Dominic Greco
09-01-2003, 9:31 PM
<P><B><I>Hi Everyone,</B></I>
<P>This past Saturday, I met a buddy of mine at Bryan's Farm (the Mom-n-Pop sawmill down the road from me) so I could help him locate some Ash to build a bed for his grandson. I intended to look for some nice dry cherry and walnut for peppermills. But there wasn't much that wasn't newly cut. I was pretty bummed out.
<P>However, there were a set of big Ash beams out by an old lean-to that were propped up on some old logs. The beams had bowed and a cut up tree was being used as weight to help them back into line.
<P>The tree had some weird shaped leaves I couldn't recognize. They looked familiar, but I couldn't place the species. I asked the owner of the mill and he told me it was "Linden" or "Basswood". Since I had turned bowls from both species before, I was pretty sure that it wasn't either of them. But I still wasn't sure what it was. That is until I looked at the end of the log and saw the deep red streaks and teeny bore holes!
<P>I turned to the mill owner and said, "Hey, this looks like Box Elder!" He said, "Naw! I can show you some Box Elder over there", as he indicated over in the field near the band mill. "Like I said, this is Basswood or Linden."
<P>Not willing to be denied this wood, I asked the owner of the mill if I could have some of this wood. He asked me, "How much do you want?". So I indicated about 8' worth of trunk. The part that was the thickest. He cut it up for me into manageable chunks, and even loaded it into the back of my truck with a backhoe. The ends where he cut the log were so deep red, even he was impressed. He turned to me and said, "Heck! I guess it was Box Elder after all!"
<P>So I got it home, unloaded the logs and spent the rest of the day prepping them into slabs. I even managed to rough turn a bowl from this wood. God! This stuff is gorgeous!
<P>Later that day my wife came into the shop, looked at the roughed out bowl and said, "Thats really, really nice! Who's that bowl for?" After 6 years of being married, I'm a old hand at cracking her code. TRANSLATION: "Thats really really nice! Thats for me right?"
<P>"Oh this one? I guess it's for you.", I replied. Ahhh,...marital bliss.
<P>See ya,
<p>Dominic
<P>This past Saturday, I met a buddy of mine at Bryan's Farm (the Mom-n-Pop sawmill down the road from me) so I could help him locate some Ash to build a bed for his grandson. I intended to look for some nice dry cherry and walnut for peppermills. But there wasn't much that wasn't newly cut. I was pretty bummed out.
<P>However, there were a set of big Ash beams out by an old lean-to that were propped up on some old logs. The beams had bowed and a cut up tree was being used as weight to help them back into line.
<P>The tree had some weird shaped leaves I couldn't recognize. They looked familiar, but I couldn't place the species. I asked the owner of the mill and he told me it was "Linden" or "Basswood". Since I had turned bowls from both species before, I was pretty sure that it wasn't either of them. But I still wasn't sure what it was. That is until I looked at the end of the log and saw the deep red streaks and teeny bore holes!
<P>I turned to the mill owner and said, "Hey, this looks like Box Elder!" He said, "Naw! I can show you some Box Elder over there", as he indicated over in the field near the band mill. "Like I said, this is Basswood or Linden."
<P>Not willing to be denied this wood, I asked the owner of the mill if I could have some of this wood. He asked me, "How much do you want?". So I indicated about 8' worth of trunk. The part that was the thickest. He cut it up for me into manageable chunks, and even loaded it into the back of my truck with a backhoe. The ends where he cut the log were so deep red, even he was impressed. He turned to me and said, "Heck! I guess it was Box Elder after all!"
<P>So I got it home, unloaded the logs and spent the rest of the day prepping them into slabs. I even managed to rough turn a bowl from this wood. God! This stuff is gorgeous!
<P>Later that day my wife came into the shop, looked at the roughed out bowl and said, "Thats really, really nice! Who's that bowl for?" After 6 years of being married, I'm a old hand at cracking her code. TRANSLATION: "Thats really really nice! Thats for me right?"
<P>"Oh this one? I guess it's for you.", I replied. Ahhh,...marital bliss.
<P>See ya,
<p>Dominic