Black Locust gloat!

[John Miliunas]

Well, my buddy Frank came through! MAN, did he come through!!! :D I mean, really. I had asked him to "grab me a couple pieces". He did. And a couple more, and a couple more and a.... Hey, and these ain't just no small pieces, either. You might get some idea when you look at the pics. A couple of the pieces are just under 16" diameter and another, probably @ 10-12" in diameter is damn-near 5' long! When he pulled up to the shop, the back end of his 4x4 Chevy was sagging! :rolleyes:

Frank, I know you ain't signed up with SMC, yet (you best get on the stick, Bro!), but I know you're a faithful "guest" over here. Many, many "THANKS"! :D

You guys may note that I've already hit the ends with "Anchorseal" and I just couldn't resist; Took the chainsaw to one of them and chucked it up on my little gutless lathe. NOW I can see why people go to the BIG lathes! Mine just doesn't go slow enough and even with about 200lb. of extra ballast, she still about walked across the floor! So much so, that I ended up pulling it off and trimming more of it down on the Laguna. Man, this stuff is HARD! Even green, it's a bear to turn. I roughed it out and it's soaking in some heavy concentrate of LDD (less than 1:1 ratio!). I'll give it another spin when I get home from work tomorrow. Can't wait...The grain and color on this stuff is gorgeous! Thanks for letting me "gloat" and taking a peek! :cool:

[Stan Smith]

Gloat away, John. I just got some, too, but not as much as you because that stuff is really heavy! I haven't turned any yet, but the MM16 cut the stuff with no problemo. I took quite awhile to chain saw it in half though. I just have a Jet mini lathe so you can guess how big the pieces I'll be turning will be. MY neighbor has a Woodfast and he turns these humungous manzita burls on it. As you said, very very slow.....
Stan

[Todd Burch]

John, too bad on those logs. They would have made some nice boards! It's good that the pith is in the center. Looks like it was a nice straight tree.

Todd.

[John Miliunas]

John, too bad on those logs. They would have made some nice boards! It's good that the pith is in the center. Looks like it was a nice straight tree.

Todd.

"Boards"??? Boards"??? Ain't them those flat things that manufacturers use to bolt down their lathes for shipping? :D :cool:

[Joe Bourbois]

"Boards"??? Boards"??? Ain't them those flat things that manufacturers use to bolt down their lathes for shipping? :D :cool:

Come on, John, you've got to make a board or two! Makes us "world is flat" kinda guys happy. :D

[David Rose]

psssst! Joe! John is one of those guys, among many here, who will try to convince you that the world is ROUND! Have you heard anything so ludicrous? John is a really nice guy, but he wastes good lumber like it was fire wood on that turny thing. I don't know why he can't realize that it takes several years to grow a hundred year old tree.

David, who thinks bowls are made from baked mud or plastic


Come on, John, you've got to make a board or two! Makes us "world is flat" kinda guys happy. :D

[John Miliunas]

Come on, John, you've got to make a board or two! Makes us "world is flat" kinda guys happy. :D

"Flat????" Oh sure. I'm actually quite familiar with "flat". My best buddy had one here a few weeks ago on his trailer. Fortunately, I've got a compressor, so we aired it up and he was on the road again. See, I got no problems with "flat"! :D

Seriously, it's funny you should mention that, Joe. On my way into work this morning, I was thinking about doing exactly that! Frank was so kind in dropping so much of this in my lap and, after seeing the beautiful grain on it, I think it would make for some very pretty boxes or even highlights on other projects. Guess I'll have to load up the 1"-er on the Laguna and cut some up. Think if I soaked it in LDD I'd be able to use it right away like you do in the round world? :rolleyes:

Oh and Dave, I *know* the World is flat already. I'm just trying to do my part in taking away from some of the monotony! :cool:

[Greg Wandless]

John,

Great looking stuff. Friends like yours are hard to come by. Happy turning.

Greg