Intoduction, wood gloat, tool gloat....

[Ken Hill]

Hello everyone. I have been reading here non stop for some time and am constantly impressed with your work. I am relatively new to working with wood but have been turning Game calls for awhile now, but havent turned a bowl since highschool.

In the past few months, I have upgrade to a Jet 1220 lathe for the majority of my call work, bought a new Stihl 660 with a 24 inch bar for some advantage over the trees, and yesterday scored 30 walnut logs that range between 14 and 17 inches in diameter and are all 16 feet long or so. Add to this some Maple that I am due to cut in the next few weeks along with living in the middle of my wooded property and I have no problems with wood 5 gallons of Anchorseal is on its way as well as a chainsaw mill for some slabbing and a new Jet band saw will soon grace the workshop for some resaw work.

What I do have to ask is what I should be looking for in the walnut and maple. Grain I would imagine, color maybe? The same applies to the maple. Most of the maple will be large (some 20 inch diameter) limbs as we will be trimming some very large and very old trees. What lengths should I be cutting as I know I can not process and or use this wood immediatley. I own 15 acres so room is not an issue.

Thanks in advance for any tips or assistance, I am trying to plan out as much as I can before diving into all this blindly.

Here is one of my calls just so I can join in the fun.

[Baxter Smith]

Welcome. Thats an awsome amount of wood. Sounds like an awful lot of gamecalls!

[Ken Hill]

Well, I dont plan on turning it all into blanks I have the Tenon cutters so that I can try my hand at making some rustic furniture (man they arent cheap!)

I have a line on the largest local tree service here. I left a deer call for the owner and my card so I am hoping to get first crack at some burls and special wood they run across. I live in nowhere WV so there isnt much competition for this stuff here. Sadly, tons of fine wood gets sent to the fire wood pile.

[Joe Wiliams]

Welcome Ken Hill Do I know you from another hobby?

[Ken Hill]

Lord only knows

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Creek Ken!
Looking forward to seeing what you do with that ton of wood...
First post and a great gloat....

[Joe Wiliams]

Lord only knows

Well... with the name, location and awesome photography....

[Ken Hill]

Well... with the name, location and awesome photography....

Well since your from the Beaver state it can only be one Joex Now if I can do to the calling world what ive done to the pc world i'll be in business

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to Creek Ken. Sounds like you got a supply of wood to keep you turning for some time to come.

[Joe Wiliams]

Well since your from the Beaver state it can only be one Joex Now if I can do to the calling world what ive done to the pc world i'll be in business

Quick, everybody duck! You sure keep yourself busy

I need to cruise by the other stomping ground soon

[John Keeton]

Ken, welcome to the creek, and that is a really neat photo setup with the call you made. You do some nice work!

The walnut logs you have won't produce much in the way of "lumber" due to their limiting size. But, you should get some very nice turning wood, and sounds like you have another interesting use in mind with the rustic furniture. I would look for the crotch pieces in the walnut and maple for bowl blanks, and hopefully, at least one of the maples ends up being curly maple!!

Also, no secrets are allowed here, so you and Joe need to come clean with your other accomplishments!!

[Roland Martin]

Very well done game call Ken. Welcome to the Creek. Sounds like your new chainsaw will earn its keep.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ken - Welcome to the Creek! Great looking call and photo! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Just so you are warned ahead of time about the vortex - don't be surprised that you find yourself upgrading to a new 'large' lathe to take advantage of those 20" chunks of wood!

Have fun with it!

[Ken Hill]

Thanks Steve, and you nailed it, I have been eyeing up the bowls on this site and will be scouring the auctions and sales to see if I can save a penny or two on a larger lathe.

John, the downfall to the walnut is its all virtually straight. My intentions are to cut it to 6 foot lengths, anchor seal and store for now until I either need it or find a good use for it beyond just call or small turning blanks. I figure if I was to cut it all small and it had no real figure, it would be wasted wood in such short pieces. It could possibly be traded at some point locally for something of better use for my endeavors.

This all has been a learning expeirence for sure. Around here, most everyone outside the largest town burns wood for heat so seeing a tree go down in a yard and then stopping to see if you can score it usually doesnt pay off. I have had success in asking if I could trade some split and seasoned firewood for what they have (ash for cherry, oak for a big crotch piece etc) and after explaining why I want that particuliar wood and why it is a shame to just burn it I am finding some success. Ofcourse with over 4 feet of snow hitting the area it will be later this spring before we are able to do some swapping

No secrets eh? Well I am nobody special, just a big backwoods hick that has a hand in just about everything. I own my own powdercoating company which keeps me busy. I am paid to travel most weekends from March thru November photographing the world of Pro ATV racing. I shoot for most of the major manufatcures and several magazines along with the largest atv website in the world. I shoot a few weddings (not by choice) and the call work started out just as something to do outside working with the cameras or metal. I sold every call I ever listed so it soon turned into another small profit center that is allowing me to grow but in all honesty I want it to stay a hobby.

An example of my work


And my heart belongs to the outdoors when it comes to the cameras. I geuss im pretty good or I wouldnt be so busy(or im just to stupid and the only one who will do the work!) but I prefer to be alone and in the middle of nowhere shooting wildlife.



In my free time I enjoy hunting and fishing with my kids and my dogs. In a perfect world, we here would prefer to live so far from civilization that they would have to pump us in sunshine. Maybe a nice lake side cabin in Alaska!

[Allen Neighbors]

Welcome to the Creek. No wonder your photog. looks so nice!...
You know, Ken?? that walnut is some really blah wood... why don't I just come over and get it out of your way...