Wood Sales
11/13/07
Spalted Pecan
We don't get a whole lot of pecan around here. Lots more
up north near Kansas City but not really here in the Ozarks.
But, we found a nice little bit of it and snapped it up quick!
Here are a few pictures of our last little load
here.
09/01/07
Preparing for the SWAT Woodturning Symposium
We're getting ready for the turning symposium known as "SWAT"
being held in Wichita Falls, TX this year.
These are just a few of the turning blanks that we plan to take down
there and sell. You can see some nice Ash, Maple, Blackjack
Oak, Osage Orange, Spalted Pecan, laminated blanks and all sorts of
other things. And this is just a part of what we're
taking! A few pictures can be found
here.
11/04/06
Sassafras coming soon
For those of you that's been asking when we'll be getting in
more sassafras wood, well, it's here! We have a few sassafras
trees that we just got in. They
seem to be quite solid so we're expecting quite a lot of good bowl /
platter blanks as well as some good blocks and billets from them.
A few pictures can be found
here.
This isn't all that we have, just a small peek at what I was able to
get pictures of when we were harvesting. There seem to be some 16"
diameter logs in there so bowl and platter blanks up to that size.
6/02/06
Blackjack Oak Table
We got an order for some suitable wood for
a large coffee table. How large, we asked? BIG.
So, we set out to see what kind of unique, large, bold piece of wood
that we could find for them. Here's what we found. The
crotch section of a big Blackjack Oak tree. We rough cut it to
about 7 feet long by 4 feet wide (at the crotch limbs) and 7 inches
thick. We estimate that this section as it's cut now is about
600+ pounds. It's going to take about a year to dry in our
kiln and then be made into a fantastic coffee table. More pictures
here.
2/12/06
Good 'ol Hickory !
Working on the last pallet of hickory.
Some of it we left in short log form so we could make some bowls and
hollow-form blanks from them. But most of it we cut into
handle blanks. Hickory makes excellent handles! But boy
oh boy is that stuff heavy. And it likes to split too.
From here, these last few handle pieces will go into the kiln to
carefully take down to about 6-8% moisture content. Gotta work
with wet hickory very carefully or you'll just be left with a bunch
a splinters!More pictures
here.
8/23/05
A little house cleaning
Once in awhile we have to thin out some
dead and dying trees on our own land. These are just a few small Red
Oaks that were in pretty bad shape and needed to be cut so they
wouldn't fall across the roads or driveways. All told, we had to
drop 5 of them ... a couple were pretty big and at least one of them
produced a nice burl'ish section and a good crotch. See all of the
pictures and especially a little tutorial on how to rough saw a
crotch to get the best figure possible ... even from the lowly Red
Oak
here.
3/17/05
Red Oak >> Large Squares
This is a moderately sized Red Oak tree we had to
take down. It made some nice large squares. In the pictures
you can see just one of the many sections we took for the Green Wood
Sales area. You'll also see how to cut a log section into side-grain
bowl or square blanks yourself.
Look
for yourself.
3/10/05
Making Laminated Peppermill Blanks
We started running low on these popular items so it was time to
get a few more dozen made up. Yes, it's a messy operation but it all
comes together in the end (nice pun, eh?). You can see a few
in the background completed and some more that have just been taken
out of the presses waiting to dry. More pictures
here.
1/23/05
Working a Large Box Elder
This one had a wonderfully beautiful flame throughout
it's length as well as some sporadic figure and even spalting in
places too! It's a bit over 30" across (diameter) in places. Be
sure to check out the
pictures
from this little wood collecting mission. See if you can find
the NAIL in there.
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Demo's and Classes
10/19/06
Bella Vista, AR -
Ozarks Bodging Demo
Cool, crisp Fall days in the Ozarks. Tourists from all
over the USA with tons of questions about bodging. Some wood,
a pole lathe and shave horse. What could be better? We
were at the crafts fair this year and gave quite a show!
Several thousand people came through and I think we chatted with
most of them. ha! Check out a few of the pictures
here.
9/24/06
Branson, MO - Ozarks Bodging Demo
This was our second year at the Branson,
Missouri Crafts Festival. We set up the Bodging tools and
showed how it used to be done. We made some stools, a chair
and a whole lot of kitchenware. Thousands of people stopped by to
see us. In fact, we made the front page of the Branson Newspaper!
Check out a few of the pictures
here.
3/18/06
Bow Lathe'd Goblets - Ozarks Bodging
While not exactly a demo or a class, Andy
did work on a commission from a church for some Goblets that they
wanted for a Last Supper type of Easter program they are putting on
in April. You can see the large pole lathe that Andy uses for
his Bodging Demonstrations but he's using, instead of a pole, a
handmade bow to power the lathe as it was most likely done back
then. The Goblets are period pieces from the time of Christ.
The style of goblets, the type of finish, and the type of machinery
and techniques used are all period appropriate. Take a look
here.
9/24/05
Artists at Work Day - Ozarks Bodging
Andy was invited to one of the galleries
where we show some of our pieces for an "Artist at Work"
day. Well, Andy wowed the crowd with something nobody in the
area has seen for probably 80 years at least. It's a lost art
and craft but Andy is slowly showing the Ozarks people how it was
done long long ago. This demo shows how a 3 legged stool is
made. Andy has a few logs there in front and rives them himself then
take it over to the shave horse and finally over to the pole lathe
to shape the legs out. Then he uses traditional scorps,
travishers and other hand tools to scoop out the seats. After all of
that, he showed how he assembled ... without ANY glue, nails or
screws ... the stool. It was a great day! Take a look
here.
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WoodTurning Tools
& Access.
6/02/06
Set of Traditional Hook Tools
Tools tools and more tools. We've had several orders for
sets of traditional (pole, treadle, bow lathe) turning tools lately
and we're more than happy to make them. These are designed and
made a little different from our powered-lathe tools although they
can be used for both. When every single cut makes a
difference, these tools can't be beat! Check out some pictures of our
latest batch of traditional hooks
here.
2/20/06
Making Hook Tools
There's been a lot of demand, lately, for hand-made hook tools.
These are ancient tools used for hollowing that are still the best
for endgrain. Most of the hooktools we've been making are for
motor-powered lathes (as you can see from the large size of the
hooks in the pictures) but we also specialize in traditional hook
tools. There's even a couple of little bitty hook tools the size of
a match that you can see in the pictures. Those are for
putting into a swivel holder that you might already own. Heck,
we use all of them ourselves! Check out some pictures of our
latest batch of hooks
here.
9/27/05
Traditional Turning / Bodging Toolmaking
We've been busy with demonstrations of the
"old ways" around here lately. Bodging and it's tools
such as the shaving horse, pole lathe and smaller tools like the
drawknife, travisher, scorp and tapered reamer are items that we
make ourselves right here in the Ozarks Mountains. This shows
some of the tools that we have been making this summer in
preparation for demonstrations this coming fall and winter. Take a
look
here.
Furniture
'07
Slab Coffee Table
This is a big slab coffee table we made for a friend in 2007.
Cantilevered design with a rustic look fits perfectly into the great
design of the lodge type home it was custom made for. Take a look
here.
General Stuff
5/04/07
Missouri has talent !
It's not often (or ever) that I get to talk about the judging I
do for various fairs, shows, galleries or competitions. They don't
want anyone to know who does the judging for good reasons, I
suppose. But this competition of the best highschool students
in Missouri was different. They encouraged the judges to talk
with the students after the judging so that they might learn and get
a different perspective. Imagine that! I (and several
others) judged the furniture and woodturning divisions. Here's
a few pictures of what these talented craftsmen showed off.
Check out a few of the pictures
here.
And, if you'd like to get a few tips from one of the judges, click
here.
Spring 2010
A Treadle Lathe at Branson
While visiting (and doing some scouting for quality traditional
craftspeople) a crafts faire in Branson this Spring, I found a booth
with a man working on his treadle lathe. In talking with him,
I found out that he was new to woodturning in general and very new
to working on a treadle lathe at that. He built it himself and it
works quite well. While it's certainly not a traditional /
authentic reproduction of a treadle lathe, it's a completely
workable modern version that I'm sure gets him some lookers (like
myself). I've built a few of these lathes myself so, soon,
I'll post an article on making and using treadle lathes. Just
a couple of pictures of this Branson lathe
here.
September 2010
A French Castle in the Ozarks?
I've heard of this project for a couple of years now and just
haven't taken the time to go visit it firsthand. Well, after
talking with some of the artisans that are working on the castle, I
decided it was time to take a look myself. I took hundreds of
pictures but will only post a few. Warning: Some of
these are very large panorama shots and will take some time to
download. Pictures
here.
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