A few days ago Bob9f of this parish gave me a ‘heads up’ about a greengage tree that had been taken down nearby and ”did I want some of it?” I mentioned to Bob that I would indeed like a few chunks and he very kindly contacted the lady who I then emailed with a view to collecting a few bits, which I did on Monday.
Having got a goodly selection loaded up into the boot, I used a very large froe to split the larger logs (five) down the middle, from which I obtained enough raw material to make ten small bowls;
I used the big bandsaw on the blanks (even the ones above) to make them very roughly circular, ready for the lathe. I wasn’t entirely certain that this was going to be a good idea as the wood was lovely and wet and I was cutting freehand. The blade, as I t happens was pretty old so if it snapped in the process there wasn’t too much loss. It didn’t, being one of Axminster’s finest
I’ve spent a very hot, sweaty and dusty two days rough turning the blanks;
After each was turned, the outside surface was given a liberal coating of TB3 and they’re now under a big tarp air drying at the bottom of the garden;
In due course, these will probably be destined for our local NHS hospital charity, with some going to the Salisbury Hospice shop in the town, who are, apparently, very eager to obtain any such work. How many bowls do you actually need in a home? One of them though, will be posted to the very nice lady who owned the late greengage tree.
After I’d picked up the wood, I called into see Bob for a natter, a brew and a couple of chunks of his rather excellent ginger cake. Many thanks indeed Bob, much appreciated - Rob