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Mini Gloat

Did an outdoor, working show this weekend... kind of fun, but makes for a long weekend and a lot more to pack & unpack..

The show was at a local sculptors studio and he played with my Jet mini a little... then told me that before he started working with stone, he carver ironwood.. We were taking a break and he walked me over to his "wood pile".. holy shit! There much have been almost 1,000 pounds of ironwood in huge heap between 2 old trucks.. When the show ended yesterday he asked if I had any extra room on the truck, then told me to back it up to the pile.. He threw 2 pieces of ironwood burl that were each almost 3' long... FUN!!

As we were leaving, a painter was packing up and called me over.. said that she had some wood in her car that I might have a use for, if not she was planning to use it for firewood.. She had a box of myrtlewood rounds about 11" diameter that looked to be cut out of 1 1/2" thick stock.. I think there are 9 of them... Also a box of assorted pieces of myrtlewood and ironwood that will make about 30 or 40 pens...

Life is GOOD!

Oh.. I also sold 2 pieces, making it a very cool weekend..

mac

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mac davis
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Outstansing Mac..... I would love to get my hands on a few pieces of ironwood.

Lee

mac davis wrote:

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Lee Tollett

I think next time I'll go for a more conventional piece.. lol I'm trying to make a bowl out of a chunk of the burl with the top and bottom rounded and the middle still having the points and cracks intact.. WHAT A MESS!

bark and small chunks of wood flying everywhere, the DC and air filter getting laughed at by this piece of burl.. If it wasn't so windy outside, I'd be turning it in the carport...

I learned a few tricks from the guy that gave it to me.. he borrowed my mini and is making beads on it.. Sand paper? Nope.. wire brush on a grinder... Looks COOL..

Buff and wax? Nope... run it at a higher speed and hold a small piece of ironwood against it... Mirror Gloss!

I'm loving the learning curve and new experiences, but hating the mess in the poor shop.. lol

mac

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mac davis

mac davis wrote: snop

It's funny - once word gets around that you turn wood it just seems to migrate to your doorstep. It's almost as if the ghost of the tree will do anything to keep from being burned. Better get started on the wood shed now - you're gonna need it...

...Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Miller

You should see the wood he offered my yesterday for the min-lathe, Kevin..

When I loaned him the mini, he talked about maybe "trading something" for it.. I told him I really didn't want to give up the mini..

He calls yesterday and says that he has a "piece of ironwood" that I might want to look at... I get down to his studio and he has a friggin' TREE on his truck... probably 20 or 25" diameter and it's diagonal on his flatbed, so I'm guessing 9' long.. WOW!

It's tempting, but I hate to give up the mini... Not like I can go buy another one in town.. If I get this wood, it's gonna be a huge stack.. no shed here..lol

mac

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mac davis

Hmmm - I'd be awfully tempted to do the trade for that if he was offering the whole thing. Must be worth some bucks there. Of course,there's hidden costs like the gazillion chainsaw chains that you'll go through cutting it (it's not called ironwood for nothing). But that would definitely be tempting.

How often do you get back up to the states? Seems like it might be worth a drive. Or have one of the kids (I presume you have some) or friends bring one down on the next visit. Gotta be some way to score on that w/o too much pain...

...Kevin

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Kevin Miller

Not a whole lot... He said that he'd sell it for $300

The burl that I'm working with now didn't seem to effect the chain saw much... But it did dull a Dewalt "nail cutter" blade in my recip saw pretty quick.. I'm trimming with chain saw and hammer and chisel because I don't want to see what it would/wood do to my band saw blades..

I'm thinking of picking one up in Yuma... We shop there every month or so.. Another thought that I had is that the trade could be a no-loss thing.. The main use for the mini is for the working shows, and they're all at HIS studio.. *EG*

the next visit. Gotta be some way to score on

I'm saving that option for the NEXT lathe.. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to buy a Nova DVR XP as soon as the money is ok, and that will be asking someone for a huge favor... They'd have to pick the beast up, drive it down here, go through the hassle of paying duty at the border and then bring it up to our house..

mac

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mac davis

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