Mixed emotions

Sure would be a shame to burn that nice wood Bart, there must be lots of other wood around your part of the world, I do have a bunch of Black Walnut, just in raw half log blanks, maybe we could trade some ??

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Bart V wrote:

Did that wood come your way cheap or do you have a mess of turning to get done? I am sure most of us would like to be able to have some of that exotic stuff just piled up. Have a good one

Way cheap and with cheap I mean free, just elbow grease to go get it, cut & stack it. It's totally outside-weathered, no drying/ageing required before putting it on the lathe, talk about ready to go... Last year, or is it two years already, I made this banjo out of the same stuff (the teak I used for the fretboard was also free):

Making a banjo was actually the reason I started learning this lathe thing. I first made a whole bunch of round thingies to practice on, including an extension for the post on my cheapo drill press else the banjo's rim wouldn't fit for finishing it. Now that I have that banjo, an incredible instrument by the way that I've performed with on stage many a time, the turning hoby is pretty much at the seen-it-done-it point. At the bottom of the page I just mentioned is a picture of a banjo bridge, I do use the lathe [with a sanding disk on it] for making those. Those bridges have become kinda famous in the banjo world and yes, I do use the same free wood for making those too.

Before I started building this banjo I had never done any woodworking other than cutting 2X4's when finishing a basement or something. I've said it before but it deserves to be said again, the banjo would not have been possible without the help, advice and encouragement so many of the fine & friendly folks (Leo, Art, Darrell and many more) on this newsgroup had so generously fired my way.

Along the way I've become a woodfreak and really started appreciating the beautiful treasures Mother Nature has made for our enjoyment. This particular wood, I'm pretty sure it's jatoba (probably a lower grade than furniture quality), real gorgeous stuff and I feel guilty about burning it in the fireplace. The FP "unfortunately" is an intregal part of our heating system, so the budget kinda depends on this stack but if anyone wants to trade me some regular firewood for it I'd be game for that (I'm in the Hamilton, Ontario area).

Any more banjos in the offing? You betcha, there's plenty kept aside for that :)))

Merry Christmas to all,

Bart.

- **botox treatments: taxidermy on the living**

Check my most up to date email address at:

awesome banjo bridges, tabs, stained glass:

Come on man.. don't burn it.. weigh a few pieces and see how much it would cost to ship. I bet you could sell it on ebay for plenty of money to buy firewood. Even if you didn't make much of a profit off selling on ebay, at least the wood wouldn't be wasted by burning it. I'd be interested in buying some. It's obviously not cost efficient for me to mail firewood back to you though. Email me at the address I posted if you're interested.