Wood from the Shii Tree Bowl

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I'm saying Wood from the Shii Tree, because what you would usually say is Shiinnoki which is Shii (the name of the tree) No (of) Ki (Tree) so often in English we say Shiinoki tree, or Shiinoki wood, which is like saying Oak Wood Wood.... :rolleyes::D

In English it is Castanopsis, commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, personally I've never heard of it.

It is in the same family as the Beech.

This wood is a LOT lighter than beech and much softer too.

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yeah OK it's been a while since I turned some bowls....

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I got the foot trued up enough to mount it.

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The bowl had moved a ton, I had to take it down thinner than I would have liked, but it turned out OK, there was a LOT of tearout, especially where the hard knots were.

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Sanded to only #220, this will be a daily use bowl, not a show piece.

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I used my coconut oil/bees wax mix to finish it, I really like this finish for daily use bowls, easy to make, easy to apply and easy to reapply.

Some interesting color I guess, turned out well I think, nice to know I remember which end of a bowl gouge to hold onto.

Cheers!
 
I like the way it came out and its a nice looking piece of wood. IMHO that's not to thin, but about right for that bowl it has a nice "balance" to it.

I was given some "chinkapin" a few years back and was a bit confused because it didn't look like the chinkapin I was finding on the interwebs (and looks fairly different from what you have).
I decided what I had was probably
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysolepis
and specifically
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysolepis_chrysophylla
also known as "giant chinkapin" http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/giant-chinkapin/

I'm guessing what you have is possibly:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanopsis
and most likely:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanopsis_cuspidata
which is a cousin of the Chrysolepis chrysophylla from the west coast here.

The fact that they're somewhat closely related makes the differences in the wood pretty interesting, the stuff I had was more fine grained and had a pinkish hue. Turned beautifully and worked really easily. From what little reading I did there is a ton of appearance variation in Castanopsis - so its interesting to see another example of it from a different sub species (or close relative depending on who's doing the naming/species id). The softness sounds about the same - what I had didn't have any knots so I can't comment on that part, but it didn't seem super prone to tear out. I had to do a lot of cutting to get rid of the rot as the one over here is not a very durable species so didn't end up with very big stuff.

There is also the "Chinkapin Oak" which is an eastern plant and only distantly related (as beeches are to oaks)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_muehlenbergii
and Quercus prinoides - neither of which are true chinkapins, but are often called chinkapin.

and the threatened Chinkapin chestnut Castanea from the southeastern US:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanea_pumila

It would have been easier if people hadn't gone around saying "looks a lot like the chinkapin I used to know" (there's a song in there) and giving them the same names :rofl:
 
Stu, we have chinkapin oaks growing as an indigenous tree in Texas. Considered a medium hard wood. I have never turned any, but you never know. That is a nice looking wood. And the bowl is nice as well. For those who are curious the chinkapin oak grows in Texas from the northeast part of the state down into central Texas along the Guadalupe River area. Some folks I know have planted them around this area and they seem to be doing well.
 
Stu,
What do the leaves look like and does it flower??

There's a tree that grew just down the road from me that had long heart shaped leaves, about 1 foot long, and 6-8 inches wide... the flowers were long strings of blossoms that looked much like a wisteria and were a blues purple color... when I researched the tree, it came up as a Royal Paulownia - a chinese tree.... the bowls I turned from it have much the same lines and grain markings as your bowl... the wood is very lightweight and fairly soft... you have to be careful to have really sharp tools to prevent tear out.

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I understand they're growing the tree in Australia as an alternate source of lumber... it's said to be the fastest growing tree in the world.
 
Not really sure on the origins of this chunk of wood, I cannot remember if it came from the road being widened or from a tree being taken down at the Shinto shirne :huh:

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It is most likely Castanopsis cuspidata Japanese Chinquapin or Japanese shii


The Paulownia or Kiri, that you speak of was/is used for dressers and for storing kimonos, as they are believed to keep the bugs out.

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Typical dresser

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Kimono storage dresser.

I personally don't like the wood, it always seems waxy to me.

The bowl should work out just fine.

Cheers!
 
Nice looking dressers... the tree I have was taken down by the power company, to the displeasure of the tree owner... but then he was going to just cut it up for firewood. I didn't notice any waxiness to the wood, but it does have a vinegary smell of sorts when turned... not so bad but definitely a smell. The logs have a hollow running through them in the center where the pith is in most trees... it's about thumb sized and appears to run the entire length of the log.
 
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