Wood from Scott and Philip

[David DeCristoforo]

Today I received a couple of boxes of wood, one from Scott Hackler and one from Philip Labre.

Scott sent me several pieces of hackberry, a small chunk of osage orange and some pen blank sized pieces of box elder and sycamore. There was also a "finial sized" piece of amboyna burl. Either a finial or a very small pen... I don't make pens but I guess I should say "yet"!

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The box from Philip contained a beautiful chunk of spalted box elder and a lovely little cherry burl. Too sweet!

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I have never worked with hackberry. It grows abundantly here where I live and is jokingly called an "evergreen" due to the fact that most of the trees are infested with mistletoe which is bright green in winter and very prominently visible after the tree has dropped it's leaves. I guess I am going to find out if the hackberry that grows in Kansas is any different from the wood that grows here...

[Scott Hackler]

That hackberry is green. It is fairly stable if turned side grain. If turned end grain (towards the side of the lathe) it's going to oval, so leave plenty for drying! It will spalt very easily in moist leaves/ground. I threw in the amboyna thinking you could use it for decoative "beads" maybe???

That long/narrow block of NE box elder would make a cool looking stemmed amphora (at least I thought) and the sycamore pen blanks were really just filler. I hate sending out a box of wood without every square inch of space filled! I hope you get some use out of it.

[Jim Burr]

When you want to make a pen, give me a call! I want to learn finials so we can trade brain matter

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats David on the bounty of wood. Should be some nice pieces come out of that wood.

[David DeCristoforo]

OK... Got that wrong. The box elder was from Scott. Philip sent a piece of spalted maple! I'm so confused... trying to do eighteen things at once! I think I might try letting the hackberry spalt too. I have the perfect place outside under the eaves of a shed in my yard.

[philip labre]

DD, look forward to seeing what you turn with all that. I was going to correct you on the box elder. I still haven't brought myself to turn a piece of box elder after spending my life treating it as a weed tree. After seeing some of the pieces others have done in box elder, I'm slowly changing my opinion of it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on all the wood David! With the wood that Philip sent, you can now see why I turn so much Maple! Also, the Cherry burls from up here start cracking as soon as they get near a lathe! Good luck with that!! Have fun!

[David DeCristoforo]

Yeah, sorry about that Philip! Right afterwards, I noticed that sweet piece of maple sitting right there on the bench! I'll have to post a pic of that piece tomorrow. Too much going on at once. But the wood is much appreciated regardless of my level of confusion. And Scott is right. That piece of box elder has "amphora" written all over it!