IKE'S Harvest

[Tom Hamilton]

Greetings Fellow Turners:

As you may have heard we have a little weather event in Houston a couple of weeks ago. One of the few good outcomes is the abundance of wood stacked on the streets of Houston. Pick a species and it is probably available.

So Mike Gallagher and I went out on Saturday and collected some pieces. Today I put a new Timberwolf blade on the bandsaw and spend some time on the bandsaw making blanks:

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As you can see there is some pecan,

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willow, oak and some unknowns.

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There is also some more to cut tomorrow:

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I plan to turn some of these green and dry in paper bags of chips. I've used that process previously and had good results.

Best regards, Tom, in Houston, thinking I may need to a new blade on tomorrow.

[earl timmons]

Looks like a nice pile of blanks, should keep you busy for quite some time. Congratulations. I am glad the storm left you standing to turn another day. I also noted with great interest the GO513X2 in the background. I just purchased one and am awaiting contact by the shipper. If it made all those blanks I am hopeful.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the wood haul. Glad to hear you came out ok both in wood and survived the storm.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on all the wood Tom! Amazing how destructive storms can be! Glad you are able to harvest some of the wood. Hate to think of how much gets hauled to the landfill! Hope to see some turnings real soon!

[Allen Neighbors]

Nice haul! Hope you get it all turned without a crack!
Ike was a mean dude, but he did you well!

[michael gallagher]

Tom and I had a good time riding around saying "look at that" as well as "what in the world is that tree?" We filled up the Suburban until the tires started to sag a bit.

If you have a pickup and can get to Houston, you can just about drive in any area and grab all you can take. A lot of it is really old stuff that would take 5-6 guys just to move if you didn't start sawing it to shape in the street.

I've sealed up all of mine and waiting a while before I turn it. Seeing as how you bowl turners are trying to get me into that vortex (I've only turned one bowl and that was 20+ years ago in wood shop class), I'm going to have to do something with it to make room for new tools.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nice to see something good came out of Ike!

Have fun Tom!