buckeye

open main page for all woods open page 2 for articles

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

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

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

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

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

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.