How many

[jaywood1207]

pen blanks do you see here???

This is my mother's flowerbed. It is about 30 ft long and 20 inches wide. I'm sorry I won't be there to see the flowers in bloom.

Oh. Out behind her shop by the old dog kennel I found this.

It actually belongs to my brother. Think he'd miss it. I did scoop a little burl off the ground my mother has been using as a door stop for the last year or so. The piece standing up is about 4 feet long and 12inch diameter. Both pieces are from a cherry tree we cut down a few years ago.

 

[gokartergo]

Looks like you could keep busy for quit a while..[]

 

[ed4copies]

Cactus will bite, none there.

Trees and bushes in background - thousands.

Mom's house .......[:0][:0][:0]........NO........[:0][:0]...NEVER MIND!

Telephone pole reflected in window - thousands more!!

Get busy, Jaywood!

 

[woodwish]

Telephone pole? What kind of finish would you put on creosoted pine? As we laugh they would probably sell good to old linemen that remember the pre-bucket truck days and using those horrible spiked pole climbers. Almost every one of them can show you their scars when they didn't work as planned. [:0]

 

[Dario]

Lots from those 2 cherry logs. Should yield lots of nice figured pieces from those crotch. I am afraid those cactus are not big enough yet but maybe you can get a few near the base/trunks.

 

[jaywood1207]

Originally posted by Dario
<br />Lots from those 2 cherry logs. Should yield lots of nice figured pieces from those crotch. I am afraid those cactus are not big enough yet but maybe you can get a few near the base/trunks.

How big do the cactus have to be? I've always wondered.

 

[Dario]

You need the older parts. Young ones won't have any of the "skeleton" used in cactus pens.

It is not actually much of the size...but in my case, the ones I collected are about 8" wide x 4" thick (or larger). Those yielded nice skeletons. Some of the biggest trunk/base I got is as big as 10" round!

If you don't get the right condition while "processing", the skeleton will rot and will be useless. Ideally you let the maggots eat through the flesh and they will do a wonderful job! [^] Yucky to clean though. [xx(]

Good luck!