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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

buckeye / Aesculus spp.

Aesculus spp. of the family Hippocastanaceae. Includes at least the following, which should give you some idea of the range of species and common names and the overlap. Not as bad as some woods, but not clearcut either. Living things are like that sometimes. This list is not presented as being exhaustive and in fact there are definitely other Aesculus species that grow outside North America that are not included.

NOTE: "buckeye" and "horse chestnut" are both common names for these woods in the genus Aesculus
  • Aesculus arguta --- Texas buckeye
  • Aesculus assamica --- Burmese horse chestnut
  • Aesculus californica --- California buckeye
  • Aesculus carnea --- damask buckeye, red horse chestnut, pink horse chestnut
  • Aesculus flava (syn. Aesculus octandra) --- big buckeye, sweet buckeye, yellow buckeye
  • Aesculus glabra --- Texas buckeye, smooth buckeye, stinking buckeye, American horse chestnut
  • Aesculus hippocastanum --- European horse chestnut, common horse chestnut
  • Aesculus indica --- Indian horse chestnut
  • Aesculus parviflora --- bottlebrush buckeye, shrubby buckeye
  • Aesculus pavia --- buckeye, red buckeye, wolly buckeye
  • Aesculus sylvatica --- dwarf buckeye, georgia buckeye, painted buckeye
  • Aesculus turbinata --- Japanese buckeye, Japanese horse chestnut
  • Aesculus wilsonii --- Chinese horse chestnut
3 x 3" flat cut, 3" x 3" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup. Diffuse porous with uncountable tiny pores, growth rings faint but discernible even with the naked eye partly due to marginal parenchyma, rays extremely faint at 10X and invisible to the naked eye. All authorities agree that the heartwood is light colored and barely distinguishable from the sapwood but this is contradicted by several of my samples and some of the web pics, which all show clearly darker heartwood.


my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions


both sides of a sample plank of Ohio buckeye / Aesculus glabra


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Ohio buckeye / Aesculus glabra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Ohio buckeye / Aesculus glabra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of yellow buckeye / Aesculus octandra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Aesculus octandra is a synonym of Aesculus flava


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of yellow buckeye / Aesculus octandra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Aesculus octandra is a synonym of Aesculus flava


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of curly yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. The lighter color of the 2nd side is correct and I'm assuming that means the first side has a slight patina


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- not one of my better efforts since there are still obvious sanding scratches but the fine grain detail is clear.


both sides of a sample plank of curly yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The curl is weak, but it's there.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of curly yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of curly yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. the curl is barely apparent in the pic but it is much more obvious in the actual wood.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a plank of blue-stained Ohio buckeye / Aesculus glabra --- blue stain is very common for this species. HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of horse chestnut / Aesculus hippocastanum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Japanese horse chestnut / Aesculus turbinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Japanese horse chestnut / Aesculus turbinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of Japanese horse chestnut / Aesculus turbinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of spalted yellow buckeye / Aesculus flava --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above



both sides and both ends of a sample piece of spalted buckeye


end grain closeup of the piece directly above, and now you can make out the faint markings of growth rings


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above (and note that now the growth rings are completely clear but the fine grain details are not as clear as I would like because it's a soft piece and doesn't sand well down to a high grit)


both sides of a sample plank of California buckeye / Aesculus californica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of California buckeye / Aesculus californica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of California buckeye / Aesculus californica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of horse chestnut / Aesculus spp. --- This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION G


the second face, before and after sanding it down a bit, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of California buckeye burl. HUGE enlargements are present


both end grains of the piece directly above


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


face grain closeup and side grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a piece of buckeye burl loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


both sides of several pieces of buckeye burl loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


buckeye burl scales loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


buckeye burl pic of a pair of matched planks that have been moistened for the pic; contributed by Todd Levy --- thanks Todd.


The Wood Book pics


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
California buckeye (Aesculus californica) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra, also listed as fetid buckeye) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra, also listed as sweet buckeye) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views. Aesculus octandra is a synonym of Aesculus flava.


flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
buckeye (Aesculus hippocastanum listed as European horse chestnut) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This IS a buckeye but is MUCH more commonly called horse chestnut, both in Europe and in the USA.

web pics:


log section showing typical wide sapwood


pure sapwood plank


planks


bookmatched planks


planks listed as horse chestnut


planks listed as European horse chestnut and a closeup of one of them


veneer listed as European horse chestnut


turning block and end grain


turning block


listed as European horse chestnut, which SHOULD be buckeye, but based on the color, I'm not so sure


buckeye cutoffs


spalted plank


spalted turning block


a burl cut-off the tree but not yet slabbed


a burl shown both dry and wet


a small burl slab shown both dry and wet


two views of a small burl slab


burl turning blocks


burl bowl blank


burl turning sticks


burls --- I have no experience with the burl of this wood. Burls can be significantly different color than the wood of the non-burl part of a tree, but some of these burls certainly extreme. After seeing the preceeding statement, correspondent Daniel Klein commented to me that he has seen buckeye burl and it does indeed turn a blue-green color after being exposed to the air.


turning stock listed as buckeye burl / Aesculus Californica [which is commonly called California buckeye]


pen blanks made from buckeye burl


pen blank set shown both dry and wet


pistol grips of buckeye burl, finished and polished.


buckeye burl bookmatched scales that, with a bit of imagination, are reminiscent of the head in Munch's "The Scream"


buckeye burl knife handles by Alberto Symonds (these look even more impressive in the second enlargement)


earrings by Dean Robertson, whom I thank for this and other image contributions to the site


bowl listed as buckeye, but I'm not sure about this


8" spalted buckeye bowl by Steve Earis, who tells me they call it "horse chestnut" but he knows it is what we in America call buckeye.


spalted horse chestnut bowl


two views of a buckeye vase


burl bowl by Bryan Nelson (NelsonWood).


burl bowl


burl hollow form


several views of a buckeye burl hollow form


buckeye bowls turned and photographed by Tom Pleatman, whom I thank for these pics and other contributions to the site. Big enlargements are present.


buckeye burl pen


buckeye burl table