Australian #19 Almond tree wood - PEN blanks raw 

Sold in packs

Blanks size of 21mm square X 130mm long

Pack weight of approx. 250gr.  

Please select the pack number you want otherwise, they will be supplied in descending alphabetical order as per the availability. 

These are pen blanks made from the oldest and first Almond trees planted is this block of land by the father of the old fellow that now owns it.  The soon, now an old man ripped 98% of the old trees 30 years ago as they weren't producing much any more so, he removed the old trees left the land rest for a couple of years and then planted about 800 new Almond trees, as a replacement.

They were not the best nut producers but they had some significant meaning to this old fellow (Italian descent) so, I manage to salvage as much as I wanted from the old and newer trees before they would be all pilled out and burnt.

I offer to turn some items out of the old and newer Almond trees, as a simple representation of what they once were, the wood of the newer trees in quite nice but the wood from these older trees (about 110 years old), colourations and grain, is just out of this world, and this the wood the listed blanks were cut/made from...! This block of land, now vacant (resting, again...!) is located in the Fleurieu Peninsula, about 80km south of Adelaide, at the edge of the hills, close to the Town of McLaren Flat.

These newer trees were also pulled off the ground in 2009-10 after 28 years.  Unfortunately, the Almond trade/value is now very low and this fellow got old and unable to care for these trees anymore so, he made a decision that I believe, would be one of the hardest decisions he ever had to make in this life, all he ever knew was Almond growing and at 28 years old trees, they were in the best period of their life to produce nuts but, and as I mention, it was his father and the father of his father's land, we would never sell and move and wasn't viable to lease the Almond orchard to anyone, due to the product low value, in recent years.

Almond wood is very heavy and very dense, when green and after dried, this wood doesn't allow much work to be done while green and in the drying process, the sapwood and heartwood "fight" viciously as they try to separate from each other.  The heartwood simply cracks open the full trunk, nearly separating it in two.  Amazingly after the initial stage (first 12 months after cut), the wood goes to a transformation where the very distinct colours of heartwood and sapwood when green, become blended with almost no separation between the two. 

The bright yellow of the green Sapwood, them become this orange(ish) colour with some extra effects on the grain cells, looking in same places like snakeskin.  In exchange, the green heartwood very bright reds and browns are now medium to dark orange and the bark browns become a lot lighter in colour.

After the wood goes through this dramatic transformation for about 16 months or so, the cracks created by this strange drying phenomenon, are pretty much the cracks the wood will have, there is, at about 18 months the wood becomes quite stable and not a lot in any cracks are developed, after that.  Some exceptions may apply if the wood is exposed to extreme temperatures, very different then those while drying.

The Almond wood is a pleasure to work with, cuts beautifully, and finishes well with very little effort...!

Thank you for visiting...!