Ted iin Michigan
Member
Remember we had a real bad ice storm this past December. Lots of tree work going on now that the temps are a bit better.
So I'm driving to town last Friday. I'm on a road I usually travel. I see these 2 guys taking down a REALLY BIG pine (not spruce, not fir) tree in a front yard. One guy 30 feet up, one guy on the ground. I stop. "Hi. What are you going to do with the wood?" "Oh, cut it up for firewood" "Hmmm. Any way I could wrangle some? I'm a wannabe wood turner - you know, bowls and stuff" "Well, I don't know, uhhhhh" "How about I make you a bowl and I get some for myself?" "OK"
So it turns out the tree was planted by the homeowner (guy #3 who shows up). Planted one tree for each of his 3 kids. Hmmm. Looks like a 3rd bowl is in order. All 3 of them are real good folk. Guy #1 even splits the sections in half and drops them off at my shop! Class act.
SO for the past 4 days I have been turning BAPB's (that's Big A** Pine Bowls). Got 4 roughed out and drying so far. Three significant observations:
1 - Wow, big wood blanks are HEAVY! My back is killing me! Just getting the blank ready to go on the lathe is an athletic event.
2 - Turning something that big (I have a 16" swing on my big lathe) is an adrenaline rush.
3 - On each bowl so far I get about halfway through the roughing and I'm standing there, drenched, ankle deep in curly shavings and smiling like a madman. Is it right for a human to have this much fun?
Like I said in the header, this is a tease. The 4 so far are about 15" in diameter, the walls are about 1 1/2" thick and they're wrapped in newspaper, slowly drying. Not very photogenic. In 6 months or so I'll finish turn them and post some pics (I hope). Stay tuned.
So I'm driving to town last Friday. I'm on a road I usually travel. I see these 2 guys taking down a REALLY BIG pine (not spruce, not fir) tree in a front yard. One guy 30 feet up, one guy on the ground. I stop. "Hi. What are you going to do with the wood?" "Oh, cut it up for firewood" "Hmmm. Any way I could wrangle some? I'm a wannabe wood turner - you know, bowls and stuff" "Well, I don't know, uhhhhh" "How about I make you a bowl and I get some for myself?" "OK"
So it turns out the tree was planted by the homeowner (guy #3 who shows up). Planted one tree for each of his 3 kids. Hmmm. Looks like a 3rd bowl is in order. All 3 of them are real good folk. Guy #1 even splits the sections in half and drops them off at my shop! Class act.
SO for the past 4 days I have been turning BAPB's (that's Big A** Pine Bowls). Got 4 roughed out and drying so far. Three significant observations:
1 - Wow, big wood blanks are HEAVY! My back is killing me! Just getting the blank ready to go on the lathe is an athletic event.
2 - Turning something that big (I have a 16" swing on my big lathe) is an adrenaline rush.
3 - On each bowl so far I get about halfway through the roughing and I'm standing there, drenched, ankle deep in curly shavings and smiling like a madman. Is it right for a human to have this much fun?
Like I said in the header, this is a tease. The 4 so far are about 15" in diameter, the walls are about 1 1/2" thick and they're wrapped in newspaper, slowly drying. Not very photogenic. In 6 months or so I'll finish turn them and post some pics (I hope). Stay tuned.
