Walnut

 Well being Winter and it's snowing and blowing out 

there, not too much is going on. BUT my neighbor, 

Dave, is a dirt construction guy and he's always running 

into "You won't believe what I found you" moments. 

Two days ago was no exception. He shows up at my 

place with the bucket of his loader filled with Walnut 

turning blanks. Seems yet another guy around here is 

going through a nasty divorce. He had to get rid of 

everything so they can sell the house ... NOW! Another 

load followed by trailer driven by the guy's friends. 

This load wasn't as near as nice. The 1st photo is the good 

blanks. The 2nd photo is the not so good, and I'll have to 

go through it all and heat the house with a lot of this pile. 

The 3rd is two blanks that are almost 5" thick and 13" in 

diameter ... What a find. It looks like the guy took good 

care of these and will make two very nice salad bowls.

Thanks Dave!

A Look At Pen Making . . .

 This photo shows 5 designer pens, turned and finished.

 This photo shows those pens removed from the pen Mandrels.

There is a pair of blanks, on the right, ready to put onto this

mandrel.  

 Here are those blanks mounted on that mandrel.

 Here it is mounted on my mini-lathe. About 15 years ago the

little woman thought it would be nice if I turned pens. I told her

I didn't want to. I was doing enough building boxes at the time.

This was given to me, for my birthday, shortly after. Don't tell

her, but she was right. 

 Here are three pens assembled. The clamps are holding the

decorative rings in place while epoxy glue dries.

 Here's what they looked like before the last photo.

This is the devise I made to compress the pen pieces into the

brass tubes that are glued into the pen blanks. OK, let's get

out there and make some pens.

Fellow Artist's Display Finished

Well "THE" Special project is over. 

My fellow artist loved it. He picked 

 it up around the 1st of July. 

Here's a photo of it finished.

Fellow Artist's Display Getting There . . .

It's been a tough year for producing. Lots going on around

the old homestead. About the only real work going on 

right now for me is another special order for my artist friend. 

Sue is working like crazy on her quilts. Below is a photo of 

the "Almost" finished project. He will be hanging his pen and 

ink art framed on this. It breaks down into three 

sections 70"x32"x3" that he can throw into his car.

All Projects Begin Here ...

Well it must be spring time. I have to get to work.

As all my projects begin, this one to will begin
at the wood store. This is one of my favorite places
in the world. This wood store is called Mastercraft
and it's located in Reno. This also gave me a chance
to use my panorama photo app on my iPhone. Click on
then to embiggin ...

The first photo: Panorama shot from the entrance 

looking back. To the right, back is a wall. Behind 

that wall is the warehouse that is four times larger 

than this showroom, and it's full of wood.

The second photo: That tall wood is in my 

favorite section - the Exotics

The third photo: Is a shot from the back of the 

showroom looking to the front.

Next time I'll have to show what's going 

on in the shop.