Since everyone knows I do wood work for a hobby they also know that projects progress through my shop in a non-linear fashion. I have the elm glued for the jewel box but today only touched it to move it out of the way.
A couple of weeks ago I brought this piece of cherry home from my friend's place. It has been sitting in the garage, in the way since then. Today I got fed up and set to work making it manageable and useful in my shop. This tree trunk is nearly at the limit of what I will lift now days and so I opted to bring the shop to it instead of haul it down to my basement wood shop.
I brought my saw bench and its helper bench up from the basement and strapped the log down so that I could cut it safely.
I cut a limb and the big end off of the trunk and was able to carry it down to the workshop with little effort. I don't have a chain saw, they scare me and I leave that sort of cutting to the folks that are trained for the job. The 'swede saw' (bow saw) did the job just fine. A hand saw like that is low tech enough that I can get it started every time and not have to worry that it will get away from me and make a big mess.
Notice that the saw bench 'helper' is in the photo. Here it is after I remembered that I wanted to paint the legs. The little bench looks pretty good. Once the legs dry and I am going to do something (?) interesting and unnecessary to the top, maybe wood burn it or something.
As I cut up the limb I got the brain wave not to turn all of it on the lathe but to cut 3/8 slices off and make coasters. I soaked the slices heavily with shellac and will come back and sand them smooth. The shellac raises the grain and seals the wood and that makes sanding end grain/rough lumber quicker and easier.
I am working on making some small things for my friends from their tree and all houses need coasters.
cheers, ianw
No comments:
Post a Comment