Making traditional wood bowls part 1-Getting the Wood
We have a limited selection of hardwoods here in Alberta and the prospect of finding suitable pieces for turnings in stock with local suppliers is dismal.
I have been on the prowl for a couple of years to track down and process some Manitoba Maple and last week I got pretty lucky.
Quite by accident, on my way home, I noticed a felled M/maple(BOX ELDER) in a fellows' yard.
I whipped around the block and knocked on the door.
The conversation went like this:
Me- Are you going to use that wood or burn it?
Him-"Well I'm going to burn some of it and use some but you can have the rest"
My heart is pounding now but not half as hard as it did loading these pieces into my truck.
Some where close to 200 Lbs
Turns out the fellow is a really nice guy and he helped me with the loading and I in turn, helped him with some chain sawing of the pieces he wanted to keep.
I made two trips to gather these cants here and I have nearly sealed all of them. (I ran out of sealer but getting more today)
This type of wood is loaded with water and weighs a ton when green.
If you leave it to dry it will develop cracks big enough to hide your dog in.
It starts cracking out as soon as it hits the ground so time is of the essence.
Next comes the "butchering" the pieces into rounds for the lathe.
I'll pick away at that as time permits.
Suffice it to say that I didn't need any rocking to get to sleep last night
More to follow- some green turning…
We have a limited selection of hardwoods here in Alberta and the prospect of finding suitable pieces for turnings in stock with local suppliers is dismal.
I have been on the prowl for a couple of years to track down and process some Manitoba Maple and last week I got pretty lucky.
Quite by accident, on my way home, I noticed a felled M/maple(BOX ELDER) in a fellows' yard.
I whipped around the block and knocked on the door.
The conversation went like this:
Me- Are you going to use that wood or burn it?
Him-"Well I'm going to burn some of it and use some but you can have the rest"
My heart is pounding now but not half as hard as it did loading these pieces into my truck.
Some where close to 200 Lbs
Turns out the fellow is a really nice guy and he helped me with the loading and I in turn, helped him with some chain sawing of the pieces he wanted to keep.
I made two trips to gather these cants here and I have nearly sealed all of them. (I ran out of sealer but getting more today)
This type of wood is loaded with water and weighs a ton when green.
If you leave it to dry it will develop cracks big enough to hide your dog in.
It starts cracking out as soon as it hits the ground so time is of the essence.
Next comes the "butchering" the pieces into rounds for the lathe.
I'll pick away at that as time permits.
Suffice it to say that I didn't need any rocking to get to sleep last night
More to follow- some green turning…