Milling Ash With a New Set-up

A carpenter ant infested green ash crotch being milled using a piece of heavy aluminum C-channel on sawhorses as a guide for the first cut.  Also the standard 20 inch bar on the Stihl 039 has been replaced with a 24 inch bar and a rip-cut milled chain.  The extra four inches and a new bar make a big difference in getting good true and flat cuts.

new set up

It would have been better had it not been filled with a colony of carpenter ants, but still nice wood.

Ash crotch 1

A little better towards the edge, just not as interesting.

Ash crotch 2

Bowls on the Mantle.

We have been making a lot of bowls lately, here are some of them.

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A row of bowls on the mantle.  Some are turned on a foot powered pole-type lathe and some on an electric lathe.

bowls 3

One in green ash, and one in cottonwood.

bowls 2

One in bald cypress and one in walnut.

bowl blanks

Bowl blanks just cut and ready to have the ends coated with paraffin.  Species here are, persimon, green ash, post oak, black walnut, and bald cypress.

Walnut Headboard-Chest

The walnut headboard-chest will have a “free-edge” on the top.  The lid will be “floating” within the top of the chest.  So the top edges need to be balanced out and given a certain quality of surface to fit  this application.

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Below, I am cutting along the top edges with a medium sized gouge.

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Below, a detail of the edge.  More adjustments will be needed as the bed progresses.

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