Wood for the New Year

 

We had three maple trees cut down at our cabin at Lake Buckhorn. By culling just a few trees from the landscape, we opened up the view of the lake from the cabin.  As a byproduct of the tree removal, I gained a lot of fresh cut maple for turning.

So, I spent the last day of 2011 sealing the maple rounds from those three trees. As the pictures show, I gained 28 sections, most 13-16 inches in diameter and 16 to 24 inches in length. I have nine that I sealed on just one end to see if I can start the spalting process. The others are all sealed on both ends to await cutting into bowl blanks of one kind or another.

I would like to cut a number of them for natural edge bowl blanks. My North Coast and Buckeye Woodturning groups may end up with a few of the blanks as raffle items.

I think I will need to do some learning to better determine how to cut these rounds into bowl blanks. I have done some of this in the past but I am not at all confident that I got the best blanks out of the wood. One of the nice things about being a member of woodturning group is the availability of help and advice when you need it. So, I think I will be asking for some guidance in how to best cut these blanks.

I think I have created a lot of fun for myself for the beginning of a new year!