bristlecone_Pine) Pinus aristata in Colorado (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado), New Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico) and Arizona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona)
Great Basin bristlecone pine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Basin_Bristlecone_Pine) Pinus longaeva in Utah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah), Nevada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada) and eastern California (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California)
Foxtail pine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxtail_Pine) Pinus balfouriana in California (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California) and one isolated population in southern Oregon.

[Allen Neighbors]

Hey stranger. I must echo Hughie's thoughts!!

When we were in the States I did not manage to get out to see the Bristlecones. It is a tree I first heard about when I was 8 or 9. Always fascinated by the age and the way the dendrochronologists worked out the age of them.

You are very lucky to get yourself a piece!!

I can imagine it is very protected and only dead timber is allowed to be scavenged, so make good use of what you have!!
Thanks, Artme.
I think the dendrochronologists use some sort of coring device to find out the age of living trees, and I guess it works alright. I'd like to see one of the cores, because I've always wondered how it kept from killing a tree to bore a hole into the center... (wondered how they knew where the center was, too, because the pith is never in the exact center). Maybe I should say "seldom" rather than "never"... today is the first time I found the pith in the exact center of a chunk I put on the lathe.

You're right about being fortunate to get it. What's even more amazing to me, is that it was still standing, after burning 120 years ago!
I've got to get busy and take a few pics...
Thanks for the comments!!

[ticklingmedusa]

Welcome back Al!
Below is a link to Cornell University Tree Ring Lab in New York ...
a very reliable source with lots of good info &
even how to submit a sample.
Photos would be cool.
John

http://dendro.cornell.edu/procedures.php





(http://dendro.cornell.edu/procedures.php)

[Allen Neighbors]

325494325495325496325497
1. End of BCP Log and a turning from it. Sunlight gives the best rendering of the color which is brought out by natural Danish Oil.
2. These two have sold already! On the bowl, the two outer inlays were requested by the new owner.
3. Five turnings on the lathe. One in progress.
4. The natural burned edge is covered with several layers of tape to keep the cracked wood from separating at turning speeds. Blue tape first, because it won't remove the charred wood. Then about 5 wraps of gorilla duct tape. Just a couple layers of the same setup is used to keep the wheels of the steady rest from marking the sanded finish of outside, while hollowing.

[Paul39]

Hi Allen,

Welcome back. Sorry to hear of your loss. I'm exactly your age and have mid 40s age children.

A wonderful score on the timber and beautiful pieces. How hard is the wood in comparison with oak, walnut, or cherry?

I'm familiar with the California bristlecone pines. In the parks every last stick on the mountain was protected when I was out there in the early 1960s.

Photos: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=615&q=california+bristlecone+pine+tree&oq=california+bristlecone+pine+&gs_l=img.1.1.0i24l2.2814.13898.0.17777.28.12.0.16.16.0.268.2833.2-11.11.0....0...1ac.1.53.img..1.27.2894.ugRConVF6oA

One of the twisted, barely living, trees is 5064 years old:

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