The women's power of persuasion, put in good use...!

[robutacion]

Hi everyone,

Last Wednesday (our shopping day) we went to McLaren vale (25km away) to do our normal fortnight stock-up of food and other stuff, and when we were crossing the town I spotted (my wife Merissa was driving...!) a few very old almond trees that have been given a super heavy air cut (trimming), leaving the trunk 3 feet of the ground and not much more. The branches and small rubbish has been taken away, and all the logs cut were under each tree, piled-up neatly...!

While Merissa was doing some shopping I went back to the wood location by foot and notice an old fellow parked on his drive way, reading the news paper, or at least it looked like, which I find out that we was guarding the wood to make sure it would disappear. He was actually the owner of that house and the trees next to it, about 20 or so, he lives alone but he lived there all his life and his father lived there all his life also, the father was the one that planted those almond trees in the early 1900's, so he said to Merissa...!:wink:

Anyway, I approach the old fellow and asked what he was going to do with the wood and even before I had time to say any more, we got all aggressive and offensive about people wanting to take the wood for nothing. We was actually sleeping in the car with is little dog, to make sure the wood wouldn't be stolen. He keep yelling out that the wood was not for give away or for sale but was going to his son who had done all the cutting the previous weekend but didn't have the time to come and pick-it-up. Again, this was Wednesday...!

While he was going on an on about his son's wood, I spotted a few decent burls on a couple of logs they have cut, just a couple of meters beside where he had the vehicle parked so, I had to come up with a plan to score some of those burls from the old fellow..! Unfortunately for trees such as almond or any fruit trees, these burled type formations are in fact a fruit tree disease and is developed by the tree producing a yellow sap type honey that kills the tree by stopping the nutrients to pass that point as if was a barrier. After a little while the tree gets a few of these on the main branches and unless they are cut back dramatically, the tree just dies...!

Most fruit or nut growers, use this opportunity to "graft" the trunk with a healthy shoot normally collected/cut from a healthy tree or through a nursery! in this case I don't know that he is going to do, maybe he will wait for some new shoots to grow from the cuts...!

So, and while waiting for the wife's finishing shopping, as I normally do other things that need to be done, I come up with a strategy that should have some chance of success, there is, the old fellow lives alone and I could see that he din't have many friends around so I've thought, why not try the nice looking female persuasion, something that they are so well famous for...!:wink:

I picked up the wife and explained the situation and also my "cunning" idea to score some of that burled wood, which she didn't have any problems with, oh... I'm a lucky man...!:biggrin: She asked me, how much do you want...! geez, I tough, she is very confident to change this old fellow's mind...! so I replied, as much as you can, just remember to park the vehicle in the driveway also so that you don't have to go far if you get some...!

I also told her where to look for the burled pieces, while she worked out what to say...! She was going to be the wood bowls turner from Mt.Compass, in need of some burled almond old wood...! yeah, I said, that will work...!:wink:

I was left not far but he couldn't see me while I could see what was going on, and bugger me, it didn't take her 1 minute before the old fellow got out of the car, got a wheel-barrow and let her pick-up what she wanted while he was pushing the barrow...! bloody hell, I've though, when and at the same time I was over the moon with what I was seeing being put through the Wagons back door...!:biggrin::tongue:

No doubt that we man are strange creatures when it comes to women, why is that...??? well..., obviously that at the age of 52 and been married twice, I know the answer but still puzzles the living life out of me...!:wink:

And no Mr. Bruce (Gofer), I'm not trying to compete with you or play the game of, show me yours I will show you mine...! sort of speak, off-course...!:biggrin:

This is what we brought home last Wednesday, after I slice it open in a few pieces...!

Cheers
George

 

[OLDMAN5050]

wow................. my wife woul not have done that for me she is way to shy.. good grab....wood and wife....................

 

[rjwolfe3]

Man you are lucky! My wife wouldn't have done that either. In fact she would have told me where to do if I had asked, lol. Great score!

 

[Gofer]

Great score for Merissa, sorry George but we can only applaud her for the wood. You do however get bonus points for getting her for a wife.

I do have a good idea ... I send you some of mine and you send me some of Merissa's :laugh:

It is good to see that I am not the only addict around here, I am always scouting out new wood, even though I have more than I can turn.

Bruce

 

[DurocShark]

We need pics of the wife too.

 

[David Keller]

Nice score, George.

 

[robutacion]

Thanks guys...!:biggrin:

Did I mention that Merissa is very blond with blue eyes...???:wink:

I have no problems in giving her all the credit for this one, even tough I was the one to do all the "ground work"...!:redface:

It "only" took me 12 lonely long years to find this "pearl" after my first also 12 years marriage went into smoke, an believe me, I had lots of samples...!

I/we take one day at the time and will be 10 years next month (September), since we met, nothing is taken for granted...!:biggrin:

I have indeed shown a recent pic of Merissa on the vine thread, she gets a lot of "coverage" from me on these issues, she deserves every bit of it...!:wink:

Yes, she is a great partner, mate and friend...! (oops... time to touch wood...!):wink:

Hey Bruce, "I send you some of mine and you send me some of Merissa's" I'm not sure if I want to do that mate...!!! for obvious reasons, off-course...!:wink::biggrin:

"It is good to see that I am not the only addict around here, I am always scouting out new wood, even though I have more than I can turn." I beg-your-pardon...!!! who got you the disease in the first place...??? just don't tell your wife that, please...!:redface::beat-up:

So, what's the problem if you can't turn it all...??? how do you thing I got where I am...??? in relation to sharing my woods with the world...! and by-the-way..., have you tried to spend a full week (12 hours days) green turning large bowls...??? yeah, well..., try it some day in that "wood eater" machine you got there and then tell me how many logs you went through...!. The last time I remember I was doing that, I was going through 1 tonne of wood each week...!

I stopped that as I need the wood to last me for a while now but you have lots of years in front of you of saw-dust and shavings making so, you can never have too much wood...!:wink::biggrin: Only problem is..., SPACE...!

Cheers
George

 

[tim self]

I gotta say my wife would have done it for me too. Man, that's some beautiful wood. Lucky haul and congrats on the "Good Wife".

 

[sdemars]

I think . . .

I think taking advantage of your wifes good looks and charming personality is repulsive . . .

You should be ashamed of yourself . . .

OK, I was just trying to sound appalled . . .

Great grab on the the "wif", I mean the wood . . . .

 

[Gary Max]

Just be very Thankful you were dealing with Merissa and not Margie. You would of had to beg her for some of the wood. This is another draw back to having a wife who has her own shop.

 

[robutacion]

Thanks guys, Merissa says thank you...!:wink:

Max, I've been thinking about your "observation", and quite honestly I was not sure how to answer. Having a partner with her own work-shop or have your big shed divided in two, isn't something that I would mind at all, in fact I thing that I would like that very much...!:wink:

Merissa doesn't have the artistic touch as Margie does, in fact Merissa is not very comfortable with tools, particular chainsaws, and any cutting machines, she is more of a "deck-hand" when it comes to get things done. She prefers to do the physical work where no machines (dangerous tools) are involved...!:frown:

I have tried to get her turning and other things but, she admits lacking the artistic side of things and the visualization to create "things". Interestingly. some years ago I made her a licensed sharp shooter (high power cal.) and a qualified/certified skinner/boner and that was a great achievement for her in a men's world that she has lived most of her life under/by...!

We have a great understand of our own capabilities and qualities, and we clearly agree that each one of us should only do what we are good at, regardless of what that is, and based on this philosophy we accept also our limitations. Merissa is a very good cook and nothing I like more than a decent home made meal, shared at the dinner table. I have put on weight considerably since we met, and when my doctor say, "you need to lose weight, you are 110kg, you should be 80kg at your age and with your spine problems...!" I reply saying, the last time I tried, I spend 3 months denying everything I like to eat and only lost 8 or 9kg, between loosing a few years on my life expectancy, and enjoy my food, or spending the rest of my life denying one of my few pleasures, no thank you, I take the good food road...!:biggrin::wink:

Or, by-the-way, the reason why only now I decided to reply is that, Merissa went out to the Post Office to post a couple of things and check any mail for us and when she got home, she came to the computer room where I was (and still am..!) and said, "honey..., I got you some wood...!!!, they were cutting a tree down to the school and I went to speak to the tree fellow boss and he is going to leave all the big stuff at the gate for us, we only have to go there this afternoon, after they finish, with the trailer and pic-it-up...!:biggrin:" Now... what can I say...!:tongue::biggrin:

Cheers
George

 

[wolftat]

I would have taken all the wood and left my wife.

 

[robutacion]

Enjoy it while you can...!

Hi everyone,

The Almond burled wood are all cut into pen blanks as an attempt to save the unique burled wood, leaving it whole wouldn't work from experience, the best bet is to cut it in the small size possible (slightly oversized pen blanks), soaked them in Fungishield (twice in a 24 hour period), rapped them tight in drying towers, put them a side and pray like hell...!

All the burl colours and texture will change dramatically when dry, if this doesn't work and so that I keep some record of how unique and beautiful these rare burled wood is when green, today I decided to select one of those blanks out from the boxes Merissa is treating with the Fungishield and with already one coat of the treatment from yesterday, I decided to take it to the lathe, turn it round as the normal samples and instead of using my normal sealing + Floorseal finish, which would take at least 3 or 4 days to complete, I used the CA finish to achieve an immediate result for the pics I wanted to take this evening.

I know that this blank will destroy itself from being turned green and wet and force a CA finish on it, for those that tried to get a half decent CA finish on a wet and green piece of wood, will know what I'm talking about, just a nightmare...!

Anyway, I didn't achieve a perfect Ca finish but I'm happy with what I achieved considering. I should have done this during the day to take some better close up pics with some daylight but, these last 2 days we have been having the most rain he had for a long time and the weather channel predicts the same weather for a few more days (1 week...!) so the chances of sunshine are 'Nill/Ziltch", waiting could be too late so I got it done late this evening and took the sample to the house and took some pics the best I could.

As always, the pics do no justice to this blank, in person is just amazing and I'm enjoying it by keeping it next to my computer to keep an eye on it and see all long things start to "change/deteriorate" so, have a good look at it and enjoy such beauty, I took a pic of each of the four sides, and every single face is special, almost looking artificial...!

I can not and will not guarantee that I will endup with any blanks even close to this one when they all dry, even tough there are a lot of them looking like this one right now, let's hope, fingers cross...!

Cheers
George

 

[DurocShark]

Those are gonna be for sale at some point, right?

Please?

:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[sbwertz]

I cultivated a friendship with a local tree trimmer. I scored all the texas ebony I can eat!

Sharon

 

[robutacion]

Those are gonna be for sale at some point, right?

Please?

:biggrin::biggrin:

Whatever we get/find/salvage/cut/, everyone gets, I keep some I sell some...!:wink::biggrin: that is the deal...!

In this particular case, and after I shown the Almond pieces we scored, it would be in everyone's mind or at least to those what know what we to with our wood, that this one would become available sometime in the future and that is exactly what we are trying to achieve but, there is a good chance (unfortunately) that it won't happen, that is the exact reason of my previous post...!

Is it going to be just a "memory" or a "reality"...??? I don't know the answer yet and will be a while before I know, but in the mean time I decided to share with everyone what it looks like now.

It wouldn't make much point in just telling everyone how magnificent these blanks (part of the stash) did look 6 months ago or even 12 months ago, while they were green...!
I don't need, nor I see the point in "painting the picture in a brighter colour" in whatever I say about the woods that I handle, they are what they are and that is it but, pics can and do "evidentiate" facts quite nicely...!:wink::biggrin:

We will see what happens...!

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on the almond burl pen blanks and some update on the sample turned green.

The blanks after being soaked twice in Fungishield, stacked and strapped, seem to be doing OK, it has been only 19 days approx, since the wood was processed so, is still a fair way to go...!

The turned sample tough, is doing exactly what I predicted. The thick CA finish is certainly holding things together to a point but, nothing will stop nature to do its thing...!

I had taken pics of the sample 5 days after I turned and coated it with CA, which I though I had already posted them here, I may have posted them elsewhere (yeah, I think I did...!) and forgot to add them here but today, even tough with the sun hiding behind heavy showery clouds for many days, I took a couple of pics of what it looks at present...!
Look closely at the colour changing/blending and how all the white on the original pics is already gone...!

How much more to go...??? hard to say but, no doubt isn't over yet...!:wink:

PS: The last 2 pics are the current ones as of today (19/9/10)

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

Finally, some dry Almond Burl...!

Well, it has been a while since I mention anything about this wood, and while I've taken all the necessary steps to yield as much of usable burled wood after dried, was nothing else I could do since.

In fact, and while I never forgotten them, drying in 2 made drying towers, under the digital scales table, inside my "lolly-shop", I acquired so many different woods since that the piles of "towers" grow like a pyramid as the Almond burl, behind all of that so, and after processing some of these latest woods, was time for me to get those towers from under the table, cut the straps and see what I endup with...!

I could see from the tower outside that was a tremendous amount of shrinkage, warping/twisting and all sorts of crazy things that I was expecting this wood to do, even tough I absolutely soaked it with Fungishield. One tower had the full size blanks the other the shorts, which had some of the best bits of the burled stuff.

Lost a few, due to "blowing" apart, too damn warped, and a few that went very skinny, beyond recoverable pen blank size so, in the end, I didn't do too badly considering. All the usable blanks had to be manually straighten and resized on the bandsaw, which made them under the 21mm square preferred but, at this point and still not yet put trough the sander, they should finish about 19mm or so.

While I was working on these blanks, I remembered that I had promised the old fellow to make something out of his wood and give it to him as a gift so, yesterday and while having some visitors, that wanted some wood, they also wanted to learn how to make a pen so, I used the opportunity to make a demonstration and get the pen that I needed done at the same time, a win win situation...!

The small piece that I selected for this Sierra type pen, was not the must burled stuff, but was part of the burl, showing no crevasses to repair and a nice mix in between a well grained old piece of Almond wood and some burled formations...!

One that is particularly pleasant is the "creek" type line formation in the wood, something that is not too obvious, unless one has good eyesight or very strong glasses but, when zoomed in with the camera, it shows well, what I'm talking about. Just a beautiful piece of wood and I fortunately, have a "fair" bit of it...!

While this piece has simple lines, the very heart of the small burls, is extremely busy and colourful, something that will be more visible as soon as I get them sanded and waxed to protect and enhance the natural colours.

I hope you enjoy it...!

PS: The first 4 pics are from the very same sample I turned in the beginning while green, shown above, and after it dried out or should I say, finished shrivelling up badly. I re-turned it, still big enough to make a pen out of it, if I wanted to, which I don't...!

Cheers
George

 

[OLDMAN5050]

You should make the old man happy with that.......... I would like to know his reaction when he gets it...............

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

I'm kind of new here so I don't know if this has been said before, but, George, if you're not successful making pens (and there's no reason you shouldn't be) you can have a bright career as a professional storyteller!

 

[DMGill]

That is REALLY beautiful wood!

"Lost a few, due to "blowing" apart, too damn warped, and a few that went very skinny, beyond recoverable pen blank size so, in the end, I didn't do too badly considering. All the usable blanks had to be manually straighten and resized on the bandsaw, which made them under the 21mm square preferred but, at this point and still not yet put trough the sander, they should finish about 19mm or so."

Couldn't these blanks be salvaged by stabalizing and/or casting in PR (worthless wood)? I'll bet there's someone here that would like to try.

 

[robutacion]

I'm kind of new here so I don't know if this has been said before, but, George, if you're not successful making pens (and there's no reason you shouldn't be) you can have a bright career as a professional storyteller!

Thanks mate, you're very kind...!

Yes, from all these years of being involved with public web forums, I'm fairly known from posting very long posts and write long stories about my woods and while some get annoyed at so much reading and pics, others appreciate and wouldn't wanted any other way, my efforts of providing a true and accurate description of what I'm showing/sharing to/with everyone.

Is good to know that the time I put into these threads/posts, is enjoyed by many, and the educational side of my stories is no doubt of interest to those with a passion for these things, so thank you...!

In person, I'm a talker, never shuts up, these tendencies are transferred into writing in a similar way. The interesting thing is that, every time I talk about these events/stories, I relive them in a special way, which is, in most cases, a pleasurable feeling, when I get bitten and or hurt, then those thoughts can equally hurt to a point.

We are what we are, and one can never please everybody, I'm no different...!

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

That is REALLY beautiful wood!

"Lost a few, due to "blowing" apart, too damn warped, and a few that went very skinny, beyond recoverable pen blank size so, in the end, I didn't do too badly considering. All the usable blanks had to be manually straighten and resized on the bandsaw, which made them under the 21mm square preferred but, at this point and still not yet put trough the sander, they should finish about 19mm or so."

Couldn't these blanks be salvaged by stabalizing and/or casting in PR (worthless wood)? I'll bet there's someone here that would like to try.

Ouch, you got me there...!:redface:

What you don't know, and I should have been more specific, when I said "I lost a few" is that, I didn't really "lose" them as throwing them in the rubbish bin, no...no...no...!

I lost them, as full size wood pen blanks but, they were safely put in a box for the next step of my "salvaging" process, which is, cast them myself as Resifills, which is the name I gave to all my wood and PR casted blanks. Many here have used some of these Resifills and know that isn't much that I can't transform into a pen blank so, nothing goes to wast in here, particularly little *gems" like these...!:wink::biggrin:

So don't worry, all has been taken care of but, thanks for the suggestion...!:smile-big:

Cheers
George

 

[DMGill]

Whew!! So relieved! The thought of such nice wood being "lost" was giving me chills!

 

[paintspill]

i'd a traded my wife for that haul straight up. oops. did i say that out loud