57 bowls later

[Pat Scott]

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.

[John Keeton]

Now, that is work!! I have great respect for production turners, but it just ain't in me! That is more bowls than I have turned in total since I jumped into the vortex.

[Roger Chandler]

Now that is a haul, and very nice work, Pat. I think about my own situation, and wish I had room to store wood in various stages of drying, roughouts, and of course just blanks ready to go, but my small space is totally prohibitive of that, although I do manage to keep a couple at a time drying in paper bags.

[Al Wasser]

You will be sick and tired of turning ash in a while and yearn to turn something different

[Lloyd Butler]

Some of those larger blanks would have made great natural edge bowls, though they would have been much harder to core.

Great haul for ash as I suspect most will survive the drying, starting this late in the season.

[David Delo]

I had to take a nap after just looking at the pictures! Nice storyline Pat.

[Pat Scott]

Lloyd I was surprised at how little moisture there was in these. None threw water and I didn't take a bath. The middle shavings were cool and that's about it.
I don't do natural edge bowls, I'm more a traditional salad bowl man. But after I got done I remembered that I forgot to cut up some dinner plate and individual salad bowl blanks. Next load.

Al if I get tired of turning Ash, I'll just grab a Maple, Walnut, Elm, Sycamore, Honey Locust, or Cottonwood blank from the basement. I love turning bowls, and I have hundreds to choose from. If I get into a production run on making peppermills and I haven't made a bowl in a week or two, I need a fix and have to make a bowl. I sell my bowls, so I'm always under the gun to keep finished inventory ready to go. I am running low on Walnut, so if anyone hears of a tree being cut down in the Denver area, let me know!

[Tom Albrecht]

I admire your determination and stamina.

Did you seal the bowl blanks? How will they be stored?

[Chris Gunsolley]

I just want to say thanks for sharing, Pat. Great job. I enjoyed the visual overview and when you look at that last picture--WOW! Look at all those bowls you ended up with!

[Pat Scott]

Did you seal the bowl blanks? How will they be stored?

I seal the complete bowl inside and out with green wood sealer. I'm trying to use up my Baileys sealer so I can give Craft Supplies new sealer a try. I'll either store the bowls nested inside each other with wood spacers between bowls (as seen in the picture), or randomly lean them up against each other like you would stack dishes on the counter. None of the bowls are ever stacked more than 2 feet high, and they are in an unfinished corner of my basement. I keep them this way for several months before I move them up onto a shelf.

In this picture the Ash bowls are on the left and most are nested and stacked to save space. At the back right corner you can see a large Ash bowl upside down, and it's hiding maybe 10 or 12 bowls of various sizes under it. On the right side in the picture are a bunch of Maple blanks which are dry enough to turn so I've taken the spacers out of them to use with the Ash.
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I write the species, date, diameter, and if it's a nested set I'll write 1/3, 2/3 (1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc) on the blanks. I usually rough out several nested sets on the same day, so the first set is A 1/3, A 2/3, second set B 1/3, B 2/3, etc. I write the diameter so after the blank dries I have a notebook that I keep track of the green diameter, dry diameter, how much it warped/shrunk, and then I measure the diameter again after the bowl is done and sanded. This way if a customer wants a specific size bowl, I'll know what size rough bowl to start with because I've got a good idea of shrinkage, and how much more will be lost truing up and sanding the bowl. I've learned that Maple, Walnut, or Ash will shrink an average of 1/2" to 5/8" when they go oval, but Elm can shrink 3/4" to 1". I have a moisture meter to check dryness, I'll let blanks air dry until they are around 8-10% moisture content. This is usually never a problem for me because I have so many bowls to choose from. You can see a couple of shelves on the left in the picture, but what you don't see is 4 more shelves to the left of these, and all the other blanks that I have on the floor. You've seen those hoarder shows on TV where people have a winding path through their house because of all the junk? Yeah, that's me with my wood.

[Dok Yager]

Whoa Pat cataloged and sized. Sheesh I don`t think I have done that many since day one. Nice! You kind of remind me of another turner just north of you about 45-1 hour. Dale! I would "assume" you would know of whom I speak. He`s around here once in a while too when he`s not busy gathering, producing or selling blanks. Or running his "real" business.

[Dave Fritz]

A job well done. I'll bet you have lots of extra for the stove too. I'm curious about the insect tracks in the tree. I thought the ash borer only worked on the cambium layer?

[Pat Scott]

A job well done. I'll bet you have lots of extra for the stove too. I'm curious about the insect tracks in the tree. I thought the ash borer only worked on the cambium layer?

Good point on the Ash borer! I think you're right, I posted the photo hoping someone else would know.

I'm not hurting for firewood at all. I'm running out of places to store it also, so I'm looking forward to some nice fires this winter. We had our fireplace and chimney completely remodeled last season and put in a brand new wood burning stove that lets you have a fire any day you want, even on non-burn days.

Dok, yes I know Dale!

[Dave Fritz]

I'd be curious too what made those tracks. I know when wood starts to deteriorate other insects attack, just like fungi. I was spaulting some American elm and had shiitake mushrooms growing from them.

[Martin Drummond]

Your a better man than me, thats a lot of work