the early bird gets the wood...

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

saturday was our monthly woodturner's club meeting. i got there a little early, and that turned out to be a good thing.

as i was walking into the building, i noticed a few members surveying some logs piled in a trailer that was attached to a pick-up.

i walked over and asked what was going on.

one guy said, "doc fired up his sawmill and brought some wood. it's free for the taking. anything that doesn't get turned, get's burned."

WHAT?!?!

the trailer was brimming with slabs of walnut, maple, ash and cherry.

i wanted to get something, but i kept picturing my jet mini-lathe.

how am i going to cut and mount these pieces?

after a while it became evident that more people were passing up the wood, than were taking it.

so... i grabbed two of the smallest (10" diameter) cherry logs that i could find and threw them into the bed of my truck. i figured that i could cut them with my bow saw, if nothing else.

i went back to the trailer and just watched to see what was going on. i wanted to get more wood, but i didn't want to be greedy.

once it became obviuos that there weren't a whole lot of takers, i started hauling.

i snagged two hunks of ash (stacked on one another), i hunk of maple (complete with spalting and moss) and a hunk of box elder (nice pink inside and covered with wax to prevent drying). i would have grabbed some of the walnut, but the pieces were 18"-24" in diameter and about 24" long. i knew i would have a helluva time handling them, so i figured i'd pass.

all in all, i probably netted about 300lbs. of free hard wood.

when i got home, i went next door to ask my neighbor if i could borrow his chainsaw. he said the blade was broken. so, he handed me a 10lb. sledge hammer and splitting wedge and said, "good luck".

d-oh!

oh well, i got it all split down the middle.

and with a lot of elbow grease, i was able to cut the smaller cherry log into pieces that would fit on the mini.

the first piece roughed out without much fuss.

the second piece was waaaaay out balance, and it had the mini hopping acrosss the floor ( i started out on the bench, but i was worried the lathe would fall off).

i should have videod the antics. it would have made a good "things not to do on your lathe" demo. i may have even qualified as a runner-up for the darwin award.

after much wrestling and restraining, i got the second bowl roughed out.

290lbs. to go.....

[Jeff Myers]

excellent score!!!!

[Bob Hallowell]

Awesome score- you should bolt your lathe down and pick up a hf or grizzly 14" band saw and you will be set!


Btw if you chase your lathe around the floor again make sure you have your wife tape it and post it for us!

Bob

[Lisa Gilbert]

You just make us sick! I read this post to my boys and we were all groaning, saying, "How can they BURN that kind of wood???" Here we're also blessed with an abundance of wood, but it's one ponderosa pine after another as far as the eye can see. Nothing else. We don't even have any aspen. My husband just bought a little 6" x 6" x 1.5" maple bowl blank for $10! Count your blessings. I'm very glad for you, but more than a little envious!

[Harvey M. Taylor]

It should be against the law to burn that kind of wood, punishable by death by the firing squad. Our major kind of wood around here is mesquite and slash pine for paper mfg.Not the mesquite, the pine. Max

[Mark Pruitt]

Congrats on the find! I would definitely recommend bandsawing your blanks to a somewhat-round shape first, or at the very minimum, sawing off the corners for an octagonal shape. That will make it easier not only on you but also on your lathe!

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

You just make us sick! I read this post to my boys and we were all groaning, saying, "How can they BURN that kind of wood???" Here we're also blessed with an abundance of wood, but it's one ponderosa pine after another as far as the eye can see. Nothing else. We don't even have any aspen. My husband just bought a little 6" x 6" x 1.5" maple bowl blank for $10! Count your blessings. I'm very glad for you, but more than a little envious!

not to worry, lisa...

when i left the meeting, the trailer had been completely emptied. nothing left to burn but a few shreds of bark. the vultures had picked it clean.

Congrats on the find! I would definitely recommend bandsawing your blanks to a somewhat-round shape first, or at the very minimum, sawing off the corners for an octagonal shape. That will make it easier not only on you but also on your lathe!

i certainly didn't expect to come home from the meeting with all of this wood. a bandsaw is on the short list. but, at the rate money has been leaving my wallet, it might be a while before i can get one. i did mange to line up a small chain saw. so, at least i can cut the remaining hunks into smaller "roundish" pieces.

it became obvious that i also need to attach the mini to the bench and add some ballast to steady everything. my bench is a converted kitchen base cabinet with an mdf slab top. it reverberates like a sub woofer when i am roughing a chunck of wood that isn't round to start with.

a continual refining process...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrat Jeffrey excellent haul. Lisa I have the same problem Elms and Cottonwoods everywhere.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great story Jeffrey! Looks like you are set for awhile - looking forward to your posts!

[Bob Hallowell]

Yea, I have that problem to all I have is oak, cherry, maple, hickory, and some dunno wood all in the woods in my back yard!!

Bob