I got a truck load of White Ash last week from a tree that was cut down. I'm not as fast as Glenn Lucas or Mike Mahoney, so it took me more than a few days to process everything. Thought I'd post some pictures of the process. My forearms need a break! I think I'll make something small and lightweight now.
Average diameter is 16" to 18".
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End of day 1: all the blanks have been chainsawed (except for another stack that I took into the shop before remembering to take a picture).
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I've never seen bug tracks like this before. Since this was an Ash tree, I assume the Emerald Ash borer bug made these tracks. It's almost as if a bunch of them lined up and had a race.
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All of the blanks waiting to be cut round on the bandsaw.
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End of day 2: Twenty bowl blanks and a whole barrel full of peppermill and other spindle blanks. It was easier to stack all the spindle blanks in a trash can and slip a trash bag over the top until I could wax them.
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End of day 3 & 4: Twenty roughed out and ready to core blanks in 12" to 15" diameter. I'm hoping to get 3 bowls out of each blank. I did the 12" and 13" blanks one day, and the 15" blanks the next day.
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End of day 5, 6, and 7: Due to some defects in the wood that I had to work around, I ended up with 57 bowls and one platter blank. The bowls were cored, and the cores were cored. The bowls range in size from 6" to 15". After drying I should end up with some nice usable size salad bowls in the 11" to 14" range, which is what I was after.
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I filled up ten 42 gallon contractor trash bags with clean shavings that my friend will take for his horse stalls. In case you're thinking why bother with all the small 6"-8" bowls, I have a store that takes all the small bowls I can make. Tourists love buying a small bowl to remember their trip to Colorado, and with the small size they are able to pack them in their suitcase. I also use the small bowls as a gift to Arborists when they call me about a tree they're taking down.