# fiddleback grain questions?



## pybyr (Mar 4, 2010)

I've always had a real fondness for tiger-striped/ fiddleback grain maple (and/or other woods that may get that effect of rows of symmetrical waves in the grain).

I recently noticed that some of my split yellow birch firewood logs had some amazing waved grain, and I guess I hadn't really realized that this effect occurred very much outside of maple.

I'm most intrigued by the way that such wood can have a "three-dimensional depth" to the pattern that'll shift, in an almost irridescent/ holographic way when the angle of view or light is changed.  That seems counter-intuitive given the fact that wood is nearly opaque.  

Anyone know what explains that optical effect?

Also, what woods besides maple are known to display this effect?  

And does anyone have any tips of clues to look for in a log before splitting it?  I've had a few logs over the past few years that I wish I'd somehow 'spotted' _before_ I'd cut them to 18-20" lengths and crunched them in half with the splitter.

Thanks


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## Beetle-Kill (Mar 4, 2010)

Claro walnut can have the fiddleback also. Currently staring at a rifle stock I did years ago. 5 identifiable colors in the wood, and fiddleback tip to butt. i do not know what causes it, but I'd like to.


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## gzecc (Mar 4, 2010)

Tiger strip is not the same as the figuring your describing. Tiger strip is a quarter sawn process that cuts with the growth rings. The growth rings are the actual stipes. Figuring is when a tree grows in a funky way (not straight grain. You can see it in a lot of maples, the bark makes swirles and turns.
Read the link. 
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...od+identification&hl=en&sa=G&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1


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## zzr7ky (Mar 4, 2010)

Hi  -

I have experimented with 18th century wood finishes since the '70s.  I've noticed good 'tiger stripe' in Maple and Ash.  On rare occasions Black Walnut..  

In my experience the effect can be amplified by using water based stains.  

I've burned a lot of curly Silver Maple with little guilt.  It does hurt burning good hard Sugar Maple with curl!  I think it would show the curl if one shaved the side of the log with a hatchet or drawknife.  It would be nice to know betore bucking up the log!.  I have rescued some nice Cherry and Walnut from the woodpile for smaller prodjects.

ATB, 
Mike


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## Danno77 (Mar 4, 2010)

Tiger Oak is kinda cool, but is that what you are talking about?


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## Battenkiller (Mar 5, 2010)

pybyr said:
			
		

> Anyone know what explains that optical effect?
> 
> Also, what woods besides maple are known to display this effect?
> 
> And does anyone have any tips of clues to look for in a log before splitting it?  I've had a few logs over the past few years that I wish I'd somehow 'spotted' _before_ I'd cut them to 18-20" lengths and crunched them in half with the splitter.



The optical effect is cause by the way light waves strike the varying angles of end grain, which always looks darker than the fiber walls.  Because the wood fibers are actually presented in physical waves along the grain, when you move it in different directions lights reflects off the same section differently, making light areas now look darker and the dark areas look lighter.  The word used to describe this effect on translucent fibrous materials is "chatoyancy".  Walnut does this to a degree even when pronounced fiddleback figure is not present. 

Maple is well known for exhibiting this figure, but highly figured yellow birch has recently become a premium wood for American violin makers.  There are examples of this grain pattern found in numerous woods, even cedar and redwood.  I've had maple, ash, oak, birch, cherry, mahogany, walnut, basswood, and even exotics like Brazilian rosewood and pernambuco that have exhibited this pattern.  I just pulled a mess of fiddleback hickory out of my wood delivery.











Even though scientists know what causes the optical effect, no one is yet sure of what cause the grain to grow this way.  Genetics are the likely answer, but no single gene has yet been discovered that is responsible for transmitting this trait.  It may be that certain conditions can "turn on" a gene that is already in the tree's DNA.

AFAIK, there is no surefire way to tell if a tree has grown this way just by looking at it.  Some say that you can see the figure through the bark by the base of the tree, but that is likely merely compressive forces that buckle the wood from the weight of the tree, not true fiddleback figure.  True fiddleback has waves that are closer to each other in the center than at the outside of the tree, indicating to me that there is something going on at the cambium layer of the tree from the beginning.  Birdseye maple shows the same increased density of "eyes" at the center.  You can see this in the this photo of a hickory split, which has about 10 grains/in in the heartwood but only 6/in near the bark.










I've asked my firewood dealers over the years to try to save logs that are showing fiddleback figure and I would pay a premium for them. To date, no one has shown the slightest interest in looking for it.  I once got an entire delivery of intense fiddleback red maple - all cut and split wrong for making violins.  I had to close my eyes every time I threw a chunk on the fire.


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## pybyr (Mar 5, 2010)

Thanks, all; I've definitely seen the pattern in maple and in a few walnut gun stocks; I even have one rifle which is definitely not walnut- probably some sort of birch- that has this wonderful striping the full length (to my amazement, it was a regular factory item that I found on a rack at standard price - not some custom item, and it followed me home).

I've got some fiddleback maple planks that are destined to become a dining room table top once I get 'round tuit.


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## kartracer (Mar 5, 2010)

here's some maple on one of my rifles


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## Battenkiller (Mar 5, 2010)

Here's a shot of an archtop jazz guitar I'm working on.  Wood is bigleaf maple.  The grain will look spectacular when it is all lacquered and everything.

There is also some more curly maple in the background of the photo, which is the edging on the outside of a round vice-mounted tool tray I made.


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## CrawfordCentury (Mar 5, 2010)

Battenkiller said:
			
		

> Here's a shot of an archtop jazz guitar I'm working on.  Wood is bigleaf maple.  The grain will look spectacular when it is all lacquered and everything.
> 
> There is also some more curly maple in the background of the photo, which is the edging on the outside of a round vice-mounted tool tray I made.



Very nice project in the making there. My favorite to play is the Gibson J200. The curly maple back and sides gives it a real pronounced projection. Nicely balancing the sitka top.


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## kartracer (Mar 6, 2010)

Batten,
That is going to look very nice.when you finish it,what do you use?I've messed around with several gun stocks and just curious.Do you use anything other than lacquer?


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## DaveBP (Mar 6, 2010)

My wife and I were touring the northwest coast a few years ago and stayed at a place called The Redwood Motel that was paneled almost entirely throughout all the rooms and hallways with curly-grain redwood. The curly-grain portion of the tree was used for paneling and the rest was used for structural framing. They claimed the whole two-story motel was built from the lumber from one tree. They had a whole history/photo display showing the tree and how they got it to the mill (they had to quarter the logs to move them).


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## Jake (Mar 7, 2010)

you're basically quarter sawing the wood when splitting it, that's whats causing the effect, its the angle of the grain.  

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

It makes a sweet looking Floor


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## Battenkiller (Mar 8, 2010)

Jake said:
			
		

> you're basically quarter sawing the wood when splitting it, that's whats causing the effect, its the angle of the grain.



Neither splitting nor quarter sawing wood gives a fiddleback figure unless the grain itself has undulating waves through it.  The waves are not unlike corrugated cardboard when looking at split pieces, a real 3-D raised pattern.  Plain wood will never show this effect no matter how you split or saw it.  Yes, you will see the grain itself if you quarter saw it, but you cannot create a fiddleback pattern just by sawing the wood in a special way, it must have grown that way in the tree.


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## Jake (Mar 8, 2010)

if fiddleback different from the pictures in this thread?

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=27916.20


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## Battenkiller (Mar 8, 2010)

Jake, that is "ray fleck" figure in those photos, not fiddleback figure.  You can saw any wood with prominent medullary rays to get that figure, but only a few trees in a hundred will have the longitudinally undulating grain that defines fiddleback.  When under finish, fiddleback figure flashes from light to dark to light again depending on the angle of view, giving the work a jewel-like quality.  Some folks use the term "jeweling" to describe this effect in wood.  Ray flecks OTOH always appear dark no matter what angle you look at them.

Another thing about fiddleback figured wood is that it is a lot weaker than straight-grained wood.  Since the wood fibers present themselves in waves rather than in straight lines, every wave in the wood has a band of end grain on either side of it that is presented at an angle to the surface.  If the figure is both tightly spaced and prominent in height, there will be several places within every inch along a board's length where the grain runs out up to a 45º angle, making the wood very fragile, especially to bending stresses.  When I bend fiddleback for the sides of a violin or guitar, I have to get the wood very hot to get it to bend without rupturing along these waves.  I also use a stainless steel bending strap to hold the grain together while I make the bend. Otherwise, it would surely rupture.  

Supposedly, one of the warring states in Ancient Greece painted some curly maple oars to hide the grain, then sold them to the enemy.  All was fine until they were in hot pursuit, at which point the oars started to snap from the extra stress being applied to them.  Good story, whether it's true or not.


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