Warning, the penmakers virus has mutated

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dalemcginnis

dalemcginnis

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As we are all aware one aspect of the pen makers virus is that we look at a tree and wonder if it would make good pens. Well that part of the virus has now mutated into its own separate virus and is spread by receiving a pen we have made.
A few months ago after I had contracted the full blown virus I sent my mom a pen I had made. The other day we were talking on the phone and after several comments she made I realized she had contracted a form of the virus. The first was that a neighbor was cutting up a Eucalyptus tree and she wondered if it would make good pens and thought about getting me some, she decided it probably wouldn't. The second was she has seen a lot of carvings made out of Desert Ironwood and wished she knew what the tree looked like so she could get some [8D]. The final statement was when I mentioned that a burl was the best part. She knew what a burl was and said that if she had a saw when she saw some she would cut it off. That's when I realized she had been infected.
So if you every hear of an 80 year old lady in Arizona being arrested for trying to cut down a DI tree with a handsaw-THAT'S MY MOMMA!
[:0]
 
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Eucalyptus, Desert Ironwood, Burls!!!!!!!!!

If you momma ever decides to adopt another penturner, you got a brother in Alabama.

Great story. Thanks for sharing it.
 
That is a great story!!

My 77 year old momma recently moved to AZ. I told her to keep her eyes open. One day I receive a box of wood in the mail. She had seen a guy on the side of the road and stopped to buy his "scraps". A medium sized branch of DI for $5. A block of something else gorgeous for $3, etc.

GK
 
That virus is very widespread. At the shop I work in I am constantly having people wanting to give me their cutoffs (oak, cedar, walnut, cherry, pine, basically standard grade lumber) b/c they think I need more wood. What they don't see is the 500+ pen blanks I have consisting mostly of thuya and maple burls, blackwood, osage burl, curly eucalyptus, desert ironwood, etc......

I have to politely tell them that if I had any more pen blanks I'd have to grease them up to fit them all in storage.


But on the other hand, it is nice to have generouse friends!
 
If your mom needs a little more power then her handsaw have her look me up. People are often suprised how many big trees and different varieties we have out here in AZ. Just a couple weeks ago a couple guys and me took down four big mulberry's from some houses that were due to be demolished.
By the way Eucalyptus would be fine for pens if you can manage to dry it. I cut some with a buddy several months ago for bowl blanks and I have never seen a wood that wanted to move and crack as much as it did. Only had two bowls that survived drying and those are warped so badly I am not sure if I will be able to finish turn them.
 
Originally posted by vick
<br />If your mom needs a little more power then her handsaw have her look me up. People are often suprised how many big trees and different varieties we have out here in AZ. Just a couple weeks ago a couple guys and me took down four big mulberry's from some houses that were due to be demolished.
By the way Eucalyptus would be fine for pens if you can manage to dry it. I cut some with a buddy several months ago for bowl blanks and I have never seen a wood that wanted to move and crack as much as it did. Only had two bowls that survived drying and those are warped so badly I am not sure if I will be able to finish turn them.
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Try soaking the bowls in either denatured alcohol (safer but very $$$) or methanol (much cheaper but also more toxic if you aren't careful with it). Methanol is easy to find in most states, sold as racing fuel.

My experience with this has been that it reduces warping by managing to "displace" out some of the water.

I use this method to dry burl pen blanks often, and I get good results.


I soak them overnight (same thing for bowls, overnight is plenty). Remove, drip dry for 5 minutes, and wrap in newspaper.


Note that the newspaper trick will work regardless of the alcohol trick if you use enough of it, but the blanks and rough-bowls will dry almost twice as fast and warp less.


Note that some bowl turners disagree with me, but they always base it on theory when they themselves haven't tried it. It works for me.
 
Originally posted by Russianwolf
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Originally posted by JayDevin
<br />sounds like its time for a road trip....driving down the interstate at 25 mph!
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If I "accidently" Bump a tree and down it with my truck, I still get to cut it up right?
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Is that the same as the folks the use their cars for hunting dear on the road[:D]
Sorry couldn't help myself.
 
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