Wood gloat update

[Hayes Rutherford]

Back in October I did a cleanup job that involved a huge silver maple and had a couple of requests to post some photos when I turned it into blanks. Well I started today and spent all day breaking down block #1. This one had the major leaders coming out of it so much time was spent deciding what cuts to make. I could have used a 48" bar but got by with a 32". I plan to rough turn and core all of this section then go on to the next block and will post again when I get further along. I may need to call Doug Thompson at some point.

[Joe Watson]

So many things to be jealous of; your Loader, the wood, access to a tree like this, 36" chain saw... but you can keep the snow ;)
Im sure you will have fun roughing.

[Cory Norgart]

I love the loader Hayes. The wood too.

[Nate Davey]

Great haul Hayes. I'm confused about what all that white stuff is though :confused::D

[Ken Hill]

I would be trying to get some spalt going on that maple!

[Greg Just]

WOW - that is a lifetime supply of silver maple! Looks like you have a lot of snow too!

[Hayes Rutherford]

So many things to be jealous of; your Loader, the wood, access to a tree like this, 36" chain saw... but you can keep the snow ;)
Im sure you will have fun roughing.

Joe, don't be jealous of a 1400.00/mo. payment.

Ken, Silver maple gets an ugly blackish stain in it, at least around here. So far this doesn't have it so no attempts at spalting. The photo's show black crud that was in the various crotches, sure had to file a lot.

We usually have much more snow at this time, there is just enough to keep the wood "on ice".

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Hayes on some fine looking wood. Should keep ya busy a day or two.

[Jamie Donaldson]

I was also wondering about the location of that white stuff on the ground, and then noticed where Cory calls home, and now understand why he didn't even mention the snow!

[Bill Bolen]

A bunch of those nice big blanks sure look as if they have some handsome figure in them. I'm looking forward to pic's of what you did with them. Have fun!

[John Keeton]

Love turning figured silver maple - and, there looks to be a lot of it in that tree. Maybe even a little burl here and there.

[Dan Forman]

Well now I reckon that ought to keep you out of trouble for a few days! must be nice not to have to hand carry each piece to storage.

Dan

[David E Keller]

I don't think I've ever even seen a tree that large! Congrats on the haul and getting a portion of it broken down into manageable pieces. Looking forward to seeing rough outs and beyond!

[Jim Burr]

Maybe we could sneak into Sequioa Natl Forest up the road and grab a couple redwoods, I know where there are a couple 100 footers!

[Joe Watson]

Joe, don't be jealous of a 1400.00/mo. payment.
Naa... you can keep that too :)

[Scott Hackler]

Nice! I love the wood score and I am with Joe with Skid Steer envy! I wish I could justify buying one. I put about 110 hours on my neighbors John Deere 270 when we built my house 9 years ago.

[Hayes Rutherford]

217722There were the typical disappointments like voids and odd pith centers that cut into what you think you have but thats the way it goes. The rest of the tree should be more predictable without all the leaders coming off it, and probably less figure. I roughed about 25 good size bowls, and some wood I just left for later.
217723I cored 4 maybe 5 before quitting and most had some sort of figure. I am guessing I will end up with approx. 50 bowls between 10 and 14" occasionally larger and very occasionally smaller. My plan is to rough out the whole log next week and will report back on the totals. My focus is on salad bowls between 12 and 14". I'm guessing 300 in that log. I plan to put the names of everyone that followed this post in a hat, draw at least one, and send the best 12x12x6 blank I can find. Anyway, thanks for looking and Happy New Year.

[Allen stagg]

Nice looking stash there. Snow? It almost snowed here several years ago, almost! Great job getting all them bowls cored.

[Steve Mawson]

You can keep the snow but looks like a really nice haul of maple. Good time of year to be doing all that chain saw work. You will be the maple bowl king!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Now that is a log!! Sure going to make a lot of salad bowls! The fun part - for me - is the roughing but even doing that would turn into work when trying to get through that much wood! Turn safe - take breaks and we all look forward to seeing what you create out of this monster!!

[Dan Forman]

Now that's makin' shavings!

Dan

[Joe Watson]

id have to ask the nabors if i could barrow their closets for a while to help store that many bowls, lol.

[David E Keller]

Those recent photos look like something out of a Mahoney DVD... And it looks like a heck of a lot of fun!

[Ted Calver]

Geeze! You're gonna have to build a new pole barn just to house those blanks.

[Richard Jones]

I really enjoy turning maple. Nice haul, for sure.

Rich

[Greg Ketell]

That is awesome!!

Do me a favor and hang on to these photos. Add your early photos of the tree. Add some rough turn progress photos. Then add final turn progress photos. You will have the winner of all "start to finish" threads! :D

[Kelvin Burton]

Hayes, I'm really jealous! I have a shop full of wood waiting to turn and a 4 day weekend and ended up sick :-( That is an amazing amount of maple and it looks like you are having a lot of fun with it! Keep safe with all that turning!

[Ian Jeffcock]

Hayes, Great looking pile of wood. If you get too buried in it, Skip and I will run over and dig you out. Where did you get all that snow. We don't have any yet.

[John Keeton]

The man is a bowl turning machine!!! Good to see the figure in those rough outs - the tree looked like it should have nice character. Seems silver maple has a better shot at curl and burl than does sugar maple.

[Thomas Heck]

Looks like your piling up the shavings. I have done a few curly maple and really like turning it.

[Rich Aldrich]

Really cool. I cant rough out that fast.

[Hayes Rutherford]

Saturday morning found me coring the rest of all the blanks I had roughed out,ending up with close to 60 pcs. from cut#1. When I got to my shop today, nobody had snuck in there and cleaned up so after one loader bucket of blank trimmings, and 3 loads of shavings, the bed of my lathe is now back to belly height.

I made cut #2 and broke it down into these blanks. Some of these show good figure and I look forward to getting a better view tomorrow. So far this huge log has been an adventure but I would have to say that breaking down an 18" or smaller log into blanks is more enjoyable and possibly more efficient. I also have revised my estimate to a more realistic 160 bowls total out of this log, lots of spindle blanks, and a variety of odd pieces that will get a second look when I'm done. Thanks for looking and Happy 2012.

[Ken Hill]

Good to see someone else not wasting any time!

[John Keeton]

Hayes, that is some clean chainsaw work, too! Looks almost like it was cut on a mill.

[steven carter]

Great looking haul! Even 160 bowls is a LOT of bowls. I hope the figure continues far into the log.

[Joe Watson]

Do you snip the corners somewhere along the lines? At the pace you seam to be working, i would have guessed you would have done it with the chainsaw.

[Mark Hubl]

WOW. Now that is some roughing it up. Wish I had the space to store all that!! You go Hayes!!

[Hayes Rutherford]

Do you snip the corners somewhere along the lines? At the pace you seam to be working, i would have guessed you would have done it with the chainsaw.
Joe, I have round discs from 5 to 20 inches that I nail on the blank, then saw to the outside of the disc. If the nail hole is on the side I want to drill the hole for the woodworm screw, I put that side up in a stack. If the nail hole is on the wrong side, I flip it over and make sure there is one so when I drill a bunch of blanks the hole ends up on the side toward the headstock.218223
The blanks that have the corners snipped were the result of previous cuts to get the right orientation of another blank while in the log. If the trued up blank is nice wood, I usually part a ring off for making picture or mirror frames. 218224


Hayes, that is some clean chainsaw work, too! Looks almost like it was cut on a mill.
John, cut #2 was about 18" so my bar was longer than the pieces, but just like turning tools, sharpen before the tool is dull. When I cross cut the main log from both directions, it was apparent that I favor one side of the chain when touching up with a file. This is not uncommon since even a new file cuts one side more efficiently because of its pattern. This wood is also below freezing so every time it sits on some curlies a big wad sticks to the blank and the curlies off the lathe have a painful cooling effect on my usually already cold hands. ( The temperature here is in the high 20"s ......warm enough to leave the shop door open!!)

[Bill Bolen]

Now that is the definition of production turning! Beautiful wood too. I love turning Maple but don't get much of it offered anymore. Love your mirror/picture frame idea too. Enjoy yourself!