New toy showing promise

[qbilder]

Over the years I have collected several chunks of wood that I have until now been unable to manage due to size or shape, to include burls, crotch sections, small knarly logs, etc. They are too large to fit my vertical bandsaw & too small or akward shaped to run through the circle mill. So I bought a small portable band mill that is designed for setting up & milling logs where the tree falls. I built a rack for it out of treated lumber instead of steel so that I can drive screws, make specialty dogs as I need, and can easily replace worn & broken pieces or simply retrofit as needed to handle a certain piece of wood. I'm still working out some minor issues but have begun transforming my storage of oddity woods into cue size blanks. This little thing is fun!!!!

Mulberry log section:

Mulberry slab:

Ironwood log section:

Mulberry squares cut from slabs:

Curly oak squares cut from large quarter log firewood chunk:

Walnut crotch from firewood:

Maple burl from California cut into slabs then squares:

I got lots of stuff to cut & am having a blast doing it. I have some giant oak burls, maple burls, sumac burls, redbud, mequite, ironwood, cedar, etc. All those oddities that left me scratching my head, wondering how I was gonna harvest wood from, I can now mill up to useable blanks. This is the kind of stuff you can rarely if ever buy because people rarely if ever cut it for anything more than firewood. Now I can dedicate this little bugger to this kind of stuff. I think it's cool Just thought i'd share.

 

[1pRoscoe]

Interesting setup, Eric! Love the ingenuity....

That maple burl is HAWT!

 

[tsp&b]

That is some crazy beautiful wood!!!

 

[Sheldon]

Way cool! :thumbup:

 

[FLYINGSNAIL]

I think you are running out of room in your storage. Send some over to my place:thumbup: Just kidding Eric. Love that maple burl:grin:

 

[cyrex]

new toy

Wow.. those are some incredible woods. It's like opening a christmas present with every cut! Looks like you've been having a blast.

 

[qbilder]

Thanks guys. I'll have plenty more pics in days, weeks, months & years to come. I have LOADS of big burls awaiting to be milled and a seemingly endless number of burls & knarly logs planned for harvest. Now that I have a rig set up for cutting the weird stuff, I got lots of fun work ahead of me.

 

[mdavis228]

The walnut & maple burl are awesome. Hard to cull much usable lumber out of the ironwood, but worth every bit. Look forward to seeing some more cool stuff!
Hadn't seen much from you... now we can see what you've been up to.

 

[DaveK]

Thanks guys. I'll have plenty more pics in days, weeks, months & years to come. I have LOADS of big burls awaiting to be milled and a seemingly endless number of burls & knarly logs planned for harvest. Now that I have a rig set up for cutting the weird stuff, I got lots of fun work ahead of me.

We'll have to start calling you Eric "fast-cut-slow-turn" Crisp.

Dave

 

[blackpearlmaker]

Very nice, those are treasures of nature. very lucky pick ups.
its full of fan working that, i know that feeling being the first to see those hidden treasures:thumbup:. your teasing me to climb our mountains here in my country and seek those hidden goldies

Good luck to you and Enjoy!!!
Al

 

[cuesmith]

Very nice, those are treasures of nature. very lucky pick ups.
its full of fan working that, i know that feeling being the first to see those hidden treasures:thumbup:. your teasing me to climb our mountains here in my country and seek those hidden goldies

Good luck to you and Enjoy!!!
Al

Edwin promised to take me on one of those climbs on my next visit. Rest in peace buddy!

 

[qbilder]

Very nice, those are treasures of nature. very lucky pick ups.
its full of fan working that, i know that feeling being the first to see those hidden treasures:thumbup:. your teasing me to climb our mountains here in my country and seek those hidden goldies

Good luck to you and Enjoy!!!
Al

I'd have a blast in that region, given that I could bring my saws So many tropical hardwoods. I'd imagine that it's not unlike the USA, where there are certain hardwoods that are marketed due to their abundance & size. Here we have oak, maple, cherry, hickory & walnut that are the commonly known & marketed hardwoods but there must be 100 or more other hardwood trees that are never known in popular wood working & the lumber market. I can think of half a dozen types of elm trees that have stunning color & grain but they're never timbered so you never see anything made from it. Even the loggers who cut the major trees will only take the straight logs & will leave everything else for folks to cut up as firewood. If there's burls, crotch areas, etc, anything that doesn't look uniform, they leave it. I always wanted a way to harvest that kind of stuff & now I can. Should be plenty fun.

 

[qbilder]

A few more pics:

White oak burl half ready for slabbing:

Me with a burly sumac slab:

Redbud slab:

Maple burl set out to weather a bit before milling:

 

[hotcues]

How much was the saw? Can you show some more picts of it?

 

[qbilder]

Wasn't too bad. I got roughly $2500 in the saw kit, some welding, extra blades and the materials to build the rack. I'll get a few pics when I get a chance. Spending the day milling up ironwood logs & mequite stumps.

 

[Guerra Cues]

That's awesome stuff Eric.
Your pics are coming out super sharp as well!!!

 

[bnall]

That maple burl from California cut into slabs would look great in a ebony front cue.

 

[ridewiththewind]

Thanks for sharing the pics...just LOVE this kinda stuff!

Lisa

 

[JoeyInCali]

Thanks for sharing the pics...just LOVE this kinda stuff!

Lisa

Nothing like good wood.

Nice slabs Eric.
Be safe, no beer and sawing. Ok?:thumbup:

 

[cuewould]

Something to cut this wood!!!!!!

Machinery.....It never end!!!!!!But you look like you are haveing fun....Sometimes that work can feel like a vacation....Thanks for shareing and please stay safe.....Ray:grin::grin::grin: