Long Leaf Pine gets recycled one last time

[Andy Hoyt]

A while back - in July - my mother gave me four of these.

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Bit farther back - in 1983 - she acquired them at a benefit auction for the Katonah, NY Hysterical Society. I do not know why.

Still farther back - in 1903 - the timber was used to build a "pre-fabricated" railroad station canopy in Katonah. It was torn down in 1983 to make way for something called "progress".

Yet even farther back - in 1834 - the timber was used for the first time to build a railroad station canopy at Grand Central Station in New York City. They tore it down in 1901 to make way for something called "progress".

So yesterday, I decided it was high time I messed with some of it.

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Didn't take too long to wreck it.

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Then last night I was talking with Travis and Mark about this and we determined the best thing to do was just hand it over to Chrystine and let her do some more magic. But just before I turned in last night, I swept up the mess on the floor and found two pieces from the beast. I hadn't bothered looking since I figured it just explodered into a buhzillion itty bitty pieces.

Soooooo - I bust out the Elmers.

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[Andy Hoyt]

And then today I was able to get it complete without further incident. I just oiled the bejeebers out of it and plan to buff it tomorrow.

In the meantime....

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[Gary Herrmann]

Nice save, Andy. Is long leaf pine as dense as people say? I seem to remember someone telling me it may be on par with maple or even a little denser.

[Gary DeWitt]

Great story. Uh, what is it? Is it red/transparent and lit from iside in the second pic? Is it right side up in the pics? In any case, good save.

[Jim Becker]

Yum!!! Time for you to have another Moxie!! That's an awesome save and an awesome piece.

(BTW, there was an old Ted Williams metal Moxie ad sign in the Ruby Tuesday's we ate at last Saturday night. I tried to take a pic with my phone, but the lighting was bad)

[Christopher K. Hartley]

You are the Super Hero of historical heritage. Boy that explosion looked familiar. Really Andy, Great Save!! Up in the branches...it's a bird...no it's a squirl...NO! it's Pine Man!!

[Travis Stinson]

Now THAT'S a save! Glad it worked out.
Don't screw up the other pieces.

[Andy Hoyt]

Thanks, gents. You too, Travis.

Gary H - I really can't say. This is actually the third piece of this I've messed with. I got an advance on July's donation back around August of '05. I destroyed one bowl and managed to keep the other one intact. Then, as now the stuff is very brittle and changes shape with variations in rpms. One crosseyed look at it and the stuff usually responds in a most unwelcome way.

Gary D - All right side up. But that last pic was taken upside down with the rim sitting on top of my turning light. Had to do some editing around the top to remove a lot of 100 watt glare (guess I p-shopped some of the shape off as well, oops). That red stuff is pitch. Heat it up with a gouge and the shop smells great!. Sandpaper gums up without even touching it.

Chris - nothing super here. My deepest hope is that one day I might actually spin something to completion that doesn't include a design opportunity or salvage operation.

Just looked at it again. Soaked up a potload of oil and has turned a wonderful shade of reddish orange. I'll get some proper pics tomorrow, if it's dry enough to buff.

[Mark Cothren]

Excellent!!! Glad you were able to save it!!!

[James Manning]

Great save Andy,

We process pine-tree stumps where I work, the smell you mentioned when you heat it up is a very familiar smell to me. What you are actually smelling we call terpenes, it is part of the oil fractions we extract along with the rosin (sap) for further processing downstream. I have seen some
very old growth stumps, we have some beautiful slabs made into tables at work in our main office and they were cut from a stump! I will get some
pictures when I go back to work next week.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful piece and nice save Andy. I like it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nice save Andy. Post another photo of it when it's finished. Interesting wood.

[John Miliunas]

Awesome save, Andy! Were it me, it'd be in one of my "give the neighbor some firewood" boxes!

[Curt Fuller]

Sure glad that wood ended up, at least so far, in your hands. To be able to trace the geneology of a hunk of pine back that far is amazing. Then to have it explode and end up in a trash can would be a crying shame. I'm glad you took the time and effort to resurrect it and add another chapter to it's life. That's the kind of turning story that I like!

[David Fried]

Nice Andy - I think it's an old wood thing. I've got some 200 year old Chestnut that comes apart on the grain lines when I turn it. Looks pretty but just not stable any longer.