Nice visit from two Creekers

[Carole Valentine]

Mike Toupin and his dad, Ken, came over today bearing fantastic gifts! They brought some huge hunks of beautiful spalted maple, a jug of Nelsonite stabilizer, and a wonderful Corian cutting board that Ken made. (The cutting board is the perfect size and I have already used it to roll out my "Perfectly Illegal Biscuits" tonight.) We went to the log dump and Ken and I put Mike to work with the chainsaw cutting up Maple, Cedar and some Birch. (That's what he gets for being young and in shape! LOL) We eyeballed a huge maple stump with a multi-trunk crotch that looked just too big for our 18" saws so we left it alone. Mike found a Pyracantha (sp?) root ball and I can't wait to see what he makes out of that! Sent them home with two Jet Mini extensions that I have been stubbing my toes on for for 8 months, some cocobolo pen blanks, and some Gum and Mulberry in addition to half of the log dump stuff. I really enjoyed visiting with them. They are a couple of great guys!

[Don Baer]

Where's the Pix.... No Pix, it didn't happen.

:D

Ain't it fun comuning(sp?) with Creekers.

[Carole Valentine]

Guilty! Forgot to take the camera when we went to the log dump! Will pics of the wood work? LOL

[John Hart]

I think pics of the bisquits will help. Nice story...too bad it's fiction! :D

[Carole Valentine]

Well here is some of the wood. This spectacular maple is some of what Mike and Ken brought:
http://www.esva.net/%7Epchousecalls/wowmaple35.jpg
http://www.esva.net/%7Epchousecalls/2wowmaple35.jpg

This some of the wood we got from the dump. The first is Birch and a cool piece of Maple(?) Don't have a clue what to do with that. The second is chunk of a cedar trunk that Mike slaved over to cut up. I should go take a pic of that big multi-crotch trunk. Maybe one of you guys would be willing to take it on! LOL

http://www.esva.net/%7Epchousecalls/hmmmm35.jpg
http://www.esva.net/%7Epchousecalls/cedar35.jpg

[Carole Valentine]

John, those darn biscuits disappeared like smoke tonight! I don't even have one left for breakfast. I swear my buddies down the street can smell them cooking...they always seem to show up just as they are coming out of the oven. LOL These things contain no shortening, but they do contain 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream for every two cups of flour. They really should be illegal! LOL

[Loy Hawes]

Care to share the recipe? Purty please! :D

[John Hart]

Holy cow Carole! Jenny oughta be happy with the wood you got her! Beautiful stuff. I'm officially jealous. I want a bisquit.;)

[Jim Becker]

Oh, my...that first hunk of maple is incredibly unique!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Beautiful wood! Can't wait to see the finished projects from them!

[Karl Laustrup]

Carole, seeing that wood you "salvaged" makes me want to get a lathe and learn all that spinny stuff.

Congratulations on the visit and the wood.

We're waiting for the finished product. :D And don't forget the pix.

Karl

[Carole Valentine]

Does that make it "on-topic"?:)

Preheat oven to 500 deg
Blend:
Two c. self rising flour (I use 2 c regular flour and 2 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp salt (little more if you like your bicuits a tad salty)
a scant tblsp sugar
Add:
1 1/2c cold heavy whipping cream

Mix GENTLY with a fork until you can start kneading it (the less mixing the better!) Knead on a floured surface 7 to 9 times (again, the less the better) Let rest for 10 minutes. Roll gently to around 3/4" thickness and cut biscuits with a biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes until just golden on top. Best when hot out of the oven with lots of butter! I can't stress enough that the secret to good biscuits is light handling! Enjoy!


Care to share the recipe? Purty please! :D

[Andy Hoyt]

Carole - not one single power tool used in this recipe. This is inexcuseable! Please perform a do over.

[Loy Hawes]

Thanks Carole! Looking forward to see what you do with that spalted piece of maple.

[John Miliunas]

Ahhh yes...Creeker visits are always such a joy and it looks as though you scored pretty major league there, on top of it all! That Mapel is unbelievable and some equally awesome scores from the dump. :) Sheeesh...We don't have dumps around here to supply turners with! :) Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing.:) :cool:

[Carole Valentine]

Uh the oven is electic...does that count? Besides, these biscuits are guaranteed to build up your "turning muscle.":D


Carole - not one single power tool used in this recipe. This is inexcuseable! Please perform a do over.

[Andy Hoyt]

Was kinda hoping to see some sort of random orbit sander attachment jig for the "gentle mixing", but I guess the oven will have to do. Actually, it'll have to do, or the thread would have to be moved over to the Neander place.

That new turning stock looked pretty good too. Guess your new lathe showed uo just in time. Good luck.

[Travis Stinson]

You guys can fight over the biscuits, I want some of that beautiful spalted Maple! :D

[Glenn Hodges]

Sounds like a good visit, great wood exchange, and good food.

[Ted Calver]

So...If you say you are "down in the dumps" does that mean you're sad because there's no more biscuits...or you're just out collecting more neat turning blanks? :D

[Carole Valentine]

So...If you say you are "down in the dumps" does that mean you're sad because there's no more biscuits...or you're just out collecting more neat turning blanks? :D
Ted,
Don't need any more of those biscuits! My "turning muscle" as Bill Grumbine refers to it, is big enough.:D
If you get to this side of the Bay, give me a shout and I will be happy to take you wood scrounging.

[M Toupin]

Carole,

We really enjoyed the visit and lunch. It's so nice to meet other great creekers! I was more than happy to give that nice piece of spalted maple burl to you. You've got the lathe and skill to do it justice. While I could have cut it up into smaller pieces and spun it on the mini, it's such a beautiful piece of wood it would have been a crime. Just to give you an idea what to look forward to, here's two pics of a small cup and a humidor top I made out of the same burl. The finish on both is nothing special, just BLO and shellac.

The log dump was a neat place also, I'm glad we could get some decent blanks. Sure wish we had something like that on this side of the bay. I didn't hold much hope for that cedar when we cut it but the more I look at it the more I see it in it, it should be really neat when you get to it.
Oh, yea, thanks for the extensions. The trip was so much fun that the extensions just seem like a afterthought now :) Give a holler when you get to this side of the water.

Mike

[Carole Valentine]

Wow, Mike. Two gorgeous pieces! I think maybe I need to give the wood back to you! I'm afraid I am going to mess it up. LOL You may not have a log dump, but then we don't find 200 lb spalted burls here either! Good thing you didn't come today...we had 6" of rain. I think I will find something nice in that cedar, if it doesn't crack on me. Some of those huge cedar trunks that were there probably have some good stuff in them. Need Bill G's monster chain saw for those!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Carole, that is some piece of maple, or is it a one eyed big mouthed monster who's nose hangs over his top lip. Sorry, I see that in the spalting swirls... sorta like clouds. But what nice pieces of wood.

I gotta try that biscuit recipe too.

Ernie

[Andy Hoyt]

Carole - My wife lurks here from time to time ( I think mostly to check up on me ) but anyway, she discovered your recipe and tonight she made some to have with supper.

Man Oh man Oh Shevitz! They be tasty. Thanks!

[Rich Stewart]

Holy moley. I would be terrified to even TOUCH any of that wood. Can't wait to see what you do with it. Thanks for the recipe. Gonna get wifey to try it.