One of the nicer shade trees that was left on my property by the lumber guys I purchased it from, a red birch, finally gave in. It had been clipped by a landscaper's bulldozer a little over a year ago, lost all it's leaves late last summer, and never really came back this spring. Of course, that can only mean two things: early fire wood or bowl blanks (or maybe bowl blanks followed by firewood). I landed up getting about 70-80 blanks ranging from 12"-26" in diameter. Granted that birch is pretty boring wood, but when it's free who's going to complain. I guess I'll just have to get better at the shapes since I won't be able to rely on wood figure to make it "pretty.
First picture shows the tree early this summer. It's in the forground, in the middle of the lawn, to the left of the hot air balloon.
Second one shows my helper, youngest daughter sealing ends.
Third shot is the haul all stacked up where I'll be able to get at it this winter. They are stacked 2-3 deep. There are abut 50 of them. (Helper wanted in on this shot too!)
Fourth shot is a quick turn of a cup from one of the smaller limbs. The turning was not as easy as I thought it would be, especially digging out the inside of the cup in the end grain. Perhaps this is becuase the tree had stopped functioning correctly over a year ago and the limb was pretty far up the trunk. It felt pretty dry and I never felt any spray from it while I was working even though most of the outside work acted like green wood. So, I guess I better get going at this stuff before it dries too much.
Of course, this means I'm going to have to figure out how to turn on the outboard side of my General 160 since it only has a 12" swing. I saw a hefty Powermatic outboard tool rest at a used tool place a few weeks back. I guess it will deserve another look.
Enjoy,
Ed
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