Quick post today. First, I wanted to let people know that I’ve started putting up items for sale. Check out the Market section. I have a lot more than is posted (my actual camera is broken, so getting good photos has become a new hurdle), so be sure to check back in later or reach out if you’re looking for something. And watch for Christmas ornaments coming mid-fall!
I also wanted to share a bit of musing. I was out in the shop a few days ago, turning either the ash or the apple from our friend who brought all the different woods. As is my nature, I started mentally listing all the woods I’ve had the opportunity to turn, and then all the people and places that wood came from. It’s so amazing to me, I just needed to share.
I’ve received chunks of wood in so many forms: logs, pieces of logs, semi-dried blanks from another turner’s stash, trimmed slabs, offcuts from cabinetry making. I’ve cut up whole trunks and branches that fell in my backyard. I’ve turned (in alphabetical order) apple, ash, beech, black walnut, box elder, butternut, cherry, chestnut, lilac, mahogany, mulberry, oak of unknown variety, olive ash, silver maple, sugar maple, and walnut. Then, in the shed waiting for me are cedar, elm (two kinds), honey locust, poplar, red oak, white oak, and yew.
In addition to my own backyard, my stash has grown thanks to Bill (who sold me the lathe and sent me home with a pile of wood for experimenting), my brother Mike (who had a bunch of trees fall in a late winter storm), Cory (who had two cherry trees down on his property), Steve (a fellow turner who cut me my first bowl blanks to learn with), John S and the other John S (friends with interesting logs sitting around), the people cutting up the tree that fell on the abandoned house across the street, a new friend Keith who happens to be an arborist, the DOT guys cleaning up after a summer storm (who very nicely stopped their cleanup efforts to load a log into my car), and of course Eric (the source of the latest mother lode). And then there is the wood I used in the various classes and workshops.
I’m not sure I can think of any other craft with such a unique procurement chain for the raw materials. Thank you everyone!!!!