Baxter Smith
03-16-2010, 11:38 PM
When I arrived at the highschool this afternoon for track practice, the parking lot was unusually empty. When I got out of my car to go into the building, I was told that there had been a bomb threat at 2:00 and all after school practices had been cancelled. Headed home thinking I would enjoy the beautiful afternoon and continue cleaning up the bent and broken limbs we lost this winter.
There was a UPS truck in the driveway when I arrived so I had a feeling the limbs could wait! Headed out to the shop with my box of loot. Inside was a wonderful variety of local Kentucky hardwood sent by John Keeton in return for some Maine wood I had sent to him. Thank you John!!
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Included was a letter describing where the cottonwood, Ash, Eastern Redbud, Walnut, Coffee Tree, and Curly Maple had come from. I picked each piece up again and again, turning them over and over like a kid at Christmas trying to figure out which toy to play with first. Ever since John had sent me some pictures from which to choose, the spalted ash had intrigued me. I mounted a faceplate on the flattened side with a very minor adjustment and went at it. I soon ran into a defect near the top that I just hated to leave.
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It wasn’t close enough to the top to just cut it off so I tried to find out how deep it went. Felt the bowl could have somewhat of a flared top but the soft spot kept going and going. I also wasn’t quite sure if I had the blank oriented properly so the rings would be symmetrical in the bottom. Drew some lines on the outside but still wasn’t quite sure though I thought it would be close.
145312
I then changed my plan and decide to make a plate out of the top part and a bowl with a recessed rim out of the bottom. The bowl could then sit on the plate. About that time my wife walked into the shop and said, “A flower pot, I like it!” Talk about seeing the writing on the wall - or not! Foolishly I made some comment about a spittoon and told her what I was thinking about doing. Her response was something to the effect of “don’t you get tired of making plain old bowls, you can go to Walmart and get those.” So with that decided on… I proceeded.
145313
I had only intended to rough it out but after turning away more than planned and it being pretty dry, I figured why not. Took a break for dinner but was able to put it back in good company before the evening was through.
145315
There was a UPS truck in the driveway when I arrived so I had a feeling the limbs could wait! Headed out to the shop with my box of loot. Inside was a wonderful variety of local Kentucky hardwood sent by John Keeton in return for some Maine wood I had sent to him. Thank you John!!
145310
Included was a letter describing where the cottonwood, Ash, Eastern Redbud, Walnut, Coffee Tree, and Curly Maple had come from. I picked each piece up again and again, turning them over and over like a kid at Christmas trying to figure out which toy to play with first. Ever since John had sent me some pictures from which to choose, the spalted ash had intrigued me. I mounted a faceplate on the flattened side with a very minor adjustment and went at it. I soon ran into a defect near the top that I just hated to leave.
145311
It wasn’t close enough to the top to just cut it off so I tried to find out how deep it went. Felt the bowl could have somewhat of a flared top but the soft spot kept going and going. I also wasn’t quite sure if I had the blank oriented properly so the rings would be symmetrical in the bottom. Drew some lines on the outside but still wasn’t quite sure though I thought it would be close.
145312
I then changed my plan and decide to make a plate out of the top part and a bowl with a recessed rim out of the bottom. The bowl could then sit on the plate. About that time my wife walked into the shop and said, “A flower pot, I like it!” Talk about seeing the writing on the wall - or not! Foolishly I made some comment about a spittoon and told her what I was thinking about doing. Her response was something to the effect of “don’t you get tired of making plain old bowls, you can go to Walmart and get those.” So with that decided on… I proceeded.
145313
I had only intended to rough it out but after turning away more than planned and it being pretty dry, I figured why not. Took a break for dinner but was able to put it back in good company before the evening was through.
145315