Tuesday, March 20, 2012

More Milling

Well Pete was in town so it was time to hit the chainsaws. There has been extremely slim pickings at the woodlot this year, so we had to make do with some pretty ordinary looking logs. Jaime showed up too, so it was a regular chainsaw geekfest!

Pete and Jamie tore into some pretty gnarly and rotted box elder, but came away with a whole bunch of gorgeous bowl blanks for turners.


I worked on a log that I initially thought was Monterey cypress, but as soon as I cut into it became apparent that in fact it was Port Orford cedar. For some reason the growth rings on it are quite tight, very unusual for a city tree. A few too many knots for my liking, but a couple of good sized tight straight sections.



The other log was Deodar cedar, it was a bit rustic with knots and pretty wide sapwood, but there are some nice sections too. Deodar grows so fast here that the growth rings are huge, the main attraction for me with this wood is the smell. Smells like mangoes and peaches and tropical fruit - kind of like a Chardonnay grown in a warm climate!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Big Saw II

Well I managed to pick up another big saw, this time it's a 30" Wadkin. Made in England, probably in the 30s also. Note sure what I will do with it either, but it seemed too good to pass up. I think if I take the cover off the top wheel it'll fit in my garage, of course I'll also need to use the shortest blade possible on it too!