The Nuttinlaid Process
If you have ever seen baskets woven from pine needles, chances are you saw one incorporating walnut segments. That’s what got me thinking about inlaying them into my turnings.
Walnuts are abundant in the late Fall as they hit the ground beneath the towering trees. I gather them up and store them for a year to allow the husk to decay enough for removal with a wire brush. They can then be kept for many, many years. On the other hand, Butternuts are rare. The Butternut trees are dying off due to a canker disease and are headed the way of the American Chestnut. I am lucky to have found a couple of big trees on a wilderness trail still bearing nuts and I harvest each Fall. Preparation of Butternuts is the same as Walnuts, but their shape is totally different.
To collect suitable wood for turning, I look at construction sites for the right trees and ride around after significant storms. Getting permission to harvest wasted trees is easy. The hard part is using the chain saw to cut them up properly to provide the best opportunity to expose the beautiful grain and figure in the wood. The wood is then stored and cured for a year or so.
Finally, I cut the nuts up horizontally into segments and remove the meat — kept for eating later. This leaves the natural profile of the internal structure of the nutshell exposed.
Having turned a wooden object on the wood lathe, I then design a structure in it to receive the nut segments, all the while preserving the flow of the wood grain in its original orientation. This results in a very fine symmetrical design that accentuates the gorgeous shapes created by nature in the materials.
Finally, I sand the object to a very smooth surface and apply food safe finishes. A coat of hard wax and some buffing protect and enhance the appearance of the finish. It is then ready for the customers’ use.