rustfever's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Auction Finds....Did not use a gun or bandana

rustfever — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 02:24:37 GMT

Two weeks ago, I attended an auction in California. An ‘Old Tyme’ cabinet shop was out of business and liquidating.

First I purchased some tools: Clamps. Total price $185 or about .1.70 each 45 very heavy duty Wetzler bar clams 15 misc. lighter ‘home owner’ style clamps 53 C clamps from 5” to 12”
Then, three large tools Ritter horizontal 8” belt sander [with 4 new belts, 130”] @ $200 Union, 7” joiner, ca 1930’s, Free Davis Wells, horizontal driller, with aftermarket pneumatics’, complete, $100

And then “Three bins of ‘lumber’ “ 3 x $100 = $300 I hauled out about 2.7K bd ft of good lumber and left behind at least 5k bd ft of ‘stuff’, mostly 1×1, 1×2, 2×2, moldings’, garbage, misc, ect. I left anything less than 4’ in length. All wood is #1, no fall down grade What I brought home is: Riff sawn White oak Qtr. sawn red oak Slab sawn red oak Mahogany Cherry Brazilian Cherry Ash Clear Pine Qtr. Sawn Yellow Pine I have some items of which I got only 50 or 100 bd ft, some in which I got 600 to 800 bd ft [Riff saw White Oak, about 500 bd ft & Qtr sawn red oak, about 700 bd ft] I have figured the value of the lumber at between $ 11000 & $13,500 at fair market retial in this area

I also managed to trade off some of the clamps for enough cash to bring my ave. cost down to $1.30 per clamp Retail value of all clamps is over $3.,000

About ½ of the lumber is heading down to the High School Wood Shop. The Kids win this time!

When bringing the wood and tools back to my shop, the trailer was significantly overloaded. It has a capacity of a 10.4K # payload.

Then today, was given a Walnut log of about 9,000#. He gave me the tree and asked that I pay him $100 to load it. He also gave me about 100#s of Osage ‘Orange’ log.

Yes, I feel I must have used a gun and a bandana….............but I did not.

Sacramento Woodcraft swap meet Sunday April 15

rustfever — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:21:27 GMT

To those of you in Northern CA. We have an event. Woodcraft store on Folsum Blvd, Sacramento. is sponsoring a swap meet next SUNDAY, April 15, 2014.
I am fully planning upon attending. I will bring at least the following: Delta X 10” table saw, 3 hp; Jet oscillating spindle sander; about 100 Bd Ft of Tasmaninum Red Gum lumber, 4/4 and 8/4 [ some very highly figured]: about 100 bf ft of Black Locust [4/4]: Lots & lots of Claro Wall. Root balls, figured boards [4/4, 8/4 and 12/4]; Pen turning blanks of the above plus Mesquite Burl; Lots of other woods, such as California Bay laurel, [aka Myrtle]. I will also be bringing some excess tools. Plan to attend for a Lumberjocks ‘Meet & Greet’.
Ira

BTW, I have about a dozen Stanley planes that I will be bringing, also. They need a new home. Prices will be fair.

Wood find

rustfever — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:04:36 GMT

I was recently gifted three large stump/logs. Two were Oak, one was Walnut. The oaks were 40” x 7’ and 64” x 9’ and the Walnut was a 38” log/crotch/ x 8’. All three had been in a ‘Burn Pile’ for 15+ years, however the burn pile had never been fired..
It was necessary to do a lot of cleaning and trimming before sawing. Today, we took to logs to the sawyer and looked inside. First, the oaks showed a great deal of rot, infestation, checking, and cracking. But we were successful in obtaining a significant amount of good usable wood. We found Tiger Stripe, Fiddle Back, and just nice quarter sawn graining. Of the over 7,000 lbs of Oak, I belive we will have over 2000# of high quality wood.
The Walnut log/stump was a surprise. First, the exterior showed a significant exterior rot and cracks. But when the sawyer opened it up, we found Birds Eye, Fiddleback, Root Ball grain, and lots of nice classic straight Walnut graining. The Walnut log/stump weighted about 3,000# when we got it. After all of the culling, we have about 1,000 # of spectacular wood.
Another of the surprises was the moisture content [MC]. The Oak was near 7%. However the Walnut was still in the high teens [about 17%].
I significant portion of this wood will make it way to a nearby High School Woodworking Department.

Transporting donated lumber

rustfever — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:18:22 GMT

I have donated lumber to Indio High School wood shop. The wood shop program is suffering from the current budget problems to all of California.

I have about about 2,000 bd ft of various ‘Urban Forest’ exotic & domestic lumber to get delivered. This load will weigh 5,000 to 6,000 lbs. Most wood is less than 8’ in length. I will bundle into sizes that can be comfortably loaded on the shipper’s truck or trailer.

I need to find some way to get some or all of this wood the 400 miles from Modesto CA to Indio [Palm Springs area] Calif.

I can load, using my forklift. The school will provide bodies to effect the unloading.

This wood does not need to get delivered with any deadline, however sooner would be better.

And, yes, I have wood that I can gift to that person or company that helps me get this material delivered.

Is there any one that can help?

Call me 209 552 9583
Ira

17000 Lumber Jocks.

rustfever — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:22:50 GMT

WOW…... We are now at the threshold of 17K Lumberjocks [and Lumberjills] Just a few monts ago we were getting close to 13K

Martin, LumberJills, LumberJocks and others. Thanks. I have enjoyed my short time on this group. I hope I will continur to be a LJ for years to come.
Ira
Central Californis

Wood Gloat... Red Eucalyptus

rustfever — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:13:53 GMT

I have found a project where a number of Eucalyptus are being remove to make way for a new freeway interchange. I have been told they are working tonight when they can close a land of the freeway. I am due to arrive to their site at 4:30 AM to load out serverl Red Eucalyptus and possibly a stringy Bark Eucalyptus. I will be taking my CAT to the site to load the trailer. I will need to return to the shop, unload and go back to the site to retireve the CAT. I expect the day to be about 10 or 12 hours .

Once I get the logs, I will send them to the sawyer for cutting. then I will be able to see what I have.

I’ll keep everyone informed of the out come.

Wood Gloat, Claro Walnut, Central California

rustfever — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:05:49 GMT

I was recently gifted 4 Claro Walnut logs. When i went to pick them up, I found there were 7, not four. They were from 24” D to 40”D. All were from 5’-6” to 7’6” L. Yesterday I took them to the sawyer. 3 hours later I have some of the most beautiful slabs. About 40% were cut into 4/4 flitches. Another 40% were cut into 5/4 flitches. The remainder were specifically cut for turning. 15 pieces for turning, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4, 16/4, 20/4 one at 24/4. In addition, I saved one piece of the crotch pieces at 28/4×22” x 24”. I would quess the total board footage as about 1200. However, when I get done trimming, I would assume I will have not much more than about 60% of the total.

This wood will be air dried. Here in Central California, I would expect a moisture contance of 9% by July 1, 2010

I took no pictures. I was so much into the process, I never picked up the camera. This weekend, I will get a few employees to help me unload, trim, stickers, and band up the wood. maybe I can take some pics and include them in future blogs.
Ira

Discovering exotic woods in the Urban forests of North America

rustfever — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:16:37 GMT

I have had some good fortune to discover several ‘exotic’ woods growing in our community. This success has whet my appetite for more.

I have been searching for some work [or works] that can help me discover more such woods.

I am interested in discovering the names of various native and relocated tree [ususally use for landscaping purposes] that might be found in No. Am. I also wish to get the ideas of the figure, coloration, work-ability, desirabliltiy of each of these woods.

To date, my quest for such a book or document has not been successfull. Oh yes, there are many books out there that talk of oak, walnut, maple, sycamor, and twenty more native No Am. trees. But is there any book that review many of the 100’s of the lessor known trees?

My goal would be to find a book that helps identify the tree. It would need to contain pictures of the mature tree, the bark, leaves, plus a cut showing the wood graining and figue. Additionally I would like to find the suitability of the wood for turning, boards, furniture, or other uses.

I have found some books that discuss a few varieties, but no work that treats many of the ‘Other’ trees and schrubs.

Can anyone direct me to such a book or work?
Ira

New tool arriving

rustfever — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:52:08 GMT

Tomorrow, at 9;30 AM, my new ‘old’ Hans stroke sander is to arrive. This one has a 120” X 48” table and an 8” belt. The tables adjusts in/out/up/down. I have been lusting for this tool for some thirty years, after having used one briefly in the late ‘70’s. It is just the size to work upon that ‘promised’ dining room table for Son and his wife.

I harvested a number of Claro Walnut trees and root-balls a year ago. The 4/4 material is ready to use. It has some fantanstic grain and figurings. My D-I-L fell in love with the boards a few months ago. Of course, Dad [aka. Granddad] is a push over.

Well, I am as a kid on Christmas eve. I can’t wait for tomorrow to arrive.

LumberJock want to meet?

rustfever — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:35:32 GMT

As all now know, I pushed the ‘meeting’ of local LumberJocks at our regional WoodWorkingShow in Sacramento last weekend. Some 25 members identified themselves and signed the ‘book’. Additionally, we were able to tell our LumberJock mesage to over a hundrd people! And in the last few days, over 100 new members have signed up. [I would like to think those of us at the Sacramento show had some part in those 100 new members,]

During this process, I found several bits of information that others may benefit wanting to do something similar to what those of us in Calif completed.

First the WoodWorkingShow people are VERY receptive to supporting woodworking organizations, clubs and guilds. Second, they will provide the venue, booth space, free admission tickets, and even the promotiional support for LJ’s and others.

I would like to suggest that other LJ’s , in or near the city of a future WoodWorkingShow to do a ‘meet-and-greet’ of LJ’s. This will also provide you the opportunity to meet others and invite them to become LJ’s

Please contact Ann at Woodworkingshow.com and ask questions and to arrange a LJ event in conjunction with a WWS event.

I will also be available to provide a bit of support.

Ira
Central Calif.

California LumberJocks meeting

rustfever — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:33:06 GMT

Well, the Woodworkingshow at Sacramento Convention Center is done. About 25 LumberJocks (and one LumberJill) signed into our booth.
Things started mid-day Friday and completed 4:00PM Sunday.
We had a number of people stop by and ask ‘What is a LumberJock?” Wow, did we have a great time talking to them. We told the LumberJock’s story to about 100 or more people. some, of course, were not interested, but a surprising number took the ‘businees card’ I created as a hand-out.

I cannot remember all of the LumberJocks that stopped by, but I will try.
Ron, aka Bear
Jim from Grass Valley CA
Doug, aka KCS47
George, Gbear
Sherry, from Montana
Paul, the White Dog
Scott from Napa CA
Matt, aka Napman
John, Rohnert Park
Jeff, Sebasapol Ca
Gerry, Arizona
Gene , aka Majeagle1
Tim, aka newtim
Gary, aka, Gary Sharp
jason, Sacramento
Jim, Lodi Ca
Abe, ???
Jack, Davis CA
Blake, Santa Cruz, CA
Brian, Folsum CA

I am sure there were other in attendance, but we did not talk to them or get them to sign our ‘Sign-Up ’ sheet.

When it came around to the appointed meeting time of 3:00 PM Saturday, Napaman had just walked off to view some vendor’s display. I took the opportunity to call the meeting to ‘order’. We had no business to conduct, but to elect officers of the ‘Northern California Chapter #1 of the World LumberJocks. Since no one was paying attention, I appointed Matt [aka Napaman] the President, Chief Bottle Washer, and Janitor of the newly formed chapter.
Once I had completed ‘electing’ him to office, I closed the meeting. No other business was conducted.
I am unsure if I informed Napaman of his new ‘Honors’ and his ‘responsibilities’.
But we had fun. Thanks to WayneC, majeagle, Napamant, Newtim and a few others for their help in getting the message out.
Don’t forget out LumberJill from Montana.
I am having trouble figuring out how to attach pictures of thsi event. Please help me and I will do so soon
Rustfever [aka Ira]

Last call California Lumberjoccks meeting

rustfever — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:56:10 GMT

The Northern California Woodworking show starts in less than 72 hours (three days), at the Sacramento Convention Center, downtown Sacramento. And the Lumberjocks will have a booth, compliments of the Woodworking Shows, Inc. A number of area LumberJocks have agreed to set in the booth for an hour or two on each of the three days. To all of those who have replied and said they will be in the booth, I have sent tickets. The tickets went out via snail-mail yesterday.

I am looking forward to meeting Napaman, Ormsby, Blake, Medictim, and about a dozen others. {Sorry, all of those others names have gotten mixed up in my mind!}

I will bring a few samples of the woods I have harvested from the ‘urban forest’ in the San Joaquin Valley.

I hope each of you will bring some sample of your work, or at least a few pictures of those special projects.

Someone asked where our booth will be located…...............I have no idea. I expect to know sometime around 8 AM on Friday.

Anyone want to contact me, please do so via cell 209 552 9583
Ira

NEW INFORMATION California meeting

rustfever — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:30:02 GMT

Latest Update.
The Woodorking Show people have given us a booth at the WoodWorking Show at the Sacramento Convention Center on Nov 13, 14, & 15. They also will tell our story in their press release and other print hand-out.

They have made us another offer. FREE TICKETS, but with a condition. They will give us a free ticket for each person that works in our booth.

I am passing that offer to LumberJocks. I will need each reciepient to agree to spend a minimum of 1 hour in the booth. Your task will be to greet anyone that comes by, and tell them of the LumberJocks. I would also liike a sing-in sheet to be maintained so that I recognize those attending.

BTW, this is a great chance to set down and rest your weary legs/feet/bones. When you need to set for a few minutes, you have a spot, and get a free ticket for setting down! Is that an offer or what!

I will need a commitment from each person wishing to help. I will personally order the tickets and mail those out. Please contact me thru LumberJocks, and I will contact you directly with my personal e-mail address so that we might privately exchange address.

Of course, we intend to have an informal meeting of all member around 3 pm on Saturday. Just a chance meet one another, excange some ideas, lie, [Woops, did I say that? I meant to say ‘Brag’]

Northern California Meeting

rustfever — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:03:57 GMT

It is all settled. The LumberJocks will have a meeting on Nov 14, 3:oo PM at the Sacramento Woodworking Show. The show will be at the Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J St on Nov 13, 14 & 15. The Woodworking Show management has agrees to provide us with space, advertising, and the ventue to hold ther first Northern California WoodworkingJocks meeting.

I would like to get a count of the people that would like to attend.
Stand up and be counted!

www.woodworkingshows.com for more information.

Ira

My latest project almost completed, 1917 IHC truck

rustfever — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:37:02 GMT

I have been collecting old auto/trucks for some 30 years. Today I have my latest restoration. A 1917 International [Harvester] Model ‘H’ truck. The truck was discovered complete, but with every board in the coachwork rotten. The wheels are wooden, and they were in salvagable condition. Today I got the truck up and running again.
I had it running two years ago, making sure all of the machinery would function. Today, it ran for the first time in nearly two years. Yesterday I fitted the last piece of red oak to the ‘wagon’ body. Tuesday, a sign painter is to come to replicate the hand lettering, as was the manufacturer’s orgininal style. I need to touch up a few bolts, and install the rubber on the running boards. [Does everybody know what ‘Running Boards’ are?]
I was forced to recdondition the wood spoke wheels. That step required manufacturing a 35.5”D x 7” deep ‘Bath Tub’ which was filled with linseed oil. Each wheel spent 10 weeks soaking up the goodness of the the linseed oil. After drying for a few months, I spent about ten hours per wheel, scraping, sanding, preping, and giving multiple coats of spar varnish with sanding between coats. I am hopefull the treatment will prove to be a lifetime [for me, at least] conditioning. Of course, the truck will never spend a nite outdoors, so that treatment should last for years and years.

I should have a few before-and-after pics to post by mid week.
Ira

Woodworking Shows changes

rustfever — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:26:38 GMT

Woodworking Shows has made a number of changes in date and location of the show around North America.
Please go to www.thewoodworingshow.com to confirn the show in your area.

The Northern Californnia show is changing the location to Sacramento convention Center, 1400 J St, and changing the date to Nov 13,14, & 15, 2009. In the past the date was in mid April

Hope to see some of you there.
Ira

Lumber Jocks, California [West Coast] meeting/get-to-gether

rustfever — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:29:33 GMT

Calling all Lumber Jocks on the West [Left] Coast. What say we try to have a get-to-gether?

Sacramento? Bay Area? This Fall? or next Spring?
What about during the Woodworking nshow in Sacramento mid November?

Ira

aka —Rustfever