Fun day with a Creeker, and wood gloat.

[Mike Cruz]

Dan Hintz and I had one whopper of a day on Saturday...

Dan got to my house at 9am. We did the usual of talking shop, seeing what new additions I have, Dan shaking his head at me...you know how it is. By 10am, we were at my local sawyer's place. SIDE NOTE: Joe, my sawyer is a really good guy. When I was over his place a week ago, bringing him some ash to saw up into siding for my shed, he asked if I wanted any of his "throw away wood" for turning. Of course, I jumped on it. I asked if I could bring anyone else. He said no problem. I told him that anyone I brought would be made to understand that if they pick up any wood (hehe, how couldn't you), you would have to turn Joe a bowl from his wood. I tried contacting a bunch of Creekers, but Dan was the only one that could make it on such short notice. BACK TO THE STORY: :)

So, we were at the sawyer's. We did a quick walk around to see what was available for us. There was maple that had been sitting for about 3 years (a little too long, that is why Joe was letting us have it), a bunch of cherry (had some wind shake, so again, not worth his time to try to make lumber out of it), and some white oak. There was more, like a huge spalted sycamore, but we didn't have time to get to that...

We left at 12 to get back to my house to take care of the dogs and horses, got some lunch, and back to the sawyer by 2. More cutting and loading, and back to my house by 4:30. Then we decided to cut out blanks and seal them. Got to use my restored Delta 28-350 band saw. Cut like a dream. DC was less than stellar, though. Anyway, by the time we got the blanks cut out and sealed, the cut offs trimmed up and into Dan's car, and everything cleaned up, it was about 8:30. What a day!

Check out Dan's trunk and front seat! Loaded with all the cut offs from the blanks. He's gonna make pens and bottle stoppers out of them.

The one pic is of the blanks that we cut out. Then the other pic is of Dan in front of the logs still to be cut up. I was just too wiped out to do any more.

Dan, I had a great time! We'll have to go back to get more...:D

[Tim Thiebaut]

Man I am so jealous, I wish I had access to wood like that, glad you all had a good day together! Nice gloat on the wood!

[Dan Hintz]

The beer bottles are for size reference <cough, cough>, I swear :D Although it really takes it out of you, physically, to move such heavy chunks of wet wood, there's a great satisfaction in working with your hands, especially when you know what your work is going to net you.

The trip to/from Mike's is an hour each way for me, so from the time I got in the car to the time I got home and unloaded the wood, it was a solid 14.5 hours. As I'm bringing in the last few chunks from the car and spreading them out on the living room floor, SWMBO comes walking (stumbling?) down the hallway from the bedroom, sleep (and fingers) in her eyes. I think she was too pooped to give me the evil eye for spending the entire day out with such a bad influence, but I paid for it the next day... I had to get up early Sunday to meet up with one of her step-brothers in D.C. I got to drive the packed highway to the metro station, couldn't sleep in the metro car due to the rugged motion, and ended up walking 3/4 mile because she didn't want to wait 16 minutes for the transfer to the red line (which would have placed us within 1 block of our destination). She was walking like her tail was on fire... and I think she was smirking the entire time, but I couldn't verify because she was always ahead of me :-/ A woman scorned...

The cutoff pile, even after trimming off the small edges that wouldn't cut down to anything useful, was a huge pile, and I'd say we only cut a bit less than half of the logs we hauled home. Still, there was too much pretty figure and spalting mixed in to just toss it, so when time permits I'll try to trim it to manageable-sized chunks and maybe do a few giveaways? We'll see...

[Mike Cruz]

I guess I forgot to mention about the beer bottles (empty, of course) were to show the size of the blanks. A bunch of those are what, 17-19"?

[Dan Hintz]

I guess I forgot to mention about the beer bottles (empty, of course) were to show the size of the blanks. A bunch of those are what, 17-19"?
The blanks, not the beer bottles... lest someone think we're real lushes. Those two bottom blanks in the middle stack are probably a foot thick, and a good 18-20" in diameter.

[Bill Rogers]

I guess I forgot to mention about the beer bottles (empty, of course) were to show the size of the blanks. A bunch of those are what, 17-19"?

Those are some pretty big beer bottles!!

[David E Keller]

Looks like a great excuse for a coring setup if either of you have been looking for a reason to take the leap. BTW, where are the rest of the bottles?

[Mike Cruz]

We've both already gotten the McNaughton coring system. Just need to use them now... :)

[Dan Hintz]

Looks like a great excuse for a coring setup if either of you have been looking for a reason to take the leap.
Yep, McNaughton is in the house... and I have Carter's new Hollow Roller in the mail system somewhere between here and there. I'm hoping Jeff is able to finish up the outboard system he was working on sometime soon.

BTW, where are the rest of the bottles?
Why David, I have no idea what you're talking about... ;)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on all the wood! I am sure things go a little easier when there are 2 of you processing but that still was a lot of work! Hope the wood is full of spalt and curl!

[John Keeton]

You need to go back for the spalted sycamore - sweet stuff to turn.

But.....I have a serious question....what kind of woodturner hauls wood in a 370Z!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek: Dan, you need a truck, man - a truck! You know, one of those vehicles with a big bed into which one can throw all sorts of stuff!

[John Hart]

First you say that you were tired, but you have enough strength for a 12oz curl workout. Something seems amiss. Cool day and fun gloat. Dan must turn huge pens!!

[Dan Hintz]

But John, I made sure to get a convertible so I could haul pieces bigger than the interior :D Hey, it's bigger than my S2000 :p

Steve, lots of spalting... we never saw any burls, per se, but there were quite a few spots here and there with a lot of figure and color variation. I'm not sure how drying will affect it, but at least one piece had some greens in it and another had some blues. One of the White Oak slabs (could have been the Maple, need to look again) had a very unique and wild grain I've never seen before in a 4-6" diameter area... almost like 1/16" pieces of string all wound up.

[charlie knighton]

nice gloat, 14.5 hour days, looks like yall got something to show for it , thanks for sharing

[Baxter Smith]

Nice haul. Even in a Z!

[Mike Cruz]

Dan, it was the white oak. It was almost a quarter sawn burly look. Anyone that has seen that would get what we are talking about immediately. Maybe I'll try to find it and take a pic. Wait, do you have that Dan? I think that was really prominent in one of the cut offs. So, it must have been sapwood or close to it.

Charlie, while Dan had a 14.5 hour day devoted to the project, since it was at my house, it was only about 12 hours for me. I was, however, up at 5 that morning, so by 8pm I was toast. Or was I "toasting" Dan on a great day?....Hmmmmm...

John H., I ALWAYS have strenth for 12 oz curls!!!

John K., hehe, yeah, Dan needs a truck for sure! He is a trip. We had that car packed with cut offs to the point that he couldn't take another piece. You should have seen that Z when we did that spalted and ambrosia maple a couple months back... He had 16" blanks in the front seat. Dude, that's some sweet leather! And yes, I plan to get back there to get some of the sycamore. :)

[Mike Cruz]

Ok, Baxter, that is the second thread in a row that you responded while I was typing. Which thread are you on now? :) Hey, 5 more posts and you'll hit 3000 posts! Go man, go!!!!!!!!!

[Dan Hintz]

I am sure things go a little easier when there are 2 of you processing but that still was a lot of work!
Forgot to respond to this... it may have been possible for Mike to do the blanks himself, but some of the larger ones were definitely easier getting up onto the table with two people. Not to mention it was easier for me to grab the cutoffs as they were pushed off of the blank while Mike continued cutting. Each piece involved some discussion as to the best place to snag the blank from, checking for cracks (lost two blanks to those during the unloading phase... I was a bit rough on them trying to get explosions now rather than on the lathe), etc.

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, the reason that my sawyer was getting rid of this stuff was that it wasn't fit for lumber. So, while I did my best to avoid any splitting and cracking, there were if IIRC two very large cherry slabs that had some wind shake. So, when unloading, a good toss of the blank cracked the blanks. We could definitely hear it. That prompted a violent thrashing and smashing of the blank to make sure it came apart now, rather than on the lathe, like Dan said.

And for those concerned about the beer... That was partaken in after the chainsawing and band sawing.

[John Hart]

I'm not concerned about the beer. Everyone needs their vitamins. I'm concerned about lacquer.....a lot. :)

[Peter Elliott]

Where was "Uncle Tony" in all this.. I know you two needed supervision..

[Mike Cruz]

He had prior commitments, and couldn't make it. But he gets squat because he wasn't there...na-na-ne-boo-boo...

Hey, how was your boat and fishing?