Thread: Bristlecone Pine

Welcome back stranger, good to hear your still kicking . 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

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!!

Originally Posted by hughie

Welcome back stranger, good to hear your still kicking . 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 Pinus aristata in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona
• Great Basin bristlecone pine Pinus longaeva in Utah, Nevada and eastern California
• Foxtail pine Pinus balfouriana in California and one isolated population in southern Oregon.

Originally Posted by 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!!

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!!

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

P1010005.jpgP1010056.jpgP1010057.jpgP1010063.jpg
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.

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&...94.ugRConVF6oA

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient...ne_Pine_Forest